Lindera subcoriacea Wofford. Bog Spicebush. Phen: Mar-Apr; Jul-Aug. Hab: Peaty seepage bogs in headwaters of blackwater streams, in the sandhills and immediately adjacent Piedmont, with other pocosin shrubs, streamhead pocosins. Dist: The overall range of this species is still poorly known; it appears to be a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic, ranging from se. VA (perhaps s. NJ) south to FL and west to LA.
ID notes:Distinctive characteristics of sun-grown plants include the rounded apex of the leaf, the leaf strongly whitened beneath and borne in an ascending to even appressed position in relation to the twigs, and a typically fastigiate or virgate branching pattern, with multiple stems or branches ascending vertically and nearly parallel to one another. Shade plants have a different form.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Other Comments: Occurring in the Carolinas primarily in a scattering of small populations in the fall line Sandhills of NC and SC, with an outlier or two in "Piedmont pocosins" just west of the Sandhills. Anderson (1999) reports on the sexual dimorphism of the species, with male plants having larger leaves. Reports in some areas (as VA) have been doubted as being authentic L. subcoriacea.
Synonymy: = Fl2, FNA3, K1, K3, K4, WH3, Wofford (1983); = n/a – C, F, RAB
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