BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Osmorhiza claytonii | Sweet Cicely 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Sweet cicely is a native perennial forb with thickened fibrous roots
extending from a caudex [11].  Its solitary stem grows from 12 to 35
inches (30-90 cm) high with compound leaves [6,36].  Flower stalks have
very small umbels, producing thin black seeds with stiffly hairy ribs
[3].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
New foliage in the fall and annual flower stalks in the spring are
generated from a root stock [6,17].  In mature forests that typically
have long-term disturbance regimes, sweet cicely responds to small scale
disturbances, such as one causing a tree gap, by increasing its cover
[7,35].

Sweet cicely seeds are disseminated by dropping from the plant or by
snagging in animal fur, hair, or clothing [6,17].  Sweet cicely seeds
require warm stratification followed by cold stratification before
germination will occur [3].  In laboratory studies, 98 percent of the
seeds germinated after 4 weeks with day temperatures at 86 degrees
Fahrenheit (30 deg C) and night temperatures at 59 degrees Fahrenheit
(15 deg C) followed by 2 weeks at 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 deg C) days
and nights [3].  Under field conditions, sweet cicely sheds seed during
the summer or early autumn when temperatures are relatively warm to hot,
which results in high germination rates the following spring.  Baskin
and Baskin [3] also found that a portion of the seed did not germinate
until the second spring after shedding.  Sweet cicely forms a
short-lived seed bank.

Seeds that are not dropped and remain attached to the plant during the
winter have longer dormancy after being shed.  This seed required 12
weeks warm stratification followed by cold stratification to yield 96
percent germination [3].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Sweet cicely grows in rich, mesic, mixed-hardwood forests [3,29].  It is
common in woods on shaded hillsides [11,15,32,34].  It also occurs on
the forested edges of wet prairies and meadows [5,18].

Sites on which sweet cicely occurs vary from well-drained gravelly or
sandy loams to poorly drained clay loams [2,24,26].  Occasionally, there
is a top layer of humus, 1 to 4 inches (2.5-10 cm) deep [37].  Water may
be at or near the soil surface for most of the year [5,16,18].  The soil
pH is acidic to strongly acidic; calcium and magnesium have generally
been leached out [18].  Sweet cicely is found on level to very steep (75
percent) slopes [18,24].  It occurs from elevations of 600 feet to 2,200
feet (183-670 m) [27,28].

The climate is generally characterized by short, mild summers and long,
cold winters [18,27].  At one representative site, average annual
precipitation is about 39 inches (1,000 mm); snowpack, an average of 10
inches (250 cm) per year, may last from November to April [27].  The
growing season is approximately 200 days over its range [37].

Associated overstory species are bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa),
yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and black willow (Salix nigra)
[5,35].  Common associated shrubs are fly honeysuckle (Lonicera
canadensis), red elderberry (Sambucus pubens), and juneberry
(Amelanchier alnifolia) [5,28].  Herbaceous associates are enchanter's
nightshade (Circaea quadrisulcata), American pokeweed (Phytolacca
americana), feather Solomon's-seal (Smilacina racemosa), and several
violet species (Viola spp.) [26,27,28].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Obligate Climax Species

Sweet cicely is relatively shade tolerant [1,37].  It is a mature,
approximate climax or climax understory species in deciduous forests
[2,28].  In studies of Ohio old field-deciduous forest seres, sweet
cicely was present herb only in 200+ year-old stands as a subdominant or
minor herb [2,28,35].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
In the spring before the canopy closes, sweet cicely initiates foliage
growth and then puts up a flower stalk.  It begins flowering in April
in the southern part of its range [29,32].  In the northern parts, it
flowers progressively later: blooming in May and June in the central
states, and June to August in the far north [14,15,21,29].  Sweet cicely
seeds mature from June through August.  The seeds are shed primarily in
late autumn and winter; however, they may not be dropped until the
following spring [3].  Seedlings generally emerge in the spring [3].
The flower stalk dies in the fall, but new leaves are put out at that
time [6,17].  Sweet cicely overwinters as a rosette [9].

Related categories for Species: Osmorhiza claytonii | Sweet Cicely