Difference between revisions of "Houstonia procumbens"
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| − | Common | + | Common names: roundleaf bluet; creeping bluet; fairy-footprints; innocence |
==Taxonomic notes== | ==Taxonomic notes== | ||
| − | Synonyms: ''Hedyotis procumbens'' (Walter ex J.F. Gmelin) Fosberg; ''Houstonia rotundifolia'' Michaux | + | Synonyms: ''Hedyotis procumbens'' (Walter ex J.F. Gmelin) Fosberg; ''Houstonia rotundifolia'' Michaux<ref name=weakley>Weakley, A.S. 2020. Flora of the Southeastern United States. Edition of 20 October 2020. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.</ref> |
| + | |||
| + | Varieties: ''Houstonia procumbens'' var. ''hirsuta'' (W.H. Lewis) D.B. Ward; ''H. procumbens'' var. ''procumbens''<ref name=weakley/> | ||
| + | |||
| + | The great variation in this plant's pubescence merits further study for possible varieties within the species.<ref>Ward, D. B. (2004). "New combinations in the Florida flora II." Novon 14(3): 365-371.</ref> | ||
==Description== | ==Description== | ||
<!-- Basic life history facts such as annual/perrenial, monoecious/dioecious, root morphology, seed type, etc. --> | <!-- Basic life history facts such as annual/perrenial, monoecious/dioecious, root morphology, seed type, etc. --> | ||
| − | ''Houstonia procumbens'' is a perennial herbaceous species with a procumbent, spreading growth habit and small white flowers<ref name=fsu/> | + | ''Houstonia procumbens'' is a perennial herbaceous species with a procumbent, spreading growth habit and small white flowers.<ref name=fsu/> |
| − | "Erect or creeping annuals or perennials. Leaves opposite, the bases connected by small stipules. Flowers in cymes or appearing solitary; sepals 4, lanceolate or subulate; corolla salverform or funnelform, lobes usually shorter than the tube; stamens 4, included. Capsule 2-locular, slightly flattened, the lower ½ enclosed by the calyx tube, the apex loculicidal." <ref name=radford>Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 981-3. Print.</ref> | + | "Erect or creeping annuals or perennials. Leaves opposite, the bases connected by small stipules. Flowers in cymes or appearing solitary; sepals 4, lanceolate or subulate; corolla salverform or funnelform, lobes usually shorter than the tube; stamens 4, included. Capsule 2-locular, slightly flattened, the lower ½ enclosed by the calyx tube, the apex loculicidal."<ref name=radford>Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 981-3. Print.</ref> |
| − | "Prostrate or weakly decumbent, creeping perennial, the solitary pedicels erect, 1-4 cm tall. Leaves widely ovate to suborbicular, 7-10 mm long, 4-10 mm wide, margins ciliolate. Corolla white, the tube 5-7 mm long, glabrous within, lobes 4-6 mm long. Capsule 3-4 mm broad." <ref name=radford/> | + | "Prostrate or weakly decumbent, creeping perennial, the solitary pedicels erect, 1-4 cm tall. Leaves widely ovate to suborbicular, 7-10 mm long, 4-10 mm wide, margins ciliolate. Corolla white, the tube 5-7 mm long, glabrous within, lobes 4-6 mm long. Capsule 3-4 mm broad." <ref name=radford/> |
==Distribution== | ==Distribution== | ||
| + | It is distributed in the southeastern coastal plain, from southeastern South Carolina south to southern Florida and west to southeastern Louisiana.<ref name=weakley/> | ||
| + | |||
==Ecology== | ==Ecology== | ||
===Habitat=== <!--Natural communities, human disturbed habitats, topography, hydrology, soils, light, fire regime requirements for removal of competition, etc.--> | ===Habitat=== <!--Natural communities, human disturbed habitats, topography, hydrology, soils, light, fire regime requirements for removal of competition, etc.--> | ||
| − | ''H. procumbens'' occurs in moist to dry sandy or loamy soils, or in loose sand<ref name=fsu>Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Harry E. Ahles, Loran C. Anderson, George R. Cooley, Delzie Demaree, Patricia Elliott, Suellen Folensbee, J. P. Gillespie, Robert K. Godfrey, Gary R. Knight, R. Komarek, R. Kral, Sidney McDaniel, R. S. Mitchell, Joseph Monachino, R. A. Norris, Kevin Oakes, Elmer C. Prichard, Gwynn W. Ramsey, W. D. Reese, Paul O. Schallert, John W. Thieret, L. B. Trott, and Jean W. Wooten. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, Suwannee, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington. Georgia: Grady and Thomas. Louisiana: Washington. South Carolina: Colleton.