11 December 2023.
Washington County, Florida, United States
Locality: Property of Floyd Griffith off View Drive on the southwest side of McCormick Lake.
Coordinates: 30.6325, -85.3372
(Map it)
Elevation: 56m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing primarily in part shade a few meters above the lake, generally in areas that appear dry, but clearly are associated with hillside seeps. While much of the area has been cultivated, the remnant native flora are largely broadleaved evergreen shrub and deciduous shrub and tree species. Slope: 10 to 15 percent. Aspect: Northeast. The underlying geology of this area is the Citronelle Formation of Pliocene origin and consists of gray to orange, often mottled, unconsolidated to poorly consolidated, very fine to very coarse, poorly sorted, clean to clayey sands. It contains significant amounts of clay, silt and gravel which may occur as beds and lenses and may vary considerably over short distances. Limonite nodules and limonite-cemented beds are common. (Source: USGS Florida Geologic Map Data.) The surface soil profile of this area is primarily Pamlico-Pantego-Rutlege Association. The Pamlico series consists of very poorly drained soils that formed in decomposed organic material underlain by dominantly sandy sediment. The soils are on nearly level flood plains, bays, and depressions of the Coastal Plain. Slopes are less than 1 percent. Pamlico soils have 0.4-1.3 meters of organic material over dominantly sandy sediments. Reaction is extremely in the organic layers and ranges from extremely acid to strongly acid in the underlying mineral layers. The Pantego series consists of very deep, very poorly drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in thick loamy sediments on the Southern Coastal Plain and Atlantic Coast Flatwoods. Slopes are less than 2 percent. This soil is strongly acid. The Rutlege series comprises very deep, very poorly drained persistently wet soils on flats, depressions and floodplains where shallow ponding is common. They are of marine or fluvial sediment origin. Thickness of these loamy sandy soils is greater than 1.5 meters and a reaction from extremely acid to strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 3
Associated species: Magnolia grandiflora; Callicarpa americana; Quercus nigra; Hamamelis ovalis; Vaccinium sp.; Smilax sp.; Cyrilla racemiflora; Pinus taeda; Clethra alnifolia; Arundinaria tecta; Pteridium aquilinum; Smilax pumila; Cartrema americana; Ilex coriacea; Smilax laurifolia; Mitchella repens; Lyonia lucida; Solidago sp.; Pieris phillyreifolia; Prunus serotina subsp. alabamensis [originally listed as P. alabamensis]; Eubotrys racemosus; Rubus sp.; Aristida stricta; Persea palustris; Ilex glabra; Taxodium distichum.
Comment: This species is a multi-stemmed, clumping to spreading, deciduous shrub with an upright irregular spreading habit. Mature plants ranged from 2-3 meters tall x 0.5-2 meters wide. Leaves have dropped. Fruits are borne in clusters on erect pedicels, approximately 2.5 cm long and with eglandular hairs on the capsules (occasionally nearly glabrous by the end of the season as well). Plants are infrequent and scattered in moist depressions around the lake. Seeds collected from three plants.
Collector(s):