12 December 2022.
Monroe County, Alabama, United States
Locality: Claiborne Bluffs area along unnamed road to boat ramp on the east side of the Alabama River at the U.S. Highway 84 bridge over the river. Common at this location and along the nearby Alabama River.
Coordinates: 31.5488, -87.5142
(Map it)
Elevation: 40m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in part-shade to shade of mesic, well-drained, circum-neutral slopes and benches in mature mixed deciduous and evergreen woodlands with good litter layer. Soils: The underlying geology of this area is the Jackson Group Undifferentiated. The units of the Jackson Group are the Yazoo Clay and Crystal River and Moodys Branch Formations. Descriptions of the members of the Yazoo Clay follow in descending order. Shubuta Member - in western Alabama consists of light-greenish-gray to white plastic fossiliferous, calcareous clay containing irregular calcareous nodules. From the Tombigbee River eastward, the Shubuta becomes more calcareous and grades into massive clayey glauconitic limestone. Eastward from the Alabama River, equivalent beds grade into the Crystal River Formation. Pachuta Marl Member - light-greenish-grey glauconitic, fossiliferous clayey sand and sandy limestone traceable from western Alabama eastward to Covington County where it grades into the Crystal River Formation. Cocoa Sand Member - yellowish-gray firm calcareous, fossiliferous fine to medium sand or sandy limestone or greenish-grey micaceous, calcareous, very clayey sand. Calcareous and clayey sand equivalent to the Cocoa is traceable from western Alabama to the Conecuh River area. (Source: USGS Alabama Geological Map Data). The surface soil profile of this portion of the bluffs along the Alabama River are characterized as Saffell-Lucy (Flomaton) Series Complex soils. The Saffell Series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in loamy and gravelly marine sediments of the Tertiary Age and have acid reaction. These soils are found on the upper portion of the bluffs along the Alabama River. The Lucy Series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on uplands. They formed in sandy and loamy marine and fluvial sediments of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. Soil reaction runs from strongly to moderately acid. The Flomaton Series consists of very deep, excessively drained, rapidly permeable soils on uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. They formed in gravelly sandy marine sediments and also have an acid reaction. The remainder of soils are of miscellaneous origin. (Source: USDA-NRCS Official Soil Series Descriptions).
Number of plants sampled: 10
Associated species: Ulmus alata; Hydrangea arborescens; Bignonia capreolata; Smilax sp.; Toxicodendron radicans; Acer saccharum subsp. floridanum [listed as A. floridanum]; Aesculus parviflora; Hexastylis arifolia; Yucca sp.; Magnolia grandiflora; Quercus michauxii; Solidago sp.; Cornus alternifolia [listed as Swida alternifolia]; Viburnum rufidulum; Juniperus virginiana; Rhapidophyllum hystrix; Fagus grandifolia; Chasmanthium latifolium; Euonymus americanus; Cladrastis kentukea; Hymenocallis occidentalis; Viola sp.; Ostrya virginiana; Pinus taeda; Sideroxylon lycioides; Vaccinium arboreum; Philadelphus inodorus; Prunus caroliniana; Calycanthus floridus; Tipularia discolor; Liriodendron tulipifera; Dirca palustris; Arisaema triphyllum; Halesia diptera; Sabal minor; Parthenocissus quinquefolia; Celtis laevigata; Quercus hemisphaerica; Carya sp.; Vitis rotundifolia [listed as Muscadinia rotundifolia]; Viola walteri; Scutellaria sp.; Carpinus caroliniana; Campsis radicans; Campanula americana [listed as Campanulastrum americanum]; Tilia americana; Callicarpa americana; Fraxinus pennsylvanica; Polygonatum biflorum; Hexastylis arifolia; Arisaema dracontium; Magnolia acuminata; Adiantum capillus-veneris.
Comment: Seeds collected from 10 plants. This species is a multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub, forming a broadly spreading shape with upright irregularly arching branches. The plant is very coarsely textured with few branches. At maturity this shrub is approximately 3-4 meters tall x 3-4 meters wide. Leaves are simple and opposite with a general ovate leaf shape similar in outline to a red oak, with 3-7 lobes. Leaves are densely hairy and glabrous to sparsely hairy beneath. Leaves range in size from 10-20 cm long x 8-10 cm wide. Stems are densely hairy and orangish brown in youth and exfoliating with papery cinnamon to orange-brown color in maturity. Tiny dehiscent capsuled fruits are borne in large terminal panicles with several hundred flowers in each panicle; some clusters of flowers within the panicles are subtended by a white to green sterile four-petaled flower that is persistent. Panicles range from 10-20 cm long and wide.
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