15 November 2023.
Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States
Locality: Juniper Creek State Game Lands (along Brunswick County Road 1340): swamps/wetlands associated with Juniper Creek.
Coordinates: 34.1244, -78.3931
(Map it)
Elevation: 13m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants growing in shade to part-shade of a swamp habitat along Juniper Creek. At the time of collection, the swamp was relatively dry with water found only in deep depressions. Slope: N/A. Aspect: N/A. 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 North Carolina Geologic Map Data.) The primary soil type in this collection area is classified as Dorovan Series muck. The Dorovan Series consists of very deep, very poorly drained, moderately permeable soils on densely forested flood plains, hardwood swamps, and depressions in the Atlantic Coast Flatwoods, Eastern Gulf Coast Flatwoods, and Southern Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Areas. They formed in highly decomposed acid-organic materials and have slopes that are less than 1 percent. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 20
Associated species: Magnolia virginiana; Persea palustris; Carex sp.; Smilax walteri; Cyrilla racemiflora; Taxodium distichum; Smilax laurifolia; Nyssa aquatica; Acer rubrum; Fraxinus caroliniana; Clethra alnifolia; Lyonia lucida; Ilex glabra; Gordonia lasianthus.
Comment: This species is a dioecious, single- or, occasionally, multi-stemmed broadleaved evergreen tree with an upright irregular shape and dense branching; it can reach up to 10 m or more tall and 4-5 m wide. Bark on mature stems is dark gray; very smooth to warty when young but later becoming finely scaly. Young twigs are grayish brown and finely hairy. Leaves are alternate, simple, evergreen, thickened and ovate, obovate, or lanceolate; they range from 1.2-5 cm long and 0.5-1 cm wide. Leaf margins are entire or sometimes a few sharp teeth above the middle; shiny dark green above, paler below. Fruit is a drupe-like round berry, 5-7 mm in diameter and usually red (some orange); they are persistent into winter. This site contained many very mature and large specimens, some with a DBH of 18 cm or more. Plants are abundant at this site.
Collector(s):