12 December 2022.
Monroe County, Alabama, United States
Locality: Plants growing along the west side of Ferry Road at Haines Island Park leading down to the Alabama River.
Coordinates: 31.7230, -87.4680
(Map it)
Elevation: 46m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in part-shade in the scoured ditch and slope alongside Ferry Road; occasionally in moss where seed undoubtedly germinated.
Soils: The underlying geology of this area is Claiborne Group, Tallahatta Formation, of Eocene origin, with white to very light-greenish-gray thin-bedded to massive siliceous claystone; interbedded with thin layers of fossiliferous clay, sandy clay, and glauconitic sand and sandstone.
Source: USGS Alabama Geological Map Data (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/state.php?state=AL)
The primary soil type in the collection area is classified as Arundel Loam soil (8 to 35 percent slopes). The Arundel Series consists of moderately deep, well drained, very slowly permeable soils on dissected uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain. They formed in marine deposits consisting of acid clays underlain by horizontally bedded sandstone, buhrstone and siltstone. These soils are strongly acid. Slopes range from 2 to 60 percent.
Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx)
Number of plants sampled: 6
Associated species: Hexastylis arifolia, Mitchella repens, Polystichum acrostichoides, Quercus hemisphaerica, Quercus michauxii, Carex sp., Elephantopus sp., Chasmanthium sessiliflorum, Acer floridanum, Aesculus parviflora, Platanus occidentalis, Symplocos tinctoria, Liquidambar styraciflua, Campsis radicans, Ulmus sp., Benthamidia florida, Magnolia macrophylla, Ostrya virginiana, Bignonia capreolata, Liriodendron tulipifera, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Fagus grandifolia
Comment: The plants in this population are clumping, single-stemmed to weakly multi-stemmed, deciduous shrubs. Fruiting and non-fruiting plants are generally small, 0.3-0.5 meters tall and unbranched with a single inflorescence terminally. Plants are dormant and mostly without leaves. Fruits are borne on dome-shaped to flattened terminal inflorescences containing 100s of tiny fruits. Sterile flowers are various present or not along the periphery of the inflorescence. Fruits are tiny hemispheric capsules 2 mm tall x 2 mm wide.
Collector(s):