Agastache foeniculum

This species is apparently most abundant and secure in south-central Canada, but is considered rare in most of the rest of its native range (and has been established as an exotic in a few other places).

The distribution of A. foeniculum is centered on the northern Plains states, with diminishing occurrences east towards the Atlantic, west towards Washington, north into Canada, and south into Colorado, Nebraska, and Kentucky (USDA-NRCS 1999). A. foeniculum is apparently restricted to North America. The more eastern and western populations of this species (Montana, Washington, and east from Minnesota, Illinois, and western Ontario) are apparently introduced (Lint and Epling 1945, Gleason and Cronquist 1963, Great Plains Flora Association 1986, New Hampshire Natural Heritage Inventory). In Manitoba, the plant occurs in the southern half of the province (Manitoba Conservation Data Centre).

150-200+ occurrences of this species appear to be extant rangewide. Manitoba: >100; Michigan: 3 counties; Nebraska: 8, only 5 visited since the 1970s; Colorado: 8, 6 last observed around 1900; Wyoming: 7 extant and 2 historic; Montana: 7 sites in 7 counties in the east, although the state flora only reports it from 2 counties, both of which represent collections from plantings or possibly horticultural escapes; Ontario: reportedly "widespread and locally common" in the northwest, but some occurrences in the south are apparently adventive; British Columbia: 4, all last observed before 1950; apparently exotic in Connecticut, Delaware, and New York (Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centres).

Threats are habitat loss, grazing, exotic species, lack of fire, road maintenance, and wild-collection. In Manitoba, direct and indirect evidence exists of wild-collection for the plant trade. This collection probably occurs from tall grass prairie sites in the vicinity of Winnipeg (Elizabeth Punter pers. comm.). The species is reportedly "easy to collect" (Robyn Klein pers. comm.). Trade in the plant is minor, and it is cultivated but perhaps not broadly (Michael McGuffin pers. comm.). Because it grows readily and quickly from seed, it is presumed that if wild collection of this species increases in the future, the impact on wild populations could be offset rather easily by cultivation.

Most mixed grass and tallgrass prairie communities have been destroyed for agriculture. Many of the prairie communities that remain are ecologically strained by grazing, invasive species, or lack of adequate ecological management. Many dry or upland woods in the eastern half of North America have experienced dramatic reductions in fire events, causing changes in species composition, community structure, and hydrological conditions. These changes to eastern woodland communities may translate to habitat loss for this species, though it is not apparent that cause-effect relationship has been demonstrated anywhere.

In the western parts of its range, this species is found in areas that are often heavily impacted by grazing, such as moist woodlands, mesic meadows, and streambanks and lakeshores in the shortgrass and mixed-grass prairie regions. Trampling and grazing of this species by cattle has been observed in Nebraska. Occurrences in northeastern Montana are located on private land in woody ravines, and are reportedly threatened, presumably due to current land use practices. Populations in southeastern Montana, found in pine woods, have persisted under fire and logging, but are vulnerable to weed invasion and increases in grazing intensity (Bonnie Heidel pers. comm.).

In Manitoba, threats are road maintenance activities, haying, grazing, and wild-collection (Elizabeth Punter pers. comm.). This species is apparently less susceptible to damage from Verticillium wilt (a fungal disease caused by the widely distributed Verticillium spp.) than one of the other commonly cultivated species, the non-native Agastache rugosa (Fuentes-Granados and Widrlechner 1995).