</ref>. | + | Generally, ''H. procumbens'' can be found on wet to moist sandy pinelands as well as beach dunes.<ref name=weakley/> As well, it grows in mostly moist open areas and pinelands or disturbed sites.<ref name= "lady bird">[[https://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?search_field=&newsearch=true]] Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Accessed: May 22, 2019</ref> It occurs in moist to dry sandy or loamy soils, or in loose sand. It can be found in light conditions from partial shade to full sun. ''H. procumbens'' was found to decrease in occurrence in response to soil disturbance by agriculture in southwest Georgia. It has shown resistance to regrowth in reestablished native savanna communities that were disturbed by agricultural practices.<ref>Kirkman, L.K., K.L. Coffey, R.J. Mitchell, and E.B. Moser. Ground Cover Recovery Patterns and Life-History Traits: Implications for Restoration Obstacles and Opportunities in a Species-Rich Savanna. (2004). Journal of Ecology 92(3):409-421.</ref> Native habitat it can be found in includes longleaf pine-scrub oak-wiregrass sand ridges, mixed hardwood woodlands, open slash pine stands, sand dunes, turkey oak scrub, and on stream banks. However, it can also occur in disturbed habitat such as roadsides, parking areas, cutover pinewoods, mowed lawns, bulldozed slash pine savannas, open pastures, and along trails.<ref name=fsu>Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Harry E. Ahles, Loran C. Anderson, George R. Cooley, Delzie Demaree, Patricia Elliott, Suellen Folensbee, J. P. Gillespie, Robert K. Godfrey, Gary R. Knight, R. Komarek, R. Kral, Sidney McDaniel, R. S. Mitchell, Joseph Monachino, R. A. Norris, Kevin Oakes, Elmer C. Prichard, Gwynn W. Ramsey, W. D. Reese, Paul O. Schallert, John W. Thieret, L. B. Trott, and Jean W. Wooten. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, Suwannee, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington. Georgia: Grady and Thomas. Louisiana: Washington. South Carolina: Colleton.</ref> Additionally, ''H. procumbens'' was found to be an increaser in its short-term response to single mechanical soil disturbances but was a decreaser in its long-term response following cessation of repeated soil disturbance.<ref name=Dixon>Dixon, C. M., K. M. Robertson, A. M. Reid and M. T. Rother. 2024. Mechanical soil disturbance in a pine savanna has multiyear effects on plant species composition. Ecosphere 15(2):e4759.</ref> |
| + | |||
| + | Associated species include ''Pinus palustris, Quercus, Aristida stricta, Pinus elliottii, Quercus virginiana, Phlox floridana, Stillingia sylvatica, Asimina longifolia'' var. ''spathulata, Lactuca graminifolia, Stylosanthes biflora, Erigeron strigosa, Baptisia lanceolata, Hedyotis crassifolia, Pterocaulon undulatum, Asclepias humistrata,'' and ''Quercus hemisphaerica.''<ref name=fsu/> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ''Houstonia procumbens'' is frequent and abundant in the North Florida Longleaf Woodlands and Clayhill Longleaf Woodlands community types as described in Carr et al. (2010).<ref>Carr, S.C., K.M. Robertson, and R.K. Peet. 2010. A vegetation classification of fire-dependent pinelands of Florida. Castanea 75:153-189.</ref> | ||
===Phenology=== <!--Timing off flowering, fruiting, seed dispersal, and environmental triggers. Cite PanFlora website if appropriate: http://www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ --> | ===Phenology=== <!--Timing off flowering, fruiting, seed dispersal, and environmental triggers. Cite PanFlora website if appropriate: http://www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ --> | ||
| − | This species has been observed flowering in January through May, July, and October. Fruiting has been observed in February through May, October, and November<ref name=fsu/>. | + | This species generally flowers from October until April. Since it flowers in the winter, it can easily be overlooked by botanists who are more likely to be in the field around other times.<ref name=weakley/> It has been observed flowering in January through May, July, August, and October with peak inflorescence in February. Fruiting has been observed in February through May, October, and November.<ref name=fsu/><ref>Nelson, G. [http://www.gilnelson.com/ PanFlora]: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 12 DEC 2016</ref> From the upper peninsula of Florida southward its flowering tends to be limited to the winter months.<ref>Amye C. Travis post to Florida Flora and Ecosystematics Group on Facebook, January 4, 2017.</ref> |
