10 November 2023.
Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States
Locality: Franklin Township: Piney Hollow Preservation Area (the site is owned by Franklin Township). Plants accessed by foot along trails throughout property.
Coordinates: 39.5732, -74.9291
(Map it)
Elevation: 29m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants growing in shade to part-shade over a wide range of habitats from mesic to mesic-dry as well as moist to wetland habitats. The woodlands are mostly deciduous, but also include occasional pine overstory. Slope: N/A. Aspect: N/A. The underlying geology of this area is of Middle Miocene, Serravallian origin and characterized as an Cohansey Formation. It is comprised of sand, white to yellow with local gravel and clay. Locally stained red or orange brown by iron oxides and (or) cemented into large blocks of ironstone. Unweathered clay is typically dark gray, but commonly weathers white where interbedded with thin beds of ironstone. Unit is a complex of interfingering marine and nonmarine facies. Sand is typically medium grained and moderately sorted although it ranges from fine to very coarse grained and from poorly to well sorted. Sand consists of quartz and siliceous rock fragments. Some beds are locally micaceous. In general, the sand is crossbedded, although the style of crossbedding varies significantly with the paleoenvironment. Trough crossbedding predominates, especially in the nonmarine channel fill deposits, and the scale of the crossbeds varies from small to large. Maximum thickness in the map area is about 60 m; however, thickness is difficult to determine because of the irregular basal contact and extensive post-depositional erosion. There is as much as 18 m of relief along the basal contact. The basal contact is sharp, undulatory, and directly overlain by a thin gravel bed. The Cohansey Formation unconformably overlies the Kirkwood Formation and is found in channels cut down into the Kirkwood. Where the Kirkwood consists of sandy, light-colored sediments, the basal contact of the Cohansey is drawn below crossbedded sediments. Where the Kirkwood consists of dark-colored silty beds, the basal contact is drawn between light-colored Cohansey sediments and the underlying dark-colored sediments. The Cohansey was markedly thinned because of erosion prior to deposition of overlying units in the western and southern parts of the southern sheet. The unit has been extensively eroded and stripped from large areas of the New Jersey Coastal Plain, particularly in the central sheet where outliers are common. In spite of its widespread nature, the Cohansey is poorly exposed because of its loose sandy composition, which causes it to erode easily. (Source: USGS New Jersey Geologic Map Data.) The primary soil types in the area of this collection is classified as Atsion sand, 0 to 2 percent slopes, Northern Tidewater Area and Downer loamy sand, 0 to 5 percent slopes, Northern Coastal Plain. Atsion Series soils are very deep, poorly drained with moderate to rapid permeability above 70 cm and slower beneath. They are classified as sandy, siliceous, mesic Aeric Alaquods. The upper stratum from 0 to 25 cm is dark gray sand, dry, single grained and lose with many fine roots. It is extremely acid. Lower strata are light gray to dark brown with small percentages of rounded quartzose pebbles and are extremely acid. Downer Series soils are very deep, well-drained soils that are coarse-loamy, siliceous, semiactive, mesic Typic Hapludults. The upper stratum of Downer Series from 0 to 25 cm is dark grayish brown, brown loamy sand that is dry with weak fine granular structure. It is very friable and strongly acid. Lower strata from 25 to 76 cm are yellowish brown single grain, loose loamy sand with few extremely weakly cemented masses of oxidized iron in the lower part. This layer is very strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 35
Associated species: Quercus alba; Chamaecyparis thyoides; Vaccinium corymbosum; Smilax sp.; Pinus rigida; Morella caroliniensis; Ilex glabra; Sassafras albidum; Ilex opaca; Pteridium aquilinum; Kalmia angustifolia; Quercus coccinea; Quercus velutina; Lyonia ligustrina; Acer rubrum; Cornus sp. [as Swida sp.]; Spiraea tomentosa; Aronia arbutifolia; Baccharis halimifolia; Magnolia virginiana; Prunus serotina; Quercus falcata; Gaultheria procumbens; Rubus sp.; Amelanchier sp.; Nyssa sylvatica; Ilex laevigata; Ilex verticillata; Carex sp.; Liquidambar styraciflua; Typha latifolia; Rhododendron viscosum; Juniperus virginiana; Diospyros virginiana; Solidago sp.; Ageratina altissima.
Comment: Plants are multi-stemmed, deciduous, rounded to slightly upright shrubs with a tendency toward upright lateral branching. Mature stems are smooth and tan to brown; young shoots often pubescent, but losing this feature as the growing season progresses. Mature plants range in size from 1.5-3 meters tall. Fruiting capsules are borne terminally, in solitary racemes or in branching clusters. The many small, sub-globose capsules borne on each raceme are dehiscent and loculicidal with a persistent calyx. Leaves are alternate, simple, and generally obovate with teeth particularly on the upper third of the leaves. Leaves generally glabrous above and sparsely to prominently pubescent beneath. Leaf size ranges from 35-60 mm long and 20-30 mm wide. Plants had uniformly bright yellow fall color at the time of collection. Plants are abundant and common throughout this property.
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