Gratiola hispida Pollard

Common Name and Baseline Identity

Gratiola hispida (common name rough hedgehyssop) is a small perennial flowering plant.

Morphological Characteristics

It produces white flowers, has villous stems, and forms capsule fruit.

General Geographic Range

This plant grows in the southeastern United States.

Gulf Coast Habitat Record

A 1921 publication recorded it growing in dry sands along the Gulf Coast.

Additional Distribution Sites

It has also been reported on Florida's Atlantic coast, and inland north of Jacksonville at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Taxonomic Classification History

The Atlas of Florida Plants notes that while this species was often previously classified within the genus Gratiola, recent research (Estes 2008; Estes & Small 2008) supports segregating it into a separate genus that is sister to the rest of Gratiola sensu stricto.

Endemism and Expanded Range

Gratiola hispida is mostly endemic to Florida and southeast Georgia, and has also been identified in a small number of counties in Alabama and Louisiana.