01 August 2022.
Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States
Locality: Woodlands on the west side of Morristown Road, approximately 0.6 miles south of Florida Highway 4.
Coordinates: 30.9553, -87.2137
(Map it)
Elevation: 24m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Growing as an understory element in shade to part shade under well-drained conditions on moderate to steep eroding slopes of a mixed evergreen and deciduous woodland about 15 meters above Holly Creek and associated marshlands of the Escambia River. 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.
Number of plants sampled: 7
Associated species: Diospyros virginiana, Asimina parviflora, Symplocos tinctoria, Kalmia latifolia, Hamamelis virginiana, Fagus grandifolia, Illicium floridanum, Oxydendrum arboreum, Ilex coriacea, Hexastylis arifolia, Ilex opaca, Scutellaria sp., Mitchella repens, Nyssa sylvatica, Vaccinium arboreum, Vaccinium elliottii, Quercus hemisphaerica, Smilax sp., Callicarpa americana, Ilex vomitoria, Liquidambar styraciflua
Comment: This species is a single- and multi-stemmed shrub or small tree, with a spreading habit observed at this location to be growing 2-4 meters tall. Branches are widely spreading, often with multiple stems, creating a width of 3-5 meters. The branches diverge horizontally such that the leaves and twigs appear to be in one plane. The leaves are simple, alternate, and ovate to elliptic with acute tips. The leaves are 5-10 cm long and 3-5 cm wide. Fleshy sub-globose green capsules are borne axillary on the top of branches; at maturity they dry, becoming woody and split open to expose the flat, slightly winged brown seed; capsules range in size from 1.2-1.6 cm long × 1.2-1.8 cm wide; while green, they are very pubescent.
Collector(s):