Flora of the Southeastern United States

Tamala palustris Rafinesque. Common name: Swamp Bay. Phenology: May-Jun; Sep-Oct. Habitat: Swamps, pocosins, bay forests, maritime forests, generally in wet peaty soils, but also in fairly dry, sandy soils in maritime forests. Distribution: DE, e. MD, and se. VA south to s. FL and west to se. TX; Bahamas.

ID notes: Though variable in amount of hairs on the leaves, the hairs of T. palustris are always of a distinctly different character than those of T. borbonia (see key).

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Synonymy ⓘ: = POWO, Weakley (2023a) in Weakley et al (2023); = Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng. — Tat; = Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng. var. pubescens (Pursh) Little; = Persea palustris (Raf.) Sarg. — C, Fl2, FNA3, G, GW2, K4, NS, Va, WH3, Godfrey (1988), Shearman, Wang, & Mayfield (2022); = Tamala pubescens (Pursh) Small — S, S13; < Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng. — Bah, F, RAB, Tx. Basionym: Tamala palustris Raf. 1838

Links to other floras: = Persea palustris - FNA3

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW (name change)
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW (name change)
• Great Plains: FACW (name change)

Heliophily ⓘ: 3