08 December 2022.
Irwin County, Georgia, United States
Locality: Junction of Old Whitley Rd & Irwinville Hwy (GA 125).
Coordinates: 31.6460, -83.3363
(Map it)
Elevation: 111m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Low woods, a remnant woodland/low moist habitat between agricultural fields. Growing in part shade to shade of a moist mesic (occasionally temporarily wet) mixed evergreen and deciduous woodland along the edge where light conditions are slightly higher. The underlying geology of this area is of Neogene origin and characterized as Neogene Undifferentiated. It includes poorly sorted clayey sand and gravel deposited in a fluvial environment in South Carolina but becoming more fluvio-marine in Georgia. This unit is characterized by in situ weathered feldspar and an abundance of quartzite gravel and cobbles. (Source: USGS Georgia Geologic Map Data). The primary soil types in the collection area are classified as Alapaha Loamy Sand soil (0 to 2 percent slopes, occasionally flooded). The Alapaha Series consists of very deep, poorly drained, moderately slow to slowly permeable soils in small drainageways, flats, seepage areas, and depressions. They formed in sandy and loamy marine deposits of the Southern Coastal Plain. Slopes range from 0 to 5 percent. This series consists of deep, somewhat poorly drained soils. Permeability is very slow. These nearly level to gently sloping soils formed in clayey alluvium on flood plains of streams that drain uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain. The water table ranges from 0-25 cm below the surface and the soils are strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey).
Number of plants sampled: 15
Associated species: Rhododendron viscosum; Lyonia lucida; Cyrilla racemiflora; Aronia arbutifolia; Persea borbonia; Smilax sp.; Quercus nigra; Quercus laurifolia; Magnolia virginiana; Vaccinium sp.; Vaccinium elliottii; Woodwardia areolata; Acer rubrum; Pinus taeda; Rubus sp.; Osmunda regalis; Carex sp.; Callicarpa americana; Liriodendron tulipifera; Osmundastrum cinnamomeum.
Comment: This species is a dioecious, multi-stemmed, broadleaved evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit in the shade; plants range in size from 0.75-2 meters tall x 1-1.5 meters wide. Leaves are alternate, simple, and evergreen ranging from 2-5 cm long x 0.5-1.5 cm long and lanceolate-ovate to ovate; they are dark green above and pale green below, almost completely glabrous, occasionally with a whitish bloom on the petioles. Leaves are mostly shallowly blunt toothed (above the middle portion of the leaf) and occasionally entire. Fruit are round black berries, commonly found singly in the axils of leaves; ranging in size from 5-8 mm. Seed collected from 15 plants. Common.
Collector(s):