11 December 2023.
Washington County, Florida, United States
Locality: Holmes Creek at Live Oak Landing: plants found on the low bluff along the south side of Holmes Creek accessed by foot from a parking lot on Live Oak Landing Road that dead ends into the creek.
Coordinates: 30.5904, -85.8390
(Map it)
Elevation: 7m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in part shade to shade on the top and slope of the low bluff overlooking Holmes Creek in a mixed deciduous and evergreen forest. The dry mesic habitat has relatively low competition and is quite acidic. Slope: 0 to 45 percent. Aspect: Northwest. 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 surface soil profile of this area is primarily Nankin-Cowarts-Lakeland Complex. The Nankin Series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately slowly permeable soils on uplands of the Coastal Plain. They formed in stratified loamy and clayey marine sediments. Slopes range from 0 to 60 percent. Soils are comprised of sandy loam in the upper 25 cm to sandy clay loam and sandy clay in lower strata to about 1.7 meters deep; these soils are strongly acid. The Cowarts Series consists of very deep, moderately well and well drained soils on ridge tops and side slopes on uplands of the Coastal Plain Major Land Resource Area. They formed in loamy marine sediments. Slopes range from 1 to 60 percent. The Lakeland series consists of very deep, excessively drained, rapid to very rapidly permeable soils on uplands. They formed in thick beds of eolian or marine and/or fluvio-marine sands. Thickness of the sand exceeds 2 meters. Silt plus clay in the upper meter ranges from 5-10 percent. Reaction ranges from very strongly acid to moderately acid throughout. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 25
Associated species: Chionanthus virginicus; Vaccinium arboreum; Smilax pumila; Chasmanthium sessiliflorum; Symplocos tinctoria; Amorpha fruticosa; Ilex opaca; Magnolia grandiflora; Vaccinium elliottii; Cartrema americana; Smilax sp.; Pinus glabra; Pinus taeda; Viburnum dentatum; Hypericum sp.; Gelsemium sempervirens; Quercus virginiana; Fagus grandifolia; Morella caroliniensis; Mitchella repens; Quercus alba; Diospyros virginiana [possibly Dioscorea villosa; listed as Diospyros villosa, which is unlikely]; Hexastylis arifolia; Carpinus caroliniana; Vaccinium corymbosum [listed as V. fuscatum]; Vitis rotundifolia [originally listed as Muscadinia rotundifolia]; Hamamelis virginiana; Sabal minor; Clethra alnifolia; Carya tomentosa; Magnolia ashei.
Comment: The plants growing in this area are multi-stemmed, deciduous spreading, irregularly oval rounded shrubs, approximately 2-4.5 m tall. Leaves with multicellular stipitate-glandular- and unicellular-hairs on the petiole; the blade is ovate to obovate, 3-11 cm long x 1.5-4.5 cm wide with entire margins. Fruits are capsules borne on erect pedicels and approximately 14-26 mm long; they are sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular-hairy, especially on the pedicel and lower portion of the capsule. Plants are abundant from the aforementioned parking lot along the low bluff above Holmes Creek for a considerable distance as the creek meanders north and east. Seeds collected from 25 plants.
Collector(s):