13 November 2023.
Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States
Locality: Northwest side of the junction of Wire Road and Prichard Horse Road.
Coordinates: 34.4993, -80.2747
(Map it)
Elevation: 146m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants growing in shade to part-shade of dry steep slope woodland habitat that is primarily composed of Pinus palustris. Slope: 2 to 20 percent. Aspect: North. The underlying geology of this area is of Cretaceous origin and characterized as Peedee Formation - Black Creek Group, undivided. The Peedee Formation is primarily unconsolidated, coarse-detrital, sand that is dark-green or gray, finely micaceous, more or less glauconitic and argillitic sand, many layers of which are calcareous (impure limestone). Irregular concretionary masses of impure calcium carbonate occur in places. Dark marine clays are interstratified with sand. The Black Creek Group consists of irregularly bedded, laminated, carbonaceous clays and thin laminae and lenses of sand; lignite and pyrite present; glauconitic in places; massive interbedded layers of glauconitic sand present toward top of unit. Light-colored clays and coarse arkosic sands also found. (Source: USGS South Carolina Geologic Map Data.) The primary soil type in the collection area is classified as Ailey Series sand, moderately wet, 2 to 6 percent slopes. The Ailey Series consists of moderately deep or deep to fragic soil properties and deep or very deep to densic materials. This soil is well drained or somewhat excessively drained. The upper layer (0-12.5 cm) of this soil is dark grayish brown loamy sand that is frequently dry. It has a weak fine granular structure, is very friable, non-sticky, non-plastic, and is strongly acid. The lower strata soils (12.5-90 cm) are yellowish brown loamy sand, with weak fine granular structure, very friable, non-sticky, non-plastic, and moderately acid. Deeper depths (below 90 cm) are characterized by slightly greater clay content that is slightly more plastic and strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 50
Associated species: Pinus palustris; Pteridium aquilinum; Gelsemium sempervirens; Quercus falcata; Smilax sp.; Lyonia mariana; Sassafras albidum; Rhus copallinum; Vaccinium pallidum; Solidago sp.; Prunus sp.; Symphyotrichum sp.; Aristida stricta; Ionactis linariifolia; Quercus margarettiae; Quercus marilandica; Vaccinium arboreum; Callicarpa americana.
Comment: This species is a multi-stemmed, broadleaved evergreen shrub with a broadly-rounded colonial habit; mature plants in the population range from 0.5-2 m tall x 2-10 m in diameter. Stems are smooth to vertically furrowed and shredding with age; young twigs have rusty-hairy, multicellular, broad-rimmed, glandular-peltate scales. Leaves also have rusty hairy scales; the blade is narrowly elliptic to elliptic or oval, and sometimes obovate 2.5- 8 cm long x 1.5-3 cm wide. Leaves are thick and coriaceous with entire margins and range from plane to conspicuously revolute, with scattered, glandular-peltate scales; the apex ranges from acute to acuminate and obtuse to rounded. Fruit are woody capsules borne in clusters on erect pedicels, 6–14 mm long x 2.9–5 mm wide, with ferruginous, peltate scales; fruit clusters are found at the base of whorls of current season’s growth. Plants are abundant in this location. Otherwise, this location is disjunct from the main populations of this species in the upper Piedmont and mountains.
Collector(s):