11 December 2023.
Jackson County, Florida, United States
Locality: West side of Marville Drive on the edge of the woodlands just a few hundred feet south of Fairway Drive.
Coordinates: 30.6067, -85.3257
(Map it)
Elevation: 79m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing on the edge of a wetland acid habitat in the transitional zone between the obligate and facultative zones. They are growing in part-shade to shade with lower woody competition due to the moist conditions. Slope: N/A. Aspect: N/A. 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: Smilax laurifolia; Cyrilla racemiflora; Cliftonia monophylla; Persea palustris; Viburnum nudum; Magnolia virginiana; Oxydendrum arboreum; Morella cerifera; Carex sp.; Sphagnum sp.; Lyonia lucida; Nyssa biflora; Smilax sp.; Pinus taeda; Liquidambar styraciflua; Liriodendron sp.; Pieris phillyreifolia; Salix sp.; Eubotrys racemosus.
Comment: Single-stemmed deciduous shrubs with occasional suckering a short distance from the base of the plant. Most plants have varying levels of dead wood. Plants generally range in size from 1.5-5 m tall and are upright rounded with an irregular appearance. Leaves are simple, opposite to sub-opposite, and ovate to elliptic with quite hairy leaves. Most leaves are now gone, but eh dark burgundy red terminal buds subtended by dark chocolate brown bud scales are quite prominent. Fruit is a dry two-valved round papery capsule that is almost black at maturity with prominent lighter lenticel-like structures on the surface. The fruits are 1.5-25 cm in diameter and borne in clusters terminally on branches. Plants are scattered and rare. Seeds collected from three plants. NOTE: In conversations with Ron Miller and revisiting sites not seen in a decade or more, it’s clear that something is causing a decline in the Pinckneya populations. While never abundant, the sites where seed was collected during this trip as well as another site where access was difficult, are showing a steep decline in number of live stems and overall health. This collector believes that there needs to be a robust effort made for both ex situ preservation and serious work to understand the reasons for decline in this fascinating species.
Collector(s):