11 December 2023.
Bay County, Florida, United States
Locality: West side of Scott Road in woodlands approximately 0.13 kilometers north of where the road crosses Ecofina Creek. As of 2023, this road appears permanently closed from previous hurricane damage.
Coordinates: 30.5563, -85.4352
(Map it)
Elevation: 38m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in the understory of a mixed evergreen and deciduous bottomland forest associated with the Ecofina Creek. Plans are growing mostly on hummocks in a very wet, acidic wetland habitat. Slope: N/A. Aspect: N/A. The underlying geology of this area is the Alum Bluff Group of Miocene origin. It includes the Chipola Formation, Oak Grove Sand, Shoal River Formation, Choctawhatchee Formation and the Jackson Bluff Formation. The formations included in this group are generally defined on the basis of their molluscan faunas and stratigraphic position. Puri (1953) described sediment facies as they relate to the formations of the Alum Bluff Group. These sediments are lithologically distinct as a group, not as individual units. The Alum Bluff Group crops out or is beneath a thin overburden in the western panhandle from river valleys in Okaloosa County eastward to western Jackson County. The Alum Bluff Group consists of clays, sands and shell beds which may vary from fossiliferous, sandy clays to unfossiliferous sands and clays and occasional carbonate beds. Mica is a common constituent and glauconite and phosphate occur sporadically. Induration varies from essentially nonindurated in sands to well indurated in carbonate lenses. Colors range from cream to olive gray with mottled reddish brown in weathered sections. Sand grain size varies from very fine to very coarse with sporadic occurrences of gravel. These sediments generally have low permeabilities and are part of the intermediate confining unit/aquifer system. (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: 2
Associated species: Andropogon virginicus; Cliftonia monophylla; Magnolia grandiflora; Solidago sp.; Ilex vomitoria; Magnolia virginiana; Morella caroliniensis; Smilax laurifolia; Persea palustris; Baccharis halimifolia; Morella cerifera; Hypericum sp.; Nyssa biflora; Sphagnum sp.; Lyonia lucida; Rhododendron viscosum Serrulatum Group [originally listed as R. serrulatum]; Viburnum nudum; Gordonia lasianthus; Pinus taeda.
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 two 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):