===Seed dispersal=== | ===Seed dispersal=== | ||
| − | + | This species is thought to be dispersed by gravity. <ref>Kirkman, L. Katherine. Unpublished database of seed dispersal mode of plants found in Coastal Plain longleaf pine-grasslands of the Jones Ecological Research Center, Georgia.</ref> Edwin Bridges and Alex Griffel observed in a sandhill woodland scrubby flatwoods in Polk County, Florida that, following flowering, as the fruit develops, the pedicels of the fruit recurve, and the fruit becomes buried in the sand below the prostrate leafy stems. When flowering is done, from above it looks like the plants are vegetative only, but if you pull them up and turn them over you can see abundant fruit.<ref>Edwin Bridges post to Florida Flora and Ecosystematics Group on Facebook, February 23, 2017.</ref> | |
| − | + | ||
| + | ===Seed bank and germination=== | ||
| + | For more successful germination, seeds of ''H. procumbens'' should be treated with moist stratification.<ref name= "lady bird"/> In multiple longleaf pine communities, it was found both in the standing vegetation and in the seedbank.<ref>Andreu, M. G., et al. 2009. Can managers bank on seed banks when restoring Pinus taeda L. plantations in southwest Georgia? Restoration Ecology 17:586-596.</ref><ref name= "Parks">Parks, G. R. (2007). Longleaf pine sandhill seed banks and seedling emergence in relation to time since fire, University of Florida. Master of Science: 84.</ref> Another study by Navarra found that seeds of this species were in higher frequency in the seed bank of fire disturbed areas rather than unburned areas.<ref name= "Navarra">Navarra, J. J., et al. (2011). "Seed bank changes with time since fire in Florida rosemary scrub." Fire Ecology 7(2): 17-31.</ref> | ||
===Fire ecology=== <!--Fire tolerance, fire dependence, adaptive fire responses--> | ===Fire ecology=== <!--Fire tolerance, fire dependence, adaptive fire responses--> | ||
| − | This species has been found in habitat that is often maintained by occasional fire ( | + | This species has been found in habitat that is often maintained by occasional fire,<ref name=fsu/> and populations of ''Houstonia procumbens'' have been known to persist through repeated annual burning.<ref>Robertson, K.M. Unpublished data collected from Pebble Hill Fire Plots, Pebble Hill Plantation, Thomasville, Georgia.</ref> It benefits most from summer burn regiments and then lesser spring burn regiments rather than winter burn regiments.<ref>Kush, J. S., et al. (2000). Understory plant community response to season of burn in natural longleaf pine forests. Proceedings 21st Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference. Fire and forest ecology: innovative silviculture & vegetation management, Tallahassee, FL, Tall Timbers Research, Inc.</ref> As well, fire disturbance has been shown to increase the amount of seeds in the seed bank rather than leaving an area unburned.<ref name= "Navarra"/> With this, seedling emergence was seen to increase with fire disturbance in comparison to a site that was unburned.<ref name= "Parks"/> |
| − | + | ||
| − | <!--=== | + | ===Pollination=== |
| + | ''Houstonia procumbens'' is a nectar source in late winter and early Spring, visited by butterflies including the zebra swallowtail (''Eurytides marcellus'').<ref>Post by "Brenda's Butterfly Habitat" to Florida Flora and Ecosystematics Post on Facebeook, February 18, 2015.</ref> | ||
| + | <!--===Herbivory and toxicology===--> | ||
<!--===Diseases and parasites===--> | <!--===Diseases and parasites===--> | ||
| − | ==Conservation and | + | ==Conservation, cultivation, and restoration== |
| − | == | + | |
| + | ==Cultural use== | ||
==Photo Gallery== | ==Photo Gallery== | ||
<gallery widths=180px> | <gallery widths=180px> | ||
| Line 55: | Line 70: | ||
==References and notes== | ==References and notes== | ||
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Latest revision as of 08:31, 2 August 2024
| Houstonia procumbens | |
|---|---|
| |
