12 September 2022.
Chesapeake City County, Virginia, United States
Locality: Woodlands adjacent to and bounded by the interchange of Business Route 168 (N. Battlefield Avenue) and Route 168, next to a detention basin and shopping plaza on the west side of Battlefield Avenue. Accessed by parking in the cul-de-sac at the south end of Kingsborough Square Street. This plant is a very common and abundant component of this woodland with significant recruitment continuing
Coordinates: 36.7389, -76.2433
(Map it)
Elevation: 9m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants growing in rich mesic, moist but well-drained conditions in the high understory shade of a mixed deciduous and evergreen woodland, primarily comprised of deciduous trees in the over-story and a mixture of deciduous and evergreen species in the sub-canopy.
Soils: The underlying geology of this area is the Tabb Formation of Quaternary origin which is comprised of undifferentiated sand, silt, and peat and subdivided into three members. Within the Tabb Formation lies the Sedgefield Member, a pebbly to bouldery, clayey sand and fine to medium, shell-rich sand that grades upward into sandy and clayey silt; locally, channel fill at the base of unit includes as much as 15 meters of fine to coarse, cross-bedded sand and clayey silt and peat containing in-situ tree stumps. Sandy bay facies commonly contain numerous mollusks as well as coral. Thickness is 0 to 15.8 meters.
Source: USGS Virginia Geologic Map Data (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=VAQts%3B0)
The surface soil profile of this area is Tetotum fine sandy loam, 0 to 2 percent slopes. Forming primarily terraces, these soils are moderately well-drained and highly acidic. They are generally 100-150 cm thick, the upper 20 inches of the horizon averages more than 30 percent silt or more than 40 percent silt plus very fine sand.
Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx)
Number of plants sampled: 30
Associated species: Acer rubrum, Aralia spinosa, Arundinaria gigantea, Asimina triloba, Carpinus caroliniana, Carya glabra, Clethra alnifolia, Euonymus americana, Fagus grandifolia, Gelsemium sempervirens, Hamamelis virginiana, Ilex opaca, Eubotrys racemosus, Kalmia latifolia, Liquidambar styraciflua, Liriodendron tulipifera, Magnolia grandiflora, Mitchella repens, Muscadinia rotundifolia, Nyssa sylvatica, Oxydendrum arboreum, Persea palustris, Pinus taeda, Quercus alba, Quercus falcata, Quercus michauxii, Quercus nigra, Smilax sp., Symplocos tinctoria, Vaccinium corymbosum
Comment: Plants in this community are single- and multi-stemmed shrubs to small trees with an arching to spreading habit; considerable seedling recruitment and root suckering was observed. Mature plants range in size from 2-4.5 meters tall x 1-4 meters wide. The branches diverge horizontally such that the leaves and twigs appear to be in one plane. Bark of mature plants ranges from reddish-brown on young stems to grayish brown and flaking on oldest stems. The leaves are simple, alternate, and ovate to elliptic with acute tips. The leaves range from 5-10 cm long x 3-5 cm wide. Fleshy sub-globose green capsules are borne axillary on the top of branches; at maturity they dry, shatter to disperse the flat, slightly winged brown seed; capsules range in size from 1.2-1.6 cm long × 1.2-1.8 cm wide; while green, they are very pubescent.
Collector(s):