06 December 2022.
Robeson County, North Carolina, United States
Locality: Goose Pond Bay (site owned by the Nature Conservancy): plants growing in the wetlands on the south side of McNeil Road approximately 0.64 kilometers west of junction with McIntosh Road.
Coordinates: 34.8825, -79.0992
(Map it)
Elevation: 60m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants are growing in part-shade to sun of a Carolina Bay habitat with seasonally moist to wet, acidic conditions. Soils: The underlying geology of this area is of Cretaceous origin and characterized as Black Creek Formation. The formation is comprised of clay that is gray to black and lignitic. It contains thin beds and laminae of fine-grained micaceous sand and thick lenses of cross-bedded sand. This formation has glauconitic, fossiliferous clayey sand lenses in the upper part. (Source: USGS North Carolina Geologic Map Data). The primary soil type in the collection area is classified as McColl loam soil. The McColl Series consists of poorly drained, slowly permeable soils that are shallow or moderately deep to a fragipan and very deep to bedrock. They formed in loamy sediments in oval depressions on the Coastal Plain. The soils are nearly level or concave. Runoff is frequently ponded. Slopes are less than 2 percent. These soils are strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey).
Number of plants sampled: 2
Associated species: Smilax sp.; Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium (listed as T. ascendens); Acer rubrum; Nyssa biflora; Liquidambar styraciflua; Pinus taeda; Itea virginica; Ilex vomitoria; Ilex coriacea; Ilex opaca; Quercus nigra; Quercus laurifolia; Vaccinium sp.
Comment: This species in this location is generally a multi-stemmed deciduous upright shrub forming a basal rosette of stems. The habit is generally upright rounded to upright spreading; plants are approximately 2-4 meters tall x 2-3 meters wide. Stem color is silver gray with mature stems about 7.5-12 cm in diameter. Plants are completely dormant. A small number of single red fruit on short pedicels remained; fruit are round, dull red and approximately 8-15 mm in diameter. Notes: If seed future seed collecting is of interest, this collector recommends visiting this population in early to mid-November to be able to collect seed. This site is far more abundant in associates than indicated in the associated taxa. Clearly, there is a rich herbaceous ground layer that was completely dormant at the time of this visit. Also, as a reminder, this site is owned by the Nature Conservancy and permission is required for visiting and collecting.
Collector(s):