| Photo was taken by Gil Nelson | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons |
| Order: | Rubiales |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Genus: | Houstonia |
| Species: | H. procumbens |
| Binomial name | |
| Houstonia procumbens (Walter ex J.F. Gmel.) Standl. | |
| |
| Natural range of Houstonia procumbens from USDA NRCS Plants Database. | |
Common names: roundleaf bluet; creeping bluet; fairy-footprints; innocence
Contents
Taxonomic notes
Synonyms: Hedyotis procumbens (Walter ex J.F. Gmelin) Fosberg; Houstonia rotundifolia Michaux[1]
Varieties: Houstonia procumbens var. hirsuta (W.H. Lewis) D.B. Ward; H. procumbens var. procumbens[1]
The great variation in this plant's pubescence merits further study for possible varieties within the species.[2]
Description
Houstonia procumbens is a perennial herbaceous species with a procumbent, spreading growth habit and small white flowers.[3]
"Erect or creeping annuals or perennials. Leaves opposite, the bases connected by small stipules. Flowers in cymes or appearing solitary; sepals 4, lanceolate or subulate; corolla salverform or funnelform, lobes usually shorter than the tube; stamens 4, included. Capsule 2-locular, slightly flattened, the lower ½ enclosed by the calyx tube, the apex loculicidal."[4]
"Prostrate or weakly decumbent, creeping perennial, the solitary pedicels erect, 1-4 cm tall. Leaves widely ovate to suborbicular, 7-10 mm long, 4-10 mm wide, margins ciliolate. Corolla white, the tube 5-7 mm long, glabrous within, lobes 4-6 mm long. Capsule 3-4 mm broad." [4]
Distribution
It is distributed in the southeastern coastal plain, from southeastern South Carolina south to southern Florida and west to southeastern Louisiana.[1]
Ecology
Habitat
Generally, H. procumbens can be found on wet to moist sandy pinelands as well as beach dunes.[1] As well, it grows in mostly moist open areas and pinelands or disturbed sites.[5] It occurs in moist to dry sandy or loamy soils, or in loose sand. It can be found in light conditions from partial shade to full sun. H. procumbens was found to decrease in occurrence in response to soil disturbance by agriculture in southwest Georgia. It has shown resistance to regrowth in reestablished native savanna communities that were disturbed by agricultural practices.[6] Native habitat it can be found in includes longleaf pine-scrub oak-wiregrass sand ridges, mixed hardwood woodlands, open slash pine stands, sand dunes, turkey oak scrub, and on stream banks. However, it can also occur in disturbed habitat such as roadsides, parking areas, cutover pinewoods, mowed lawns, bulldozed slash pine savannas, open pastures, and along trails.[3] Additionally, H. procumbens was found to be an increaser in its short-term response to single mechanical soil disturbances but was a decreaser in its long-term response following cessation of repeated soil disturbance.[7]
Associated species include Pinus palustris, Quercus, Aristida stricta, Pinus elliottii, Quercus virginiana, Phlox floridana, Stillingia sylvatica, Asimina longifolia var. spathulata, Lactuca graminifolia, Stylosanthes biflora, Erigeron strigosa, Baptisia lanceolata, Hedyotis crassifolia, Pterocaulon undulatum, Asclepias humistrata, and Quercus hemisphaerica.[3]
Houstonia procumbens is frequent and abundant in the North Florida Longleaf Woodlands and Clayhill Longleaf Woodlands community types as described in Carr et al. (2010).[8]
Phenology
This species generally flowers from October until April. Since it flowers in the winter, it can easily be overlooked by botanists who are more likely to be in the field around other times.[1] It has been observed flowering in January through May, July, August, and October with peak inflorescence in February. Fruiting has been observed in February through May, October, and November.[3][9] From the upper peninsula of Florida southward its flowering tends to be limited to the winter months.[10]
Seed dispersal
This species is thought to be dispersed by gravity. [11] Edwin Bridges and Alex Griffel observed in a sandhill woodland scrubby flatwoods in Polk County, Florida that, following flowering, as the fruit develops, the pedicels of the fruit recurve, and the fruit becomes buried in the sand below the prostrate leafy stems. When flowering is done, from above it looks like the plants are vegetative only, but if you pull them up and turn them over you can see abundant fruit.[12]
