Introductory
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



ABBREVIATION : 
GAYFRO

SYNONYMS : 
   Gaylussacia tomentosa (Gray) Small
   Gaylussacia nana (Gray) Small [36]


SCS PLANT CODE : 
   GAFR2


COMMON NAMES : 
   dangleberry
   hairy dangleberry


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name for dangleberry is Gaylussacia
frondosa (L.) T. & G. (Ericaceae) [13,26].

The following three varieties are recognized:

       G. f. var. frondosa
       G. f. var. tomentosa Gray [5,6,14,15]
       G. f. var. nana Gray [5,14,15]

Wunderlin [36] considers the two nontypic varieties to be separate species.

Gaylussacia f. var. tomentosa is distinguished by densely short-pubescent twigs
and lower leaf surfaces.  Gaylussacia f. var. nana is distinguished by its
shorter stature, shorter branches, and columnar aspect, as well as
short-pubescent stems [15].


LIFE FORM : 
Shrub

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
No special status

OTHER STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
Jennifer H. Carey, June 1994


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Carey, Jennifer H. 1994. Gaylussacia frondosa. In: Remainder of Citation

DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Dangleberry occurs in the eastern United States.  The range of the
typical variety extends from New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire
south along the Atlantic Coastal Plain to South Carolina [15].  Although
dangleberry occurs primarily east of the Appalachian Mountains, it has
been reported in Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia [3,13].  Gaylussacia
frondosa var. tomentosa occurs from South Carolina to central Florida
and west to Alabama [14,26].  The range of G. f. var. nana extends from
southern Georgia south to central Florida, and west to Mississippi and
possibly Louisiana [15].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES12  Longleaf - slash pine
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES14  Oak - pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory


STATES : 
     AL  CT  DE  FL  GA  LA  MD  MA  MS  NH
     NJ  NY  NC  OH  PA  RI  SC  TN  VA  WV


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     BLRI  CACO  CAHA  CATO  COLO  CUIS
     DEWA  FOCA  GWMP  PRWI


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest
   K114  Pocosin


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    45  Pitch pine
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    70  Longleaf pine
    75  Shortleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    84  Slash pine
    97  Atlantic white-cedar
    98  Pond pine


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Dangleberry is a common but rarely dominant shrub in the Atlantic and
Gulf coastal plains [12].  It occurs in dry and moist woods,
particularly in pine (Pinus spp.) flatwoods [7].

Dangleberry frequently occurs with other ericaceous shrubs including
highbush cranberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), hillside blueberry (V.
pallidum), Lyonia spp., sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), wintergreen
(Gaultheria procumbens), dwarf huckleberry (Gaylussacia dumosa), and
black huckleberry (G. baccata) [9,17,28,31].

At swamp and drainage margins, dangleberry is associated with red maple
(Acer rubrum), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), sweetbay (Magnolia
virginiana), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), redbay (Persea
borbonia), loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus), fetterbush (Leucothoe
racemosa), and Sphagnum spp. [8,9,18,34].

In longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and slash pine (P. elliottii)
communities, dangleberry occurs with bitter gallberry (Ilex glabra),
wiregrass (Aristida stricta), and saw-palmetto (Serenoa repens)
[18,28,31].

Dangleberry is listed as a dominant species in the following
publications:

1.  The phytosociology of the Green Swamp, North Carolina [18]
2.  The ecology of southeastern shrub bogs (pocosins) and Carolina bays:
      a community profile [28]

VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Dangleberry provides food, shelter, and cover for wildlife.  Numerous
birds including sharp-tailed grouse, greater prairie chicken, bobwhite
quail, wild turkey, mourning dove, catbird, and scarlet tanager eat the
berries.  Black bear, gray fox, raccoon, and fox squirrel also eat the
berries.  White-tailed deer and cottontail rabbit browse stems lightly
[16,33].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
In Lehigh Gap, Pennsylvania, where soil is contaminated with heavy
metals from a nearby smelter, dangleberry cover and density are lower
than in uncontaminated areas [17].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Dangleberry fruits are edible [33].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Ehrenfeld [7] determined shrub biomass and nitrogen concentrations of
dangleberry foliage from the New Jersey pine barrens.  Dangleberry
produces small stems but abundant leaves, so it has low shrub biomass
but high net biomass production [7,8].

Regression equations for predicting dangleberry biomass which relate
stem diameter to dry weight are available [8].

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Dangleberry is a native, deciduous, freely branched slender shrub
[26,33].  The typical variety grows to 6 feet (2 m) in height, G. f.
var. tomentosa grows to 3 feet (1 m) in height, and G. f. var. nana
grows to 2 feet (0.6 m) in height [14].  The fruit is a fleshy drupe
containing around 10 seeds [13,33].

Aerial stems arise from extensively branched rhizomes to form clones
[22].  The aerial stems are usually 3 to 72 inches (7.6-183 cm) apart on
the rhizomes.  The woody rhizomes are usually 0.13 to 0.38 inches
(0.3-1.0 cm) in diameter.  They are generally confined to the humus
layer and the top 2 inches (5 cm) of the A1 soil horizon.  Roots are
generally confined to the same soil level as the rhizomes [20].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Dangleberry regenerates by vegetative reproduction and seed.

