12 December 2022.
Clarke County, Alabama, United States
Locality: Plants growing on woodland slopes around and below the hilltop parking area leading down to the Silver Creek Lake Campground off of Silver Creek Lake Road. Occasional in the upland woodlands.
Coordinates: 31.6661, -87.5763
(Map it)
Elevation: 49m.
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in shade of upland dry mesic mature mixed deciduous and evergreen woodland. Generally, the overstory is thinner and there is less leaf litter cover, making the surface soil conditions drier.
Soils: The underlying geology of this area is Claiborne Group, Tallahatta Formation, of Eocene origin, with white to very light-greenish-gray thin-bedded to massive siliceous claystone; interbedded with thin layers of fossiliferous clay, sandy clay, and glauconitic sand and sandstone.
Source: USGS Alabama Geological Map Data (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/state.php?state=AL)
The primary soil types in the collection area are classified as Smithdale-Boykin Complex soils (2 to 5 percent slopes). The Smithdale Series consists of very deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils on ridge tops and hill slopes in dissected uplands of the Southern Coastal Plain and in the Western Coastal Plain. They formed in thick beds of loamy marine sediments and are strongly acid. Slopes range from 1 to 60 percent. The Boykin Series consists of deep, well drained, moderately permeable soils that formed in sandy and loamy coastal plain sediments of Pleistocene age. These soils are on gently sloping to moderately steep uplands. Slopes range from 1 to 20 percent.
Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx)
Number of plants sampled: 15
Associated species: Magnolia macrophylla, Magnolia grandiflora, Ostrya virginiana, Chasmanthium sessiliflorum, Mitchella repens, Vaccinium elliottii, Pinus taeda, Fagus grandifolia, Quercus alba, Quercus falcata, Morella cerifera, Benthamidia florida, Quercus laurifolia, Prunus serotina, Crataegus sp., Kalmia latifolia, Ditrysinia fruticosa, Callicarpa americana, Ilex opaca, Liquidambar styraciflua, Polystichum acrostichoides, Symplocos tinctoria, Oxydendrum arboreum, Calycanthus floridus, Hamamelis virginiana, Nyssa sylvatica, Arundinaria gigantea, Magnolia acuminata, Rhododendron colemanii, Carex sp., Cartrema americana, Pinus glabra, Prunus alabamensis, Aesculus pavia, Gelsemium sempervirens, Acer rubrum, Hypericum sp., Crataegus marshallii, Gaylussacia sp., Ilex decidua
Comment: Plants are multi-stemmed, deciduous shrubs with one to only a few stems, forming an upright, irregularly rounded, habit. Shrub are approximately 2-3 meters tall x 0.5-1.5 meters wide. Leaves have dropped. Capsules are borne in clusters on erect pedicels; capsules range in size from 14-22 mm long × 3-4 mm wide. They are sparsely to moderately eglandular-hairy.
Collector(s):