Demography of the Florida endemic Eriogonum longifolium var. gnaphalifolium (Polygonaceae) at Archbold Biological Station and the Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge Carter Creek from 1990 to 2013

We studied scrub buckwheat (Eriogonum longifolium var. gnaphalifolium) from 1990 - 2013 at Archbold Biological Station and from 2001 - 2010 at the Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge Carter Creek. This dataset contains annual demographic data on survival, recruitment, growth and reproductive effort. The plant is long-lived and exhibits plant dormancy. It resprouts following fire and also recruits many seedlings following post-fire stimulated flowering. Modeling based on demographic data has shown that frequent fires (a minimum of every five years or every 20 years depending on assumptions) are necessary for viable populations of scrub buckwheat. This fire regime is usually met in sandhill but not always in oak-hickory scrub, another habitat for this endemic plant.