BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Ilex coriacea | Large Gallberry 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Large gallberry is a large evergreen tree or shrub, native to the
southeastern United States.  Its fruits are shiny black berries.  Plants
grow up to 7 feet (2.1 m) tall.  The leaves are leathery.  The flowers
are usually unisexual; the plants are dioecious [7,9,11].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (microphanerophyte)
   Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (nanophanerophyte)
   Burned or Clipped State: Crytophyte (geophyte)


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Large gallberry regenerates vegetatively by sprouting from rhizomes [5].
It also regenerates sexually, although the details have not been studied
[27].  The nature of the fruit suggests that the seeds are dispersed by
animals.


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Large gallberry grows in pine savannas and flatwoods, shrub-tree bogs
and bays, open bogs, seepage areas in woodlands, on lower slopes, wooded
ravines, and depressions [7,11].

Typical soils are sandy, acidic, and low in organic matter.  They are
often poorly drained, and frequently or seasonally flooded [2,7].

Large gallberry is common on longleaf pine or longleaf pine-slash pine
sites.  Overstory associates include baldcypress and pondcypress
(Taxodium spp.), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and water tupelo (N.
aquatica) [8,11].

Understory associates include saw-palmetto (Serenoa repens), sweetbay
(Magnolia virginiana), swamp cyrilla (Cyrilla racemiflora), bitter
gallberry (Ilex galbra), laurelleaf greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia),
buckwheat-tree (Cliftonia monophyla), blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), and
blackberries (Rubus spp.) [8,25].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Large gallberry is a mid to late seral species that grows well under a
canopy.  It tends toward a mature forest and competes with tree
seedlings [6,19].  It typically does not on sites lacking the shade of a
dense canopy [17,18].



SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Large gallberry flowers between April and May; its fruit ripens from
September to October [7,11,27].

Related categories for Species: Ilex coriacea | Large Gallberry