- Scientific name: Eriocaulon parkeri
- Species of Greatest Conservation Need (MA State Wildlife Action Plan)
- Endangered (MA Endangered Species Act)
Description
Parker’s pipewort is a small, delicate, erect perennial in the pipewort family (Eriocaulaceae). Its thin, green to purple, basal leaves are grass-like in appearance and grow 2-6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) in length. These linear leaves are only 1-2 mm (0.04-0.08 in) wide at their mid-points and taper to a fine end. Parker’s pipewort generally has from two to four unbranched scapes (leafless flower stalks). These scapes are straight, obscurely four- or five-angled in cross-section, and 2.5-10 cm (1-4 in) long. The small unisexual, hairless or minutely hairy flowers are clustered in hemispheric or button-like terminal heads, 3-6 mm (0.12-0.24 in) in diameter. Each of the two whitish to yellowish-white petals has a nectar-producing gland just below its tip.
Life cycle and behavior
Parker’s pipewort blooms from late July to late September.
Population status
Parker’s pipewort is currently listed as endangered in Massachusetts. There are five current stations (discovered or relocated since 1984) and two historical stations (unverified since 1984) in the state. The species is also considered rare in Connecticut, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia. It was present historically in New York and Pennsylvania. The MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program has 7 records from 2 counties: Essex and Plymouth. Five of these records have been observed within the last 25 years.
Distribution in Massachusetts. 1999-2024. Based on records in the Natural Heritage Database.
Distribution and abundance
The range of Parker’s pipewort has been documented as extending from New Brunswick and Quebec to Maine, Massachusetts and central New York, and south near the coast to North Carolina.
Habitat
Parker’s pipewort grows in shallow, tidal fresh water and on the tidal mud flats of rivers. In Massachusetts, habitats include a sandy, mucky, exposed flat of freshwater tidal marsh; a sunny, gravelly, constantly wet, sloping river shore; an exposed, muddy area in a freshwater marsh, where seepage enters; and a cold, boggy, sandy edge of a river, with many cold seeps. Among the plant species associated with Parker’s pipewort are sweetflag (Acorus calamus), wild rice (Zizania aquatica), water-smartweed (Polygonum punctatum), water-purslane (Ludwigia palustris), hedge-hyssop (Lindernia dubia var. inundata), and various waterworts (Elatine spp.), arrowheads (Sagittaria spp.) and cordgrasses (Spartina spp.). Rare Massachusetts plants that have been found with Parker’s pipewort include estuary beggar-ticks (Bidens hyperborea).
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Contact
| Date published: | May 7, 2025 |
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