|
Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
|
|
Introductory
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
ABBREVIATION :
CYRRAC
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
CYRA
COMMON NAMES :
cyrilla
littleleaf cyrilla
swamp cyrilla
leatherwood
swamp leatherwood
southern leatherwood
titi
red titi
white titi
black titi
littleleaf titi
swamp ironwood
he-huckleberry
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for cyrilla is Cyrilla
racemiflora L. [21]. The species is divided into two recognized
varieties: typical cyrilla, C. racemiflora L. var. racemiflora and
littleleaf cyrilla, C. racemiflora var. parvifolia Sarg. The typical
variety has a wider distribution than littleleaf cyrilla and is easily
identified by its larger leaves [7,14]. The name cyrilla is used to
refer to both varieties collectively.
LIFE FORM :
Tree, Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Milo Coladonato, April 1992
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo 1992. Cyrilla racemiflora. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Cyrilla occurs in swamps on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from
eastern Texas eastward to Florida, and north to Virginia and Maryland.
It is also in the West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America
[8,14,33].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
STATES :
AL AR FL GA KY LA MD MS NC SC
TN TX VA MEXICO
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
BITH COSW FOCA
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
KO90 Live oak - sea oats
K091 Cypress savanna
K092 Everglades
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
K115 Sand pine scrub
K116 Subtropical pine forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
74 Cabbage palmetto
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
85 Slash pine - hardwood
97 Atlantic white-cedar
98 Pocosin
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress
102 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
In the southeastern Coastal Plain, cyrilla dominates or codominates in
bay swamps, cypress swamps, and shrub bog communities [17,24,37]. It
has been included as an indicator or dominant in the following community
type (cts) classifications:
Area Classification Authority
NC general veg. cts Wells 1928
se NC general veg. cts. Kologiski 1977
SC general veg. cts Nelson 1986
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
The wood of cyrilla has little commercial value [34]. The only value
for this species is for fuelwood, for which there is no current demand
[25].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Cyrilla is an important browse for white-tailed deer [19,20].
Utilization of cyrilla by white-tailed deer has been recorded as high as
40 percent in loblolly (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata)
communities [15].
PALATABILITY :
Cyrilla browse is highly palatable to to white-tailed deer [15,20].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Cyrilla has a relatively high nutrient value. Winter browse percent
nutrient content is as follows [19]:
N-free
protein fat fiber extract ash phosphorus calcium
4.99 4.64 20.64 52.73 2.00 0.04 0.56
COVER VALUE :
Cyrilla provides environmental protection for a variety of birds,
mammals, and aquatic wildlife in the Carolina Bays of the southeastern
United States [4].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Honey producers value cyrilla for the excellent honey that bees make
from its flowers. Because of its attractive flowers, cyrilla is often
planted as an ornamental. It can be propagated by seeds and cuttings [34].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Cyrilla is highly tolerant of flooding [30].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Cyrilla is a thicket-forming, tall, semievergreen shrub or small tree
growing to a height of 30 feet (9 m) [7,12,14]. It typically has a
short trunk with spreading, irregular branches and a wide, even crown.
Its narrow, long, elliptical leaves are semipersistent, alternate, and
clustered at the twig tips. The bark is thin and smooth. The perfect
flowers are in narrow racemes near the tips of the twigs and open in the
spring before new leaves appear. The fruit is a two-celled capsule with
two seeds in each capsule [8,27,33].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Cyrilla can reproduce sexually from seed, but most seeds do not
germinate. Its primary mode of reproduction is by vegetative sprouting
from adventitious buds on the roots following disturbance [6,17].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Cyrilla is usually restricted to low elevation areas along streambanks,
river swamps, and bottomlands [3,7]. Cyrilla grows well where moisture
is abundant and fairly permanent [6,10].
