U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Jesup’s Milk-Vetch robbinsii var. jesupii

heterodon), the and state-listed cobblestone tiger beetle (Cicindela marginipennis), and more than a dozen rare species.

Drought, floods and milk-vetch – oh, my The main threats to Jesup’s milk-vetch are non-native plant species, climate change, trampling and lack of genetic diversity. Typically, ice scouring and flooding of the rocky habitat has kept other at bay, but dams built upstream have changed the rivers flow, making scouring and flooding less frequent. As a result, invasive plants such as black swallowwort and Japanese honeysuckle, formerly held in check by ice scouring, are now spreading over the rocky ledges and competing with Jesup’s milk- vetch for light and soil. In addition, at the time when Jesup’s milk-vetch

Sara Cairns/NH Natural Heritage Bureau is flowering and setting seed, unusual Jesup’s milk-vetch and columbine weather events possibly connected to climate change have caused significant Plant and animal life is tenacious, and flooding of the plants and their habitat can take hold in the most unlikely Jesup’s milk-vetch is in the legume during the summer months. Botanists conditions. Consider the challenge family. The plant emerges after the monitoring this plant have known it of living on the steep rocky outcrops winter ice and spring floods have to go through boom-and-bust cycles of a fast-flowing New England river, receded, usually sometime in April. It of seed production depending on the especially during the ice-cold winters. grows from a taproot that serves to severity of the weather each year. One plant that can meet this challenge stabilize the plant, hold vital nutrients, However, because the numbers of is Jesup’s milk-vetch, a highly and provide a way to absorb oxygen remaining plants are dwindling, and endangered plant found in only three during floods. Plant heights range from possibly due to the stress of changed locations along the Connecticut River 8 inches to nearly 24 inches. Jesup’s flooding patterns, the seed cycle is in New Hampshire and Vermont. milk-vetch has compound leaves; each becoming more bust than boom. This leaf has from 9 to 17 small leaflets. means the genetic pool for the species Life of an enduring plant Small violet flowers bloom in early May, is more limited, producing plants that Jesup’s milk-vetch was first collected followed by nearly inch-long pea-like are prone to disease and the other in 1876 by Professor Henry Griswold seed pods in June. Though this plan can problems that beset a small gene pool. Jesup of Dartmouth College. He wrote self-fertilize, the seeds develop most that he found this plant “crevices of successfully with the aid of pollinators And if we lose this plant? rocks,” a harsh environment with ice such as bees. The extinction of each plant and animal scours in winter, major floods in spring, diminishes the diversity and complexity and summer extremes of cool shade Interestingly, this stretch of the of life on earth. Wild plants and animals for half the day and blazing sun for the Connecticut River provides habitat for are important to the development other half. More than 125 years after several other state and federally listed of new and improved medicines, Jesup’s discovery, the plants are still species, including the endangered agricultural crops and other industrial there. dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta products. Nearly 40 percent of all prescriptions written in the United What you can do to help For more information, contact: States today contain chemicals that n By native plants from known and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service were originally discovered in plants reputable sources to ensure they New England Field Office and animals. Industry and agriculture have not been collected in the wild. 70 Commercial St., Suite 300 are increasingly making use of wild n Avoid purchasing known invasive Concord, New Hampshire 03301-5094 plants, seeking out the remaining wild pest plants. To view a list of pest 603/223-2541 strains of many common crops such as plants in your state, go to http:// wheat and corn to produce hybrids that plants.usda.gov/java/noxiousDriver Federal Relay Service are more resistant to disease, pests n Stay on designated trails. for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and marginal climatic conditions. As a n When recreating around rocky 1 800/877 8339 legume, Jesup’s milk-vetch is part of a outcrops on the Connecticut River, family of foods important in our diet. avoid trampling vegetation. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Could it hold the key to increasing the n Learn more about endangered plants 1 800/344 WILD genetic stamina of edible legumes in and the causes for their declines. http://www.fws.gov inhospitable conditions? We may never n Participate in the protection of know if these organisms are destroyed our remaining wild lands and the October 2010 before we can learn their value. When restoration of damaged habitats. a species is lost, the benefits it might n Support your state agency have provided are gone forever. responsible for protecting plants.