Sanicula smallii
| Sanicula smallii | |
|---|---|
| |
| Photo by John R. Gwaltney, Southeastern Flora.com | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons |
| Order: | Apiales |
| Family: | Apiaceae ⁄ Umbelliferae |
| Genus: | Sanicula |
| Species: | S. smallii |
| Binomial name | |
| Sanicula smallii E.P. Bicknell | |
| |
| Natural range of Sanicula smallii from USDA NRCS Plants Database. | |
Common name: Small's blacksnakeroot
Contents
Taxonomic notes
Description
"Plants perennial (or biennial?), glabrous or glabrescent, 2-8 dm tall, branched above, from fibrous or fleshy-fibrous roots. Leaves long-petiolate, suborbicular or reniform to widely ovate, 5-20 cm long or wide, palmately divided or cleft, the 3-5 segments elliptic-lanceolate to oblanceolate, coarsely and irregularly serrate, usually with evident hyaline margins, reduced and sessile above. Umbels simple, cymosely arranged and thus appearing compound, each cyme subtended by a pair of foliaceous, or reduced, bracts; involucre inconspicuous, bracts 4-8 deltoid to lanceolate 1-2 mm long. Flowers perfect or staminate, usually in the same umbel; petals yellow, white or greenish. Fruit uncinated-bristled, subglobose to ellipsoid or ovoid; mericarps slightly flattened dorsally, semicircular to subreniform in cross section; carpophore absent." - Radford et al 1964
"Leaves thick, somewhat fleshy and dark green, the white veins often prominent when fresh, segments usually 5, lance-elliptic to oblanceolate or obovate, 3-9 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, serrate-dentate. Peduncles 1-10 cm long. Each umbel of 3 sessile perfect flowers and 4-6 short-pedicellate staminate flowers; calyx lobes shorter than bristles, divergent; petals white or greenish; styles no longer than bristles or ovary or fruit. Fruit ovoid, 3-5 mm long, bristles not bulbous-based." - Radford et al 1964
Distribution
Ecology
Habitat
In the Coastal Plain in Florida, S. smallii has been found in oak-hickory woodlands; loamy soil of steep, shaded ravines; a shell mound within an otherwise low floodplain; deciduous woodlands; mixed pine-hardwood forests; and rich calcareous slopes (FSU Herbarium). Associated species include Arisaema, Conopholis, Toxicodendron, Diospyros virginiana, Berchemia, Carya, Sabal palmetto, Aesculus pavia, Amorpha fruticosa, Fagus, Magnolia, and Quercus (FSU Herbarium). Substrate types include loam, sandy humus, loamy soil, and shell mounds (FSU Herbarium).
Phenology
Flowers and fruits have been recorded in April and May (FSU Herbarium).
Conservation and management
Cultivation and restoration
Photo Gallery
References and notes
Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: October 2015. Collectors:Loran C. Anderson, Patricia Elliot, R.K. Godfrey, H. Kurz, Richard S. Mitchell, Lovett Williams, Lovett Williams Jr. States and Counties: Florida: Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Jackson, Leon, Liberty, Walton. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.
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. 767. Print.
