13 November 2023.
Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States
Locality: Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge: plants growing in woodland on the northwest side of the junction of Wire Road and Prichard Horse Road.
Coordinates: 34.4994, -80.2745
(Map it)
Elevation: 140m.
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: 1
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; Rhododendron minus; Quercus marilandica; Vaccinium arboreum; Callicarpa americana.
Comment: This single individual from which seed was collected is a small deciduous tree to large shrub with a single stem. It is approximately 3 m tall and 1.5 m wide with an open branching habit. The bark on the lower portion of the main stem is quite coarsely plated and roughened. Generally, it is coarse in texture with few sub-branches. Stems of current season’s growth are light tannish-brown with prominent lenticels and generally glabrous or sparsely hairy. Leaves are round-lobed, wider from the middle to upper third of leaf toward the apex. Sinuses are acutely angled with deep sinuses and the leaves taper toward the base. Leaf size ranges from 8-15 cm long and 5-10 cm wide. The acorns have appressed scales that are ciliate along the upper edge of the cupule, but otherwise, not significantly hairy. Acorns are born sessile or nearly so in clusters and singly. Plants are abundant in this location. Otherwise, this location is disjunct from the main populations of this species in the upper Piedmont and mountains. NOTE: This seed collection is unusual since no other oaks observed at this site, had fruit. It does have some traits of Quercus stellata, to which Quercus margaretiae is closely related. Even so, the individual collected is not as thick-leaved nor as densely hairy. Furthermore, the lobes on this plant are more acute-angled rather than cross-shaped. The acorns also seem to be slightly more elongated; and, more of the acorn is exposed above the cupule, upwards of half at times. Even so, this collector has very limited experience with Quercus margaretiae. It has crossed this collector’s mind that this plant could also be a natural hybrid of Quercus stellata x Quercus margarettiae. Regardless, caution is warranted regarding the identification; hopefully, an expert in oaks of the southeastern U.S. can offer a perspective.
Collector(s):