12 November 2023.
Robeson County, North Carolina, United States
Locality: Goose Pond Bay (Nature Conservancy-owned site): wetlands on the south side of McNeil Road approximately 0.64 kilometers west of junction with McIntosh Road.
Coordinates: 34.8825, -79.0992
(Map it)
Elevation: 60m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in part-shade to sun of a Carolina Bay habitat with seasonally moist to wet, acidic conditions. Slope: N/A. Aspect: N/A. The underlying geology of this area is of Cretaceous origin and characterized as Black Creek Formation. The formation is comprised of clay that is gray to black and lignitic. It contains thin beds and laminae of fine-grained micaceous sand and thick lenses of cross-bedded sand. This formation has glauconitic, fossiliferous clayey sand lenses in the upper part. (Source: USGS North Carolina Geologic Map Data.) The primary soil type in the collection area is classified as McColl loam soil. The McColl Series consists of poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that are shallow or moderately deep to a fragipan and very deep to bedrock. They formed in loamy sediments in oval depressions on the Coastal Plain. The soils are nearly level or concave. Runoff is frequently ponded. Slopes are less than 2 percent. These soils are strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 25
Associated species: Smilax sp.; Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium (listed as T. ascendens); Acer rubrum; Nyssa biflora; Liquidambar styraciflua; Pinus taeda; Itea virginica; Ilex vomitoria; Ilex coriacea; Ilex opaca; Quercus nigra; Quercus laurifolia; Vaccinium corymbosum; Symplocos tinctoria; Ilex glabra; Lyonia lucida; Clethra alnifolia; Rubus sp.; Woodwardia virginica.
Comment: This species in this location is generally a multi-stemmed deciduous upright shrub forming a basal rosette of stems. There is some evidence that this plant may also be somewhat rhizomatous. The habit is generally upright rounded to upright spreading; plants are approximately 2-4 m tall x 2-3 m wide. Stem color is silver gray with mature stems about 7.5-12 cm in diameter. Plants are completely dormant. A small number of red fruits were found remaining on the plants; fruit are borne on short pedicels, are round, dull red, and approximately 8-15 mm in diameter. Common at this site; quite sporadic to rare throughout its range. Notes: Fortuitously, despite only observing small quantities of fruit on plants, there were abundant quantities of recently dropped fruit on the ground beneath many plants; as a result, a good collection of fruit was made. In terms of observing plants in peak fruit, despite revisiting this site almost 3 weeks earlier than the previous year, most fruit (as well as almost all leaves) in 2023 had already dropped. To properly observe these plants in fruit and foliage, it is necessary to visit in late October. Approximately 3000 seeds (750 fruits) collected from 25 plants.
Collector(s):