Common tree associates of cyrilla include sweetbay (Magnolia
virginiana), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), sweetgum (Liquidambar
styraciflua), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sassafras (Sassafras
albidum), loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus), and red maple (Acer
rubrum). Common understory associates include gallberry (Ilex glabra),
yaupon (I. vomitoria), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), zenobia
(Zenobia pulverulenta), swamp-bay (Persea borbonia var. pubescens), and
myrtle-leaved holly (I. myrtifolia) [2,16,26,35].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Cyrilla grows well under full sunlight and can survive under a closed
canopy [6]. Cyrilla is an early invader of disturbed sites. It
eventually crowds out shade-intolerant species and becomes part of the
dominant overstory [23,36].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Cyrilla flowers appears from early May through July; the fruit ripens
from late August through early October [27,33].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Fire does not usually invade the wetlands and lower slopes of the
floodplains because the soil duff layer is normally very damp. When
fire does occur during dry periods, cyrilla will sprout from
adventitious buds on the roots or, less commonly, establish seedlings
from seed stored in the soil [9,36].
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
survivor species; on-site surviving root crown or caudex
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Fire typically top-kills aboveground portions of cyrilla [5]. Survival
of shallow underground roots is most likely following light- to
moderate-severity fires which do not burn the peat moss [1].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Cyrilla will sprout from adventitious buds on the roots following fire
[9,17].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Woody shrubs such as cyrilla are found in great abundance as
understories on moist sites and compete with pine for available light,
moisture, and seeding sites. Periodic fires have been effective in
controlling cyrilla and other hardwoods [30]. Following two successive
burns in a 25-year-old slash pine plantation in Texas, 77 percent of 1
to 5 inch (2.5-12 cm) cyrilla were top-killed [2,29].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Cyrilla racemiflora | Cyrilla
REFERENCES :
1. Boyer, William D. 1990. Growing-season burns for control of hardwoods in
longleaf pine stands. Res. Pap. SO-256. New Orleans, LA: U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station. 7 p.
[14604]
2. Buell, Murray F.; Cain, Robert L. 1943. The successional role of
southern white cedar, Chamaecyparis thyoides, in southeastern North
Carolina. Ecology. 24(1): 85-93. [14091]
3. Christensen, Norman L. 1988. Vegetation of the southeastern Coastal
Plain. In: Barbour, Michael G.; Billings, William Dwight, eds. North
American terrestrial vegetation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press:
317-363. [17414]
4. Clark, Mary K.; Lee, David S.; Funderburg, John B., Jr. 1985. The mammal
fauna of Carolina bays, pocosins, and associated communities in North
Carolina: an overview. Brimleyana. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State
Museum of Natural History; 11: 1-38. [13478]
5. Cypert, Eugene. 1961. The effects of fires in the Okefenokee Swamp in
1954 and 1955. American Midland Naturalist. 66(2): 485-503. [11018]
6. Duever, Michael J.; Riopelle, Lawrence A. 1983. Successional sequences
and rates on tree islands in the Okefenokee Swamp. American Midland
Naturalist. 110(1): 186-191. [14590]
7. Duncan, Wilbur H.; Duncan, Marion B. 1987. The Smithsonian guide to
seaside plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts from Louisiana to
Massachusetts, exclusive of lower peninsular Florida. Washington, DC:
Smithsonian Institution Press. 409 p. [12906]
8. Duncan, Wilbur H.; Duncan, Marion B. 1988. Trees of the southeastern
United States. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press. 322 p.
[12764]
9. Ewel, Katherine C. 1990. Swamps. In: Myers, Ronald L.; Ewel, John J.,
eds. Ecosystems of Florida. Orlando, FL: University of Central Florida
Press: 281-322. [17392]
10. Ewel, Katherine Carter; Mitsch, William J. 1978. The effects of fire on
species composition in cypress dome ecosystems. Florida Scientist.
41(1): 25-31. [14634]
11. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
12. Fernald, Merritt Lyndon. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. [Corrections
supplied by R. C. Rollins]. Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press. 1632 p.
(Dudley, Theodore R., gen. ed.; Biosystematics, Floristic & Phylogeny
Series; vol. 2). [14935]
13. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
14. Godfrey, Robert K. 1988. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of northern
Florida and adjacent Georgia and Alabama. Athens, GA: The University of
Georgia Press. 734 p. [10239]
15. Goodrum, Phil D.; Reid, Vincent H. 1958. Deer browsing in the longleaf
pine belt. In: Proceedings, 58th annual meeting of the Society of
American Foresters; [Date of meeting unknown]; [Place of meeeting
unknown]. Washington, DC: [Society of American Foresters]: 139-143.
