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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
ABBREVIATION :
LEURAC
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
LEUCO5
COMMON NAMES :
fetterbush
swamp fetterbush
deciduous fetterbush
sweet-bells
white-osier
pepper-bush
dog hobble
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for fetterbush is Leucothoe
racemosa (L.) Gray [10]. There are no recognized subspieces, varieties,
or forms.
LIFE FORM :
Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Milo Coladonato, May, 1992
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo. 1992. Leucothoe racemosa. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Fetterbush is widely distributed throughout the Coastal Plain of the
southeastern United States from eastern Massachusetts to southern
Florida and west through the Gulf States to southeastern Texas [10,14].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
STATES :
AL CT DE FL GA LA MD MA MS NJ
NY NC PA RI SC TN TX VA
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
BITH BLRI CACO DEWA FOCA GWMP
OBRI RICH ROCR
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K090 Live oak - sea oats
K091 Cypress savanna
K100 Oak - hickory
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
SAF COVER TYPES :
63 Cottonwood
70 Longleaf pine
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
79 Virginia pine
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
87 Sweetgum - yellow-poplar
88 Live oak
89 Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
96 Overcup oak - water hickory
97 Atlantic white cedar
98 Pond pine
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress
102 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp yupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Fetterbush is listed as a medium choice browse to white-tailed deer in
the Longleaf Pine Belt of Alabama [9]. The leaves of fetterbush are
poisonous to livestock [19,20].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Fetterbush is a small to large, widely branched, deciduous shrub [7,10].
It is prostrate to erect in form, reaching heights between 3 to 12 feet
(1.0 - 3.5 m). The leaves are short, thin, and smooth with the smaller
leaves occurring on the twig among the larger leaves. The short,
tubular flowers are borne in clusters at the end of the stems. The
fruit is a five-part capsule that persists over the winter [14,20].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (microphanerophyte)
Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (nanophanerophyte)
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Fetterbush reproduces vegetatively by sprouting from adventitious buds
on the roots following disturbance [21]. It also regenerates sexually,
although the details have not been described.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Fetterbush grows on a variety of sites in the coastal plains of the
southeastern United States but is restricted to climates with mild
winters and long, hot, humid summers. It grows best in shrub-tree bogs,
cypress (Taxodium spp.)-gum (Nyssa spp.) depressions, along marshy
streambanks, and forest edges [2,15]. It is an important shrub species
in pocosins [1,11].
Common overstory associates include swamp blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica var.
biflora), loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus), sweetbay (Persea
borbonia), red maple (Acer rubrum), titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), and
southern white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides). Understory associates
include hurrahbush (Lyonia lucida), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)
southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), and laurelleaf greenbrier (Smilax
laurifolia) [1,3,4,5].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Fetterbush is an early- to mid-seral species that is intolerant to shade
and grows best in full sunlight [3,15]. In a southern white cedar
forest in southeastern North Carolina, fetterbush was present in the
intial stages after disturbance, gradually reduced in the middle-age
forest, and disappeared in the mature forest [3].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Fetterbush begins extensive growth in early March and peaks in growth in
early summer [17]. It flowers between April and June [20].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Fire does not usually invade the wetlands and lower slopes of the
floodplain because the soil and duff layers are usually very damp
[11,21]. Shallow burns favor fetterbush because of its ability to
sprout quickly after aboveground portions of the plant are killed
[1,4].
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
survivor species; on-site survivng root crown or caudex
off-site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; postfire yr 1&2
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Fire typically top-kills aboveground portions of fetterbush [4].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Fetterbush will sprout from adventitious buds on the root following fire
[4].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Leucothoe racemosa | Fetterbush
REFERENCES :
1. Ash, A. N.; McDonald, C. B.; Kane, E. S.; Pories, C. A. 1983. Natural
and modified pocosins: literature synthesis and management options.
FWS/OBS-83/04. Washington, DC: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division
of Biological Sciences. 156 p. [16178]
2. Barbour, Michael G.; Billings, William Dwight, eds. 1988. North American
terrestrial vegetation. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
434 p. [13876]
3. 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]
4. Cypert, Eugene. 1961. The effects of fires in the Okefenokee Swamp in
1954 and 1955. American Midland Naturalist. 66(2): 485-503. [11018]
5. 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]
6. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
7. 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]
8. 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]
9. 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]
10. 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]
11. 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]
12. 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]
13. 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]
14. Magee, Dennis W. 1981. Freshwater wetlands: A guide to common indicator
plants of the Northeast. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
245 p. [14824]
15. Ogden, J. Gordon, III. 1962. Forest history of Martha's Vineyard,
Massachusetts. I. Modern and pre-colonial forests. American Midland
Naturalist. 66(2): 417-430. [10118]
16. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
17. Schlesinger, William H. 1978. On the relative dominance of shrubs in
Okefenokee Swamp. American Naturalist. 112(987): 949-954. [15360]
18. 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]
19. 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]
20. Vines, Robert A. 1960. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of the Southwest.
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 1104 p. [7707]
21. Wells, B. W.; Whitford, L. A. 1976. History of stream-head swamp
forests, pocosins, and savannahs in the Southeast. Journal of the Elisha
Mitchell Science Society. 92: 148-150. [15038]
Index
Related categories for Species: Leucothoe racemosa
| Fetterbush
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