Hiker Traffic On and Near the Habitat 



of Robbins Cinquefoil, 



and Endangered Plant Species 



by 

 R. E. Graber and G. E. Crow 1 



INTRODUCTION 



Robbins cinquefoil (Potentilla robbinsiana Oakes) is one of the 

 rarest plants of eastern United States. It is a very low, nearly 

 stemless plant with a dense tuft or rosette of leaves (Fig. 1). Small 

 yellow flowers open in late May and June. The plant is a long-lived 

 perennial which grows very slowly and is unlikely to flower before 

 10 years of age. The oldest plants are estimated to be 40 to 60 years 

 old. 



Robbins cinquefoil grows at a single alpine location in the 

 White Mountains of New Hampshire occupying about a quarter 

 acre. It was never common, but small colonies of Robbins cinquefoil 

 were known at four locations in the 1800's (Crow and Storks, 1980). 

 All but one of these colonies have died out. They were all located on 

 or very near trails or a road (Mt. Washington Toll Road). The 

 impacts of human and horse traffic and the taking of specimens by 

 plant collectors are believed to be the causes of these losses of 

 Robbins cinquefoil (Graber, 1980). The sole surviving colony in the 

 White Mountains has been declining and is now confined to about 

 one-quarter of the territory it occupied in 1934 (Steele, F. L., personal 

 communication). Robbins cinquefoil has been classified as a species 

 in danger of extinction by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Cook, 

 1980). 



The barren alpine habitat occupied by the Robbins cinquefoil is 

 bisected by the heavily travelled Appalachian Trail. The trail is well 

 marked; signs remind hikers to stay on the paths and avoid 

 trampling fragile plant life. However, many hikers walk on the 

 cinquefoil habitat resulting in serious consequences for the plant. 



RAYMOND E. GRABER is a plant ecologist at the Northeastern Forest 

 Experiment Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Durham, NH 



GARRETT E. CROW is Associate Professor of Botany and Curator of the 

 Hodgdon Herbarium at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 



