About Geum peckii Pursh
Geum peckii Pursh is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the rose family, commonly called mountain avens. It is native to eastern North America, where it is only found in two distinct regions: the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and three separate sites in Nova Scotia. This perennial herb grows between 20 and 40 centimeters tall, and produces compound leaves composed of several rounded leaflets. It bears yellow flowers 1 to 3 centimeters wide from June through September each year. The plant can reproduce both vegetatively through rhizomes, and sexually through seed, with each flower producing approximately 50 seeds. In New Hampshire, the flowers are most likely pollinated by flies. This species was first collected in 1804 on Mount Washington by botanist William Dandridge Peck. In the White Mountains, it grows on alpine snowfields, alpine meadows, and subalpine streambanks. In Nova Scotia, it grows in bogs and other coastal wetlands along the Bay of Fundy. Climate change may reduce the amount of available habitat for this plant, by allowing trees and shrubs to grow more easily and encroach on the open habitat the species requires. This encroachment is already happening on Brier Island, Nova Scotia. Additional threats to the plant include ecotourism activity and overcollection of specimens. Ditch construction on Brier Island has lowered the local water table, which makes the area more suitable for gulls to nest. The nesting gulls bring seeds of weedy plant species into the habitat.
