ATLANTA— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today issued a final rule to protect the Ocmulgee skullcap as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Service also designated 6,661 acres of critical habitat for the flower in Georgia and South Carolina.

Only 19 populations of this rare flower remain, with 10 of these having fewer than 20 individual plants. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Service in 2010 to protect the Ocmulgee skullcap and in 2020 filed a lawsuit on behalf of the flower.

“Protecting this beautiful medicinal flower also helps protect beloved rivers and forests in Georgia and South Carolina,” said Will Harlan, Southeast director and senior scientist at the Center. “This decision benefits everyone because communities get clean drinking water and healthier rivers and this imperiled flower gets a fighting chance at survival.”

Adorned with soft blue-violet petals and a white-striped lower lip, the Ocmulgee skullcap is a member of the mint family. It grows in moist, calcium-rich soil on river bluffs in the Ocmulgee and Savannah watersheds.

The Ocmulgee skullcap is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation from urbanization and logging, competition from nonnative invasive plants, and browsing or trampling by growing populations of white-tailed deer.

The Ocmulgee River corridor, one of the two watersheds where the flower is found, has been proposed to become Georgia’s first national park and preserve. The National Park Service cites a rich human history and biodiversity as key features of the river corridor.