A plant that‘s found in part of one Indiana county is now a federally-protected endangered species.
Short‘s bladderpod "is in the mustard family and has small yellow flowers that will eventually produce rounded seed pods," said Mike Homoya, a botanist with the state‘s Department of Natural Resources. "It‘s found only in one small area of far southwest Posey County, not far from the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers," in southwest Indiana.
The only other known locations for the plant are near Nashville, Tennessee and Lexington, Kentucky.
"It‘s a very odd and unusual distribution for the plant, and how it‘s here in Indiana is a total mystery," Homoya said.
Short‘s bladderpod was first discovered in Indiana in 1941 and is named after Charles Short, a botanist who lived in Kentucky in the 1800‘s.
Why is it important to protect it?
"You never know what value they might have to us until sometime down the road," Homoya said. "This is part of the mustard family, and there are some very important members of that plant family that we utilize."