04 September 2022.
Cecil County, Maryland, United States
Locality: Plants growing at Elkton State Forest along roads and woodlands over a distance of approximately 5 kilometers labelled as the address of 717 Irishtown Rd, North East, MD 21901. This species is common in one or two locations; otherwise, it is infrequent.
Coordinates: 39.5808, -75.9153
(Map it)
Elevation: 81m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in a dry, well-drained to xeric habitat of upland mixed deciduous and evergreen woodlands comprised primarily of acid-loving plants. Plants are growing in part shade to full sun. The soils in the collection area are generally described as a complex series of fluviomarine deposits. The soils range from a thin loam layer at the surface to varying levels of loam to sandy loam and/or extremely gravelly sandy clay loam strata, depending upon geographical location (ie. Hillslope summits, slopes, footslopes, swales, etc.). The primary soil types in the collection area are classified as Russett-Christiana-Hambrook Complex and/or Sassafras and Croom Soils; though, others may intersect and overlay in specific areas.
Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx)
Number of plants sampled: 10
Associated species: Sassafras albidum, Quercus marilandica, Fagus grandifolia, Gaylussacia baccata, Gaylussacia frondosa, Pinus virginiana, Populus grandidentata, Acer rubrum, Quercus phellos, Castanea dentata, Quercus montana, Nyssa sylvatica, Diospyros virginiana, Vaccinium stamineum, Quercus stellata, Liquidambar styraciflua, Kalmia latifolia, Quercus velutina, Prunus serotina, Vaccinium corymbosum, Toxicodendron radicans, Quercus alba, Pteridium aquilinum, Smilax sp., Hypericum hypericoides, Ilex opaca, Mitchella repens, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, Rubus sp., Liriodendron tulipifera, Quercus falcata, Baptisia tinctoria, Quercus coccinea, Dichanthelium sp., Carex sp., Panicum virginicum, Panicum sp., Comptonia peregrina, Chimaphila maculata, Amelanchier arborea
Comment: Plants are multi-stemmed, deciduous, rounded to slightly upright shrubs or small trees, becoming more spreading with age. Plants in this location ranged in size from 2.5 meters to 4 meters tall. Leaves are narrowly elliptic to narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, 12.5 cm to 20 cm long and 2.5 cm to 5 cm wide, with a rounded to cordate base and margins obscurely to sharply serrate; a small awn can be seen on the tip of each serration. The undersurface of the leaf is typically sparsely to densely covered with appressed stellate or erect-woolly, whitish to brown trichomes; yet, sometimes essentially glabrate especially on shade leaves. The fruit is a 2-valved cupule; valves irregularly dehisce along 2 sutures. The outside of the cupule is covered in dense soft spines less than 10 mm long. Castanea pumila is growing in close association with plants that appear to be Castanea dentata. At the time of collection, a number of these Castanea dentata were dying back, presumably from Chestnut Blight. It appeared that some plants of Castanea pumila may also be showing similar signs. It has been reported that hybrids of Castanea pumila and Castanea dentata exist in this area of Maryland; therefore, it is reasonable to assume that there may some introgression occurring. Even so, based upon the observations of this collector, all the current collections appear to be, visually, “true-to-type” Castanea pumila.
Collector(s):