Existing dangleberry colonies regenerate after disturbance primarily by
sprouting from rhizomes.  Destruction of aboveground stems stimulates
sprouting [21,22].

Dangleberry probably colonizes new sites by animal-dispersed seed [12].
Dangleberry was present in the understory of an oak (Quercus spp.)-pine
woods in the New Jersey pine barrens but absent from the seedbank [23].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Dangleberry occurs primarily on the southeastern United States coastal
plains and is infrequent on the Piedmont.  It grows in sandy and rocky
woods and on the margins of shrub bogs and swamps [5,14,26].

Dangleberry grows on acidic, low-nutrient, poorly to well-drained soils
[1,12,18,28].  It grows on both organic and mineral soils but prefers an
intermediate soil type with a shallow organic layer [18].  At the
outermost fringe of a bog in North Carolina, a tall shrub community
which included dangleberry occurred on soil with a 10- to 12-inch (25-30
cm) organic layer [34].

Dangleberry is a facultative phreatophyte; its roots extend to the water
table in lowland areas, but do not reach the water table in upland areas [20].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Dangleberry is probably intermediate in shade tolerance but may be more
productive when grown in sunlight.  It is an important component in
older stands of the New Jersey pine barrens [29].  In Massachusetts,
dangleberry occurs in a mid- to late-successional forest dominated by
white oak (Quercus alba), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), and
sassafras (Sassafras albidum) [24].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Dangleberry flowers March through May, and fruits mature July through
August [26,35].

FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Dangleberry is fire tolerant.  Aboveground parts are destroyed by most
fires, but dormant buds on rhizomes usually survive and sprout [4,21].
Dangleberry occurs in habitats that regularly experience fire, including
oak scrub, oak-pine scrub, and longleaf pine-slash pine communities [4,31].

Low-severity fire encourages prolific vegetative growth of dangleberry
[22].  However, severe fire that burns the humus layer, where many of
the rhizomes are, can probably reduce or eliminate dangleberry from a
site [20].  Frequent fire may decrease dangleberry cover [4], probably
because of inadequate time between fires to replenish root resources.

Dangleberry regeneration after fire is probably independent of
aboveground, but not belowground, severity.  Areas that burn frequently
may have low levels of humus, so rhizomes must grow in the mineral soil
and are less vulnerable to fire.  For instance, dangleberry persists in
the New Jersey pine barrens which historically burned by severe crown
fire every 20 to 25 years [2,20].

In the Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, an oak-pine scrub
community with an understory of dangleberry, saw-palmetto, and Lyonia
spp. has natural 20- to 30-year fire intervals.  This community may
support fire as often as every 5 years [31].


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil

FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Most fires kill aboveground portions of dangleberry [4,21].
Moderate-severity or severe fire that burns the humus layer may also
kill many of the rhizomes, thereby killing the plant.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Surviving rhizomes sprout from dormant buds following fire [4,21].

A single low-severity fire usually encourages prolific dangleberry
growth.  Vigorous thickets of dangleberry with high stem densities arise
after low-severity fire [22].

Buell and Cantlon [4] investigated the effects of fire frequency on an
upland oak forest in New Jersey with a well-developed shrub layer.
Low-severity prescribed fires were conducted in winter at 1-, 2-, 3-,
4-, 5-, 10-, and 15-year intervals.  Dangleberry showed long-term decline
in percent cover at fire intervals of 5 years or less.  Dangleberry had
14 percent cover on unburned control plots and 0.5 percent cover on
plots burned annually for 10 years.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
In the North Carolina Coastal Plain, the fuel load was 17.3 tons per
acre for a tall shrub community averaging 8 feet (2.4 m) in height.
Dangleberry contributed 10 percent of the total fuel load [34].

In frequently burned 16- to 30-year-old slash pine forests in
southeastern Georgia, dangleberry attained peak production 3 years after
prescribed burning.  It produced no fruit the first postfire year, 32
grams of fruit per 100 square meters the second year, and 104.4 grams of
fruit per 100 square meters the third year, accounting for 23 percent of
the total fruit production in the forests during the third postfire
growing season.  Dangleberry fruit production decreased substantially
the fourth postfire year.  The authors conclude that prescribed fire at
3-year intervals optimizes dangleberry and other forest species fruit
production, but longer intervals (more than 5 years) allow less
fire-tolerant mast-producing species to mature as well [16].  Because
Buell and Cantlon [4] showed that dangleberry declines at fire intervals
of 5 years or less, a prescribed fire interval longer than 5 years is
probably best for long-term dangleberry fruit production.

In a longleaf pine forest in Florida, fire during the growing season
synchronized the postfire flower production of understory species
including dangleberry [25].

REFERENCES
SPECIES: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry 



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Related categories for Species: Gaylussacia frondosa | Dangleberry