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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
ABBREVIATION :
MAGVIR
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
MAVI2
COMMON NAMES :
sweetbay
southern sweetbay
laurel magnolia
swampbay
swamp magnolia
white-bay
white-laurel
sweet magnolia
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for sweetbay is Magnolia
virginiana L. [21]. Sweetbay is often confused with loblolly-bay
(Gordonia lasianthus) and redbay (Persea borbonia) but is readily
distinguished from them by the white pubescence of its lower leaf
surface [33].
LIFE FORM :
Tree, Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Milo Coladonato, November 1991
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo. 1991. Magnolia virginiana. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
The range of sweetbay extends chiefly along the Atlantic and Gulf
coastal plains from Long Island south through New Jersey and
southeastern Pennsylavania to southern Florida, west to eastern Texas,
and north into southern Arkansas and southwest Tennessee. Sweetbay is
most abundant in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina [27].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
STATES :
AL AR DE FL GA KY LA MD MS NC
NJ NY OK PA SC TN TX VA
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
ASIS BICY BITH CAHA CALO COSW
CUIS EVER FOCA GWMP HOBE NATR
RICH
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
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 :
57 Yellow poplar
59 Yellow poplar - white oak - northern red oak
63 Cottonwood
69 Sand pine
70 Longleaf pine
71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
72 Southern scrub oak
73 Southern redcedar
74 Cabbage palmetto
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
78 Virginia 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
85 Slash pine - hardwood
87 Sweetgum - yellow-poplar
88 Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
89 Live oak
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
96 Overcup oak - water hickory
97 Atlantic white-cedar
98 Pond pine
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress
102 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
111 South Florida slash pine
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
The high-quality wood of sweetbay is medium soft, uniform, and
straight-grained. Sweetbay wood is resistant to heavy shrinkage, is
highly shock absorbant, and has a relatively low bending and compression
strength. It takes glue well, has a good nailing quality, and stains
and varnishes easily [16,25].
Nearly two-thirds of commercial magnolia (Magnolia spp.) is used in
making furniture products [27]. Magnolia wood is used by the food
industry for making cherry boxes, flats, and baskets [9]. The wood is
also used for popsickle sticks, tonque depressers, broomhandles, veneer,
and venetian blinds [16].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Sweetbay is an important forage for deer and cattle [27]. Winter use by
cattle can account for as much as 25 percent of their diet [20].
White-tailed deer browse the leaves and twigs year-round [22]. The
seeds are eaten by gray squirrels and to a lesser extent by white-footed
mice, wild turkey, quail, and song birds [30].
PALATABILITY :
Sweetbay is highly palatable to cattle and white-tailed deer [22].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Seasonal nutrient content of sweetbay browse collected in Texas was as
follows [20]:
N-free Phosphoric
Protein Fat Fiber extract Ash acid Calcium
(percent)
Summer 10.67 --- --- --- --- 0.18 ---
Winter 9.44 7.52 22.13 40.59 5.39 0.20 0.79
The protein level is fair to good in summer and fair in winter; the
phosphoric acid level deficient in summer and winter; and the calcium
grade is high [20].
COVER VALUE :
Sweetbay provides perching and nesting sites for several species of
birds [5].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
The flowers and foliage of sweetbay make it a valuable and extensively
planted ornamental [27]. The leaves are used in flavoring foods [16].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Sweetbay can endure prolonged flooding but is susceptible to drought.
Winter drought can cause extensive dieback and mortality. Seedlings are
very susceptible to frost damage; even a light frost can cause mortality
[7,27]. The leaves and twigs of sweetbay are well above the ground and
are often browsed by white-tailed deer in winter. Sweetbay can be 80 to
100 percent defoliated by the end of the first or second growing season
if browsed heavily [20].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Sweetbay is a slow-growing, small- to medium-sized evergreen tree or
shrub [15]. In northern climates sweetbay grows mainly as a shrub,
usually 2 to 5 feet (0.6-1.5 m) tall. In the southern portions of its
range, the tree may range in height from 50 to 100 feet (15 to 30 m)
[27].
The white flowers of sweetbay occur on solitary, stout, terminal
peduncles at the end of leafy twigs. The fruit is a conelike aggregate
consisting of many one- or two-seeded follicles [12]. At maturity, the
follicles dehisce and the long scarlet seeds emerge to hang suspended
for a time by fine silky threads. The leaves are alternate, entire, and
thin, with bright green upper surfaces and pubescent, white lower
surfaces. The bark is thin, smooth, and gray to reddish-brown [30].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (mesophanerophyte)
Undisturbed State: Phanerophyte (microphanerophyte)
Burned or Clipped State: Cryptophyte (geophyte)
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Seed production and dispersal: Sweetbay produces some seed annually,
but yields are small. Cleaned seeds average about 7,530 per pound
(16,600/kg) [16]. Seeds are dispersed by wind, birds, and occasionally
by water [33].
Dormancy and germination: Sweetbay seeds exhibit embryo dormancy that
can be broken by 3 to 6 months of cold stratification at 32 to 41
degrees F (0-5 degrees C). Various tests with stratified seeds have
yielded germination capacities averaging 32 to 50 percent [33].
Vegetative reproduction: Sweetbay stumps produce sprouts but their
vitality and growth potential are not known [27].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Sweetbay occurs mainly east of the Mississippi River on lower elevations
in the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains [2,18]. It occurs on sites that
are usually moist throughout the year, and on sites characterized by
soils of low base saturation [1,30]. Trees commonly associated with
sweetbay are red maple (Acer rubrum), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica),
sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), water oak (Quercus nigra), laurel
oak (Q. laurifolia), southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), and
American holly (Ilex opaca) [4,26]. Common understory associates
include buckwheat-tree (Cliftonia monophyla), swamp cyrilla (Cyrilla
racemiflora), swamp dogwood (Cornus stricta), southern bayberry (Myrica
cerifera), Virginia willow (Itea virginica), dahoon (Ilex cassine), red
chokecherry (Sorbus arbutifiolia), large gallberry (I. coriacea),
inkberry (I. glabra), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), and small
switchcane (Arundinaria tecta) [3,26].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Sweetbay is a late successional species that is intermediate in shade
tolerance [8]. Sweetbay will invade pine and hardwood stands, and once
established, it can maintain or increase by growing up through openings
in the canopy [8,24]. Sweetbay has been migrating onto mesic sites and
establishing itself as a climax species in mixed hardwood forests [26].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
The flowers open during a period of several weeks from April to July
with the fruit ripening from July through October [32,33].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Sweetbay is moderately adapted to fire. Although the bark is relatively
thin, the cork layer underneath the bark does not burn easily and is
relatively fire resistant [17].
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
survivor species; on-site surviving root crown or caudex
off-site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; postfire yr 1&2
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Sweetbay seedlings are easily killed by fire. Older trees, due to bark
characteristics, are quite fire resistant [17,26].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Sweetbay sprouts from surviving root collars following top-kill by fire
[3,6].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
In the absence of fire, sweetbay becomes one of the dominant species in
southern mixed hardwood forests [8,13]. Repeated burning may eliminate
sweetbay from some of the flatwoods and bays [10].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay
REFERENCES :
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Index
Related categories for Species: Magnolia virginiana
| Sweetbay
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