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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
ABBREVIATION :
LYOLIG
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
LYLI
COMMON NAMES :
maleberry
he-huckleberry
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for maleberry is Lyonia
ligustrina (L.) DC. (Ericaceae) [8,11,23].
Lyonia ligustrina is quite variable in stature, pubescence, leaf size
and shape, and inflorescence. Numerous intergrading varieties have been
described. Most of the varieties represent extremes of the total
variation [14,23]. The following two varieties are distinct from each
other and are commonly recognized [11,14,23]:
L. l. var. ligustrina
L. l. var. foliosiflora (Michx.) Fern.
The inflorescence of L. l. var. foliosiflora has conspicuously
foliaceous bracts whereas the typical variety inflorescence is naked or
with only a few foliaceous bracts [14].
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. Lyonia ligustrina. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Maleberry occurs in the eastern United States. The range of the typical
variety extends from Maine south in the Appalachian Mountains, Piedmont,
and Atlantic Coastal Plain to Virginia, and further south in the
mountains and Piedmont to northern Georgia and Alabama. Lyonia
ligustrina var. foliosiflora occurs on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal
plains from southeast Virginia south to central Florida and west to
eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma. It also occurs in southern and
central Arkansas. The ranges of the two varieties overlap slightly in
southeastern Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, northern
Alabama, and Tennessee [14].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR CT DE FL GA KY LA ME MD
MA MS NH NJ NY NC OH OK PA RI
SC TN TX VT VA WV
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
BISO BITH BLRI CACO CAHA CUIS
DEWA FIIS GWMP GRSM HOSP NERI
OBRI PRWI RICH ROCR SHEN
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K091 Cypress savanna
K094 Conifer bog
K106 Northern hardwoods
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K114 Pocosin
SAF COVER TYPES :
13 Black spruce - tamarack
38 Tamarack
45 Pitch pine
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
97 Atlantic white-cedar
108 Red maple
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Maleberry is a common but rarely dominant shrub in moist and dry woods
and thickets, heath balds, shrub bogs, and the margins of swamps, ponds
and rivers [14].
Maleberry frequently occurs in transitional communities such as pond and
swamp margins and forest edges [13]. In New York, maleberry is a
characteristic species of shrub swamp and pine barrens shrub swamp
communities which are transitional between marsh, fen, or bog and upland
communities [25]. In a moat bog in Massachusetts, maleberry occurs in a
transitional community between the fringe moat community (a floating mat
at the bog edge) and the shrub thicket community of the bog interior
[21]. A moat bog is an intermediate stage of lake-fill succession in
which a circle of water separates the island bog from uplands [31].
Maleberry occurs in the grassy bald ecotone between grassy balds and
deciduous forests [30].
In the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, maleberry
occurs in pitch pine (Pinus rigida) heath, Table Mountain pine (Pinus
pungens) heath, and heath bald communities [30]. In these communities,
maleberry is associated with other heath species including rhododendron
(Rhododendron spp.), highbush cranberry (Vaccinium corymbosum),
mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and sweet pepperbush (Clethra spp.)
[3,29,20].
On tree islands of the Okefenokee Swamp on the border of Georgia and
Florida, maleberry occurs with fetterbush (Leucothoe racemosa),
hurrahbush (Lyonia lucida), and southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera) [5].
Maleberry occurs with northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) and
beach-plum (Prunus maritima) on secondary dunes surrounding bogs on
Monomoy Island, Massachusetts [20].
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Maleberry probably provides shelter and cover for wildlife. Animals
presumably eat the fruit since the seed is animal-dispersed.
Maleberry foliage is suspected of causing livestock poisoning [8,14,15].
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 :
Maleberry stem cuttings rooted within 30 days when they were maintained
in a moist greenhouse, dusted with a rooting hormone, and grown in pure
vermiculite [1].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Maleberry is a native, branching shrub with longitudinally furrowed bark
[14,28]. The typical variety is deciduous but L. l. var. foliosiflora
may retain its leaves for much of the year [12,14]. Maleberry grows to
13 feet (4 m) in height. The fruit is a five-valved dry capsule. The
seeds are 0.03 to 0.07 inches (0.7-1.7 mm) long [14,28].
Aerial stems arise from branched rhizomes to form maleberry clones. The
aerial stems may be as much as 13 feet (4 m) 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, but may extend as deep as 4 inches (10 cm)
[19].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Maleberry regenerates by vegetative reproduction and seed. It
reproduces vegetatively after disturbance by sprouting from rhizomes
[13]. Maleberry probably colonizes new sites by animal-dispersed seed [2].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Maleberry is adapted to a wide range of ecological conditions from dry
rocky sites to just above the standing water in bogs and swamps [13].
The typical variety occurs from sea level to nearly 6,500 feet (2,000 m)
elevation. Lyonia ligustrina var. foliosiflora occurs to 1,000 feet
(300 m) elevation [14].
Maleberry primarily grows on acidic, organic soils [13,16], but it grows
on sandy soils as well [6,12,28].
Maleberry is a facultative phreatophyte; its roots extend to the water
table in lowland areas but do not reach the water table in upland areas
[19]. The typical variety occurs on both moist and dry sites whereas L.
l. var. foliosiflora occurs primarily on moist sites [14]. In the
Okefenokee Swamp on the border of Georgia and Florida, L. l. var.
foliosiflora occurs on relatively high, dry sites [5].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
Maleberry is intermediate in shade tolerance but grows best in light [13].
During primary succession, maleberry does not appear in tree island
communities in the Okefenokee Swamp until islands have been occupied by
woody species for 30 to 45 years. On the islands, maleberry is most
abundant on old-growth sites, and typically does not occur in places
lacking an almost complete canopy [5].
In the Appalachian Mountains, maleberry occurs in stable heath bald
communities which are resistant to tree invasion. These communities may
have formerly supported trees but shrub species became dominant after
disturbance [29].
In New Hampshire, maleberry occurs in a mid- to late-successional forest
of white oak (Quercus alba), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), and
sassafras (Sassafras albidum) [22].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Maleberry flowers from late April to early July [14], and fruits from
September to October [23].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Maleberry is fire tolerant. Aboveground parts are probably destroyed by
most fires, but dormant buds on rhizomes survive and sprout [13].
Severe fire can probably reduce or eliminate maleberry from a site.
Maleberry occurs in habitats that regularly experience fire including
the New Jersey Pine Barrens and the pine flatwoods of the southeastern
coastal plains [2,10]. Maleberry colonized tree islands in the
Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and Florida 0 to 20 years after fire. It
occurred earlier in postfire succession than in primary succession,
probably due to its intolerance of saturated conditions [5].
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Most fires probably kill aboveground portions of maleberry.
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 [13].
In a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) flatwoods in South Carolina, postfire
growing season cover and abundance of woody species in the herb layer
(including maleberry) did not differ between three treatments: unburned
control, winter fire, and winter fire followed by late summer fire [10].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Lyonia ligustrina | Maleberry
REFERENCES :
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V. 1993. High-elevation forests: spruce-fir forests, northern hardwood
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Index
Related categories for Species: Lyonia ligustrina
| Maleberry
|
 |
