05 December 2023.
Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States
Locality: Yellow River Wildlife Management Area, along DOF [Department of Forestry] Y15 dirt road.
Coordinates: 30.6282, -86.8398
(Map it)
Elevation: 6m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Growing in sun in moist to wet flat woods along the side of the dirt road in shallow ditches on the edges of the longleaf pine forest. The nearby woodland is comprised mostly of open habitat of longleaf pine and an understory tree and shrub layer of evergreen and deciduous species. There is also a wealth of herbaceous species in moist to wet conditions of the habitat where there is rich organic matter in the surface layer. Slope: 0 percent. Aspect: N/A. The underlying geology of this area is classified as Alluvium, of Pleistocene/Holocene origin and consists of undifferentiated Quaternary sediments of varying thickness including siliciclastics, organics and freshwater carbonates. The siliciclastics are light gray, tan, brown to black, unconsolidated to poorly consolidated, clean to clayey, silty, unfossiliferous, variably organic-bearing sands to blue green to olive green, poorly to moderately consolidated, sandy, silty clays. Organics occur as plant debris, roots, disseminated organic matrix and beds of peat. Freshwater carbonates, often referred to as marls in the literature, are scattered. (Source: USGS Florida Geologic Map Data.) The primary soil types in the collection area are classified as Pactolus Loamy Sand soils (0 to 5 percent slopes). The Pactolus Series consists of very deep, moderately well to somewhat poorly drained soils. Permeability is rapid. These Coastal Plain soils, typically found with streams and marine terraces and were formed by loamy and sandy fluvial sediments and marine sediments. The strata is, generally, uniformly loamy sand that is very friable and strongly acid from the surface to a depth of 1.8 meters. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 1
Associated species: Ilex glabra; Cliftonia monophylla; Cyrilla racemiflora; Hypericum sp.; Lycopodiella alocpecuroides; Rhododendron viscosum Serrulatum Group [originally listed as R. serrulatum]; Ilex coriacea; Gaylussacia sp.; Sphagnum sp.; Clethra alnifolia; Chamaecyparis thyoides; Xyris sp.; Magnolia virginiana; Symplocos tinctoria; Vaccinium elliottii; Agalinis sp.; Smilax laurifolia; Aronia arbutifolia; Lyonia lucida; Persea palustris.
Comment: This plant is a broadleaved, multi-stemmed evergreen shrub, 2 meters tall x 1 meter wide with an irregular, open, upright-rounded habit. Branchlets appear dark brown to almost black and range from glabrous to densely pilose. Leaves are aromatic when crushed and oblanceolate to elliptic, occasionally obovate; they range in size from 5-12 cm long x 1-2.5 cm wide. Leaves are most leathery; the margins can be entire or serrate distal to middle, while the apex is rounded to acute. Upper leaf surface is typically dark green and glabrous, though occasionally, with yellow punctate glands; the abaxial surface is often pilose on major veins or glabrate and densely punctate glandular. Plants are dioecious. Fruits are globose-ellipsoidal, 3-4.5 mm in diameter; fruit wall glabrous or sparsely glandular, obscured by enlarged protuberances and a thin to thick coat of gray to white wax. Plants are infrequent in the open areas of the moist longleaf pine forest, particularly along the road where there is less competition. Seeds collected from one plant.
Collector(s):