Seed bank and germination
For more successful germination, seeds of H. procumbens should be treated with moist stratification.[5] In multiple longleaf pine communities, it was found both in the standing vegetation and in the seedbank.[13][14] Another study by Navarra found that seeds of this species were in higher frequency in the seed bank of fire disturbed areas rather than unburned areas.[15]
Fire ecology
This species has been found in habitat that is often maintained by occasional fire,[3] and populations of Houstonia procumbens have been known to persist through repeated annual burning.[16] It benefits most from summer burn regiments and then lesser spring burn regiments rather than winter burn regiments.[17] As well, fire disturbance has been shown to increase the amount of seeds in the seed bank rather than leaving an area unburned.[15] With this, seedling emergence was seen to increase with fire disturbance in comparison to a site that was unburned.[14]
Pollination
Houstonia procumbens is a nectar source in late winter and early Spring, visited by butterflies including the zebra swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus).[18]
Conservation, cultivation, and restoration
Cultural use
Photo Gallery
References and notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Weakley, A.S. 2020. Flora of the Southeastern United States. Edition of 20 October 2020. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
- ↑ Ward, D. B. (2004). "New combinations in the Florida flora II." Novon 14(3): 365-371.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Harry E. Ahles, Loran C. Anderson, George R. Cooley, Delzie Demaree, Patricia Elliott, Suellen Folensbee, J. P. Gillespie, Robert K. Godfrey, Gary R. Knight, R. Komarek, R. Kral, Sidney McDaniel, R. S. Mitchell, Joseph Monachino, R. A. Norris, Kevin Oakes, Elmer C. Prichard, Gwynn W. Ramsey, W. D. Reese, Paul O. Schallert, John W. Thieret, L. B. Trott, and Jean W. Wooten. States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, Suwannee, Volusia, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington. Georgia: Grady and Thomas. Louisiana: Washington. South Carolina: Colleton.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 981-3. Print.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 [[1]] Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Accessed: May 22, 2019
- ↑ Kirkman, L.K., K.L. Coffey, R.J. Mitchell, and E.B. Moser. Ground Cover Recovery Patterns and Life-History Traits: Implications for Restoration Obstacles and Opportunities in a Species-Rich Savanna. (2004). Journal of Ecology 92(3):409-421.
- ↑ Dixon, C. M., K. M. Robertson, A. M. Reid and M. T. Rother. 2024. Mechanical soil disturbance in a pine savanna has multiyear effects on plant species composition. Ecosphere 15(2):e4759.
- ↑ Carr, S.C., K.M. Robertson, and R.K. Peet. 2010. A vegetation classification of fire-dependent pinelands of Florida. Castanea 75:153-189.
- ↑ Nelson, G. PanFlora: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 12 DEC 2016
- ↑ Amye C. Travis post to Florida Flora and Ecosystematics Group on Facebook, January 4, 2017.
- ↑ Kirkman, L. Katherine. Unpublished database of seed dispersal mode of plants found in Coastal Plain longleaf pine-grasslands of the Jones Ecological Research Center, Georgia.
- ↑ Edwin Bridges post to Florida Flora and Ecosystematics Group on Facebook, February 23, 2017.
- ↑ Andreu, M. G., et al. 2009. Can managers bank on seed banks when restoring Pinus taeda L. plantations in southwest Georgia? Restoration Ecology 17:586-596.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Parks, G. R. (2007). Longleaf pine sandhill seed banks and seedling emergence in relation to time since fire, University of Florida. Master of Science: 84.
- ↑ Robertson, K.M. Unpublished data collected from Pebble Hill Fire Plots, Pebble Hill Plantation, Thomasville, Georgia.
- ↑ Kush, J. S., et al. (2000). Understory plant community response to season of burn in natural longleaf pine forests. Proceedings 21st Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference. Fire and forest ecology: innovative silviculture & vegetation management, Tallahassee, FL, Tall Timbers Research, Inc.
- ↑ Post by "Brenda's Butterfly Habitat" to Florida Flora and Ecosystematics Post on Facebeook, February 18, 2015.