[17023]
16. Gresham, Charles A. 1989. A literature review of effects of developing
pocosins. In: Hook, Donal D.; Lea, Russ, eds. Proceedings of the
symposium: The forested wetlands of the Southern United States; 1988
July 12-14; Orlando, FL. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-50. Asheville, NC: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest
Experiment Station: 44-50. [9228]
17. Kologiski, Russell L. 1977. The phytosociology of the Green Swamp, North
Carolina. Tech. Bull. No. 250. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Agricultural
Experiment Station. 101 p. [18348]
18. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation
of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
19. Lay, Daniel W. 1957. Browse quality and the effects of prescribed
burning in southern pine forests. Journal of Forestry. 55: 342-347.
[7633]
20. Lay, Daniel W. 1967. Browse palatability and the effects of prescribed
burning in southern pine forests. Journal of Forestry. 65(11): 826-828.
[145]
21. Little, Elbert L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native
and naturalized). Agric. Handb. 541. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 375 p. [2952]
22. Lyon, L. Jack; Stickney, Peter F. 1976. Early vegetal succession
following large northern Rocky Mountain wildfires. In: Proceedings, Tall
Timbers fire ecology conference and Intermountain Fire Research Council
fire and land management symposium; 1974 October 8-10; Missoula, MT. No.
14. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 355-373. [1496]
23. Moore, Julie H.; Carter, J. H., III. 1987. Habitats of white cedar in
North Carolina. In: Laderman, Aimlee D., ed. Atlantic white cedar
wetlands. [Place of publication unknown]: Westview Press: 177-190.
[15877]
24. Nelson, John B. 1986. The natural communities of South Carolina.
Columbia, SC: South Carolina Wildlife & Marine Resources Department. 54
p. [15578]
25. Petrick, Edith W.; Petrick, John J. 1989. Controlling titi encroachment
on the National Forests in Florida. In: Proceedings of the National
Silviculture Workshop: Silviculture for all resources; 1987 May 11-14;
Sacramento, CA. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Timber Management: 201-209. [11777]
26. Priester, David S. 1990. Magnolia virginiana L. sweetbay. In: Burns,
Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H., technical coordinators. Silvics of
North America. Vol. 2. Hardwoods. Agric. Handb. 654. Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 449-454. [16258]
27. Radford, Albert E.; Ahles, Harry E.; Bell, C. Ritchie. 1968. Manual of
the vascular flora of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of
North Carolina Press. 1183 p. [7606]
28. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
29. Silker, T. H. 1955. Prescribed burning for the control of undesirable
hardwoods in pine-hardwood stands and slash pine plantations. Bulletin
No. 46. Kirbyville, TX: Texas A & M College, Texas Forest Service. 19 p.
[15422]
30. Silker, T. H. 1961. Prescribed burning to control undesirable hardwoods
in southern pine stands. Bulletin No. 51. Kirbyville, TX: Texas Forest
Service. 44 p. [16898]
31. Streng, D. R.; Harcombe, P. A. 1982. Why don't east Texas savannas grow
up to forest?. American Midland Naturalist. 108(2): 278-294. [10120]
32. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]
33. Van Dersal, William R. 1938. Native woody plants of the United States,
their erosion-control and wildlife values. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Agriculture. 362 p. [4240]
34. Vines, Robert A. 1960. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of the Southwest.
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 1104 p. [7707]
35. Walker, Joan; Peet, Robert K. 1983. Composition and species diversity of
pine-wiregrass savannas of the Green Swamp, North Carolina. Vegetatio.
55: 163-179. [10132]
36. Watson, Geraldine E. 1986. Influence of fire on the longleaf pine -
bluestem range in the Big Thicket region. In: Kulhavy, D. L.; Conner, R.
N., eds. Wilderness and natural areas in the eastern United States: a
management challenge. Nacogdoches, TX: Stephen F. Austin University:
181-185. [10334]
37. Wells, B. W. 1928. Plant communities of the Coastal Plain of North
Carolina and their successional relations. Ecology. 9(2): 230-242.
[9307]
Index
Related categories for Species: Cyrilla racemiflora
| Cyrilla
|
 |
