10 November 2023.
Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States
Locality: Franklin Township: Piney Hollow Preservation Area (the site is owned by Franklin Township). This species was found below the dam at the far end of McCarthys Lakes. Plants accessed by foot along trails throughout property.
Coordinates: 39.5740, -74.9252
(Map it)
Elevation: 28m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Habitat: Wild Habitat
Environment description: Plants growing in part-shade to sun of the moist to saturated areas below the McCarthys Lakes dam in the wetlands associated with the New Squankum Branch. The area appears to be inundated year-round with plants growing on low mounds surrounded by obligate wetland species. Slope: N/A. Aspect: N/A. The underlying geology of this area is of Middle Miocene, Serravallian origin and characterized as an Cohansey Formation. It is comprised of sand, white to yellow with local gravel and clay. Locally stained red or orange brown by iron oxides and (or) cemented into large blocks of ironstone. Unweathered clay is typically dark gray, but commonly weathers white where interbedded with thin beds of ironstone. Unit is a complex of interfingering marine and nonmarine facies. Sand is typically medium grained and moderately sorted although it ranges from fine to very coarse grained and from poorly to well sorted. Sand consists of quartz and siliceous rock fragments. Some beds are locally micaceous. In general, the sand is crossbedded, although the style of crossbedding varies significantly with the paleoenvironment. Trough crossbedding predominates, especially in the nonmarine channel fill deposits, and the scale of the crossbeds varies from small to large. Maximum thickness in the map area is about 60 m; however, thickness is difficult to determine because of the irregular basal contact and extensive post-depositional erosion. There is as much as 18 m of relief along the basal contact. The basal contact is sharp, undulatory, and directly overlain by a thin gravel bed. The Cohansey Formation unconformably overlies the Kirkwood Formation and is found in channels cut down into the Kirkwood. Where the Kirkwood consists of sandy, light-colored sediments, the basal contact of the Cohansey is drawn below crossbedded sediments. Where the Kirkwood consists of dark-colored silty beds, the basal contact is drawn between light-colored Cohansey sediments and the underlying dark-colored sediments. The Cohansey was markedly thinned because of erosion prior to deposition of overlying units in the western and southern parts of the southern sheet. The unit has been extensively eroded and stripped from large areas of the New Jersey Coastal Plain, particularly in the central sheet where outliers are common. In spite of its widespread nature, the Cohansey is poorly exposed because of its loose sandy composition, which causes it to erode easily. (Source: USGS New Jersey Geologic Map Data.) The primary soil type in the collection area is classified as Manahawkin Series muck, 0 to 2 percent slopes, frequently flooded, Northern Coastal Plain. Manahawkin Series soils are very deep, very poorly drained soils that are sandy or sandy-skeletal, siliceous, dysic, mesic Terric Haplosaprists high in organic deposits that are found in lake basins, back swamps, floodplains, and freshwater channels. The soils are classified in the dysic reaction class because pH in water dominantly ranges from 4.5 to 5.0. The zone from the soil surface to a depth of 200 cm is continuously saturated (endosaturation). The upper strata of Manahawkin Series from 0 to 76 cm is black broken face and rubbed muck; 10 percent fibers, less than 2 percent rubbed; moderate medium granular structure; mat of many fine roots; identifiable material is primarily herbaceous with a trace of woody fragments; 85-95 percent organic matter; extremely acid. Lower strata to 200 cm are gray sand, single grained and loose; strongly acid. (Source: NRCS Web Soil Survey.)
Number of plants sampled: 2
Associated species: Chamaecyparis thyoides; Clethra alnifolia; Vaccinium corymbosum; Smilax sp.; Ilex glabra; Ilex opaca; Ilex verticillata; Lyonia ligustrina; Acer rubrum; Cornus sp. (as Swida sp.); Aronia arbutifolia; Baccharis halimifolia; Magnolia virginiana; Carex sp.; Liquidambar styraciflua; Typha latifolia; Rhododendron viscosum; Nyssa sylvatica.
Comment: Plants are multi-stemmed, deciduous upright spreading shrubs. Mature plants reach 3-4 m tall and wide. Fleshy fruits, containing 1-5 seeds, are borne terminally in clusters up to 10 fruits toward the tips of stems with compressed internodes as well as occasionally along the stem on short spurs in 1 to a few fruits. Fruits are globose and bright red when fully mature and approximately 7-10 mm in diameter. The pedicels of the fruit range from 3-7 mm long; the calyces of the fruit are completely glabrous. Additionally, the seeds of Ilex laevigata lack striations, but are clearly roughened on the surface. Leaves are simple, alternate, and entire to very finely serrulate (mostly the upper third) along the margins; venation on the upper leaf surface is NOT prominent. Leaves are ovate-lanceolate, ranging in size from 7.5-10 cm long. Fall color is a distinctive very pale yellow and the chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down. Plants are infrequent below the McCarthys Lakes dam to the east in the area bordering the New Squankum Branch and growing with Ilex verticillata. Approximately 1000 seeds (200 fruits) collected from 2 plants.
Collector(s):