01 September 2023.
Wicomico County, Maryland, United States
Locality: Plants growing on the Nature Conservancy’s Wetipquin Pond property and accessed by foot.
Coordinates: 38.3430, -75.8264
(Map it)
Elevation: 4m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Wetipquin Pond is classified as a Delmarva bay. This type of bay is a non-tidal, seasonally flooded freshwater wetland, and is one of Maryland’s rarest natural communities. These bays occur only on the Delmarva Peninsula, typically along the backbone of the peninsula where soils are poorly drained. Seasonal flooding and saturated soils discourage many tree species from growing and create meadow-like openings dominated by grasses and sedges, providing habitat for rare plants and animals. Wetipquin Pond is an unusually pristine site found in a large contiguous wooded tract, with much to offer ecologically. The Nature Conservancy owns 40 acres, protecting the pond and surrounding forest. Because the pond is remote and largely surrounded by the State of Maryland land, it has needed limited ecological management to date. The information above has been excerpted from the Nature Conservancy: https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/preserve-visitors-guide-wetipquin-pond.pdf) The Litsea aestivalis in this unique community grow on the inner fringes to the center of the sedge pond habitat in mucky to wet conditions. Almost all Litsea aestivalis plants in the community grow in full sun with very little competition other than the few associates noted below. The underlying geology of this area is comprised of Quaternary Deposits of Wisconsin to Holocene origin. The composition is primarily undifferentiated gray to buff sand and gravel, gray to brown lignitic silt and clay, occasional boulders, and rare shell beds. Surficial deposits occur as intercalated fluvial sands and marsh muds as well as well-sorted, stabilized dune sands. (Source: USGS Maryland Geologic Map Data). The surface soil profile of this habitat is classified as Mullica-Berryland Complex with 0 to 2 percent slopes. These soils are found in flats, depressions and swales. They are comprised of moderately decomposed plant material in the upper 0-5.0 cm, mucky sandy loam of very high organic matter to a depth of 25 cm, and sandy to silt loam soils to a depth of 200 cm. Mullica-Berryland Complex soils are very poorly drained with negligible runoff. A key feature of these soils is that the zone from the soil surface to a depth of 200 cm is saturated from October to June. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey).
Number of plants sampled: 7
Associated species: Carex complanata; Carex spp.; Rhynchospora sp.; Eubotrys racemosus; Vaccinium corymbosum; Clethra alnifolia; Acer rubrum; Liquidambar styraciflua; Rhododendron viscosum; Chamaecyparis thyoides; Magnolia virginiana; Ilex verticillata; Osmundastrum cinnamomeum; Nyssa biflora; Pinus taeda; Pinus serotina; Ilex opaca; Quercus phellos; Carex striata; Dulichium arundinaceum; Proserpinaca pectinata; Scirpus cyperinus; Rhexia virginica; Juncus repens; Cephalanthus occidentalis; Dichanthelium spretum; Sphagnum spp.
Comment: In this AMAZING location, plants of Litsea aestivalis were common and abundant. Additionally, considerable recruitment continues to occur with hundreds/thousands of seedlings observed, young shrubs, and fruiting young as well as mature plants observed. This species is a multi-stemmed, simple, alternate-leaved, deciduous shrub with dense broad-spreading habit. Plants range in size from young seedlings germinating in the highly organic habitat, small shrubs and young plants that are flowering and fruiting (1-2 meters tall x 0.2-0.5 meters wide) to mature shrubs (2-5 meters tall x 3.0-6 meters wide). Stems are glabrous or sparsely pubescent with a prominent zigzag shape. Stems are cinnamon brown until 3-5 years old and dull on older stems. Leaves are lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1.5-4 cm long x 0.4-1.5 cm wide and mostly glabrous; the underside of leaves typically have spreading hairs along base of midrib, sometimes gone by late summer. Leaves all tend to be borne in an upright orientation. Leaf petioles are frequently red. Many plants have exposed overwintering flower buds present. Fruits are spherical drupes and bright red, generally, about 10 mm in diameter. A request is pending (as of 9/2022) with the Nature Conservancy for a more comprehensive vegetation overview of Wetipquin Pond to aid in characterizing the habitat, particularly, the areas dominated by sedges and other related plant associates.
Collector(s):