PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 9, 2023
Prospects for a rare plant with a peculiar name that only grows on the banks of the St. John River in Maine and Canada have improved, federal regulators announced Tuesday, and its status has been upgraded from endangered to threatened. Though the Furbish lousewort is not completely out of danger, scientists say the reclassification is an encouraging sign that the rare plant is on the road to recovery. The plant was discovered in northern Maine in the summer of 1880 by botanist Kate Furbish. Harvard University verified it was a new species and named it after her. The lousewort part of its name originated decades ago when people who lived in that region mistakenly thought the flower carried lice.