BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Chamaedaphne calyculata | Leatherleaf 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Leatherleaf is a native evergreen shrub that grows up to 4.9 feet (1.5
m) tall [25,43].  Its woody rhizome extends down an average of 12.6
inches (32 cm) into organic matter [27].  Leatherleaf has many branches
and forms dense thickets of up to 18.6 stems per square foot (200
stems/sq m) [10,33].  Average basal diameter of leatherleaf stems is
0.27 inch (0.68 cm) [21].  The one-sided racemes have 1 to 15 or more
flowers that form persistent, many-seeded capsules [10,43,65].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Moist sphagnum surrounding leatherleaf shoots, roots, and rhizomes
causes vigorous vegetative growth [5,26].  Sphagnum grows on leatherleaf
stems and branches but does not inhibit growth [12,18].  Ice will break
up leatherleaf shrubs, resulting in rapid expansion of colonies [33].
Leatherleaf establishes in windfall areas [18].

Leatherleaf seed set is usually high (50 to 95 percent).  Seed set
decreased when insects such as bombus bees were excluded from flowers.
When self-fertilized, leatherleaf has low seed set (1 to 15 percent)
[65].  Leatherleaf seeds germinate on sphagnum or sedge mats [12].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Leatherleaf is a true bog species and is found in practically all boreal
bogs [18].  It occurs in lowland sites, treed or treeless bogs,
peatlands, sedge fens and meadows, black spruce muskegs, and kettle pond
edges [2,19,55,59].  It is found at elevations up to 5,300 feet (1,615
m) [47].

Sites are often poorly drained or have standing water [48,63].
Leatherleaf is acid tolerant and usually occurs where the pH is less
than 5; it needs acidic conditions to become dominant [11,38,66].  It
commonly occurs in drier areas on sedge mats that may be floating or in
wet peat that is up to 43 feet (13 m) thick [12,16,38,55,83].
Leatherleaf is found on very moist ombrotrophic or minerotrophic sites
with low nutrients [3,4,7].  It occurs on substrates such as thin till
overlain with sandy loam or fine loamy clays with varying depths of
humus, or on entirely organic substrates [7,30,43].  Permafrost is often
discontinuous and can be shallow where leatherleaf grows [6,8,58].

Leatherleaf is found in maritime to continental climates with extreme
seasonal variations in temperature [8,34].  Leatherleaf grows poorly on
exposed sites with severe winters [16,33].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Although leatherleaf is not a pioneer mat former, it is a primary
species in extending the bog mat [11,16,22,62].  It is the first shrub
to enter a bog community after sphagnum is established [11,53].
Leatherleaf is characteristic of the mature and late stages of moss-low
ericaceous shrub communities as open water in a bog sere disappears.  It
may dominate for 50 years in some communities [11,18,31].

Leatherleaf is shade intolerant [53,77].  Leathleaf stands begin to thin
as tall shrubs or bog forest species such as tamarack (Larix laricina)
and/or black spruce establish [11,33,35,63,73].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Leatherleaf flowers from March to July from buds formed the previous
growing season [10,25,47,75].  Fruits develop in late summer and fall
[10,47,75].

Related categories for Species: Chamaedaphne calyculata | Leatherleaf