Ilex glabra
| Ilex glabra | |
|---|---|
| |
| Photo by Wayne Matchett, SpaceCoastWildflowers.com | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons |
| Order: | Celastrales |
| Family: | Aquifoliaceae |
| Genus: | Ilex |
| Species: | I. glabra |
| Binomial name | |
| Ilex glabra (L.) A. Gray | |
| |
| Natural range of Ilex glabra from USDA NRCS Plants Database. | |
Common names: inkberry; little gallberry
Contents
Taxonomic notes
Description
“Trees or shrubs, usually with imperfect flowers. Leaves simple, entire, serrate, dentate or crenate; stipules obsolete. Flowers axillary, solitary, fascicled or in cymes, 4-7 merous, 4-8 mm broad; petals united at the base, imbricate in bud; pistillate flowers usually with nonfunctional stamens; anthers opening lengthwise; stigmas 4-7, essentially sessile. Drupe red, black or rarely yellow or white. Seeds with hard, bony endocarp (pyrenes), often grooved or ribbed on the back, 4-7 in a fruit, 1 in each locule.” [1]
"Rhizomatous shrub to 3m tall, usually forming extensive colonies, twigs puberulent. Leaves evergreen, obovate to elliptic, 2.5-6.5 cm long, crenate, but usually only toward the apex, the last pair of teeth usually directly opposite each other, glabrous, lustrous above; petioles 38 mm long, canescent. Pedicels 1-5 mm long, appearing longer when single fruited (careful examination shows that the lower part is peduncle). Staminate flowers in axillary, 3-7 flowered, pedunculate cymes. Pistillate flowers axillary, solitary or in 3-flowered, pedunculate cymes. Flowers 5-7 merous. Drupe black, dull or slightly lustrous, globose, 5-7 in diam.; pyrenes 5-7, smooth, 3-4 mm long." [1]
Distribution
Ilex glabra is distributed from Nova Scotia and Maine south to Florida and west to Texas.[2]
Ecology
Habitat
Ilex glabra can be found in "savannas, pine flatwoods, pocosin margins, swamps, primarily in wetlands, but extending upslope even into sandhills, with a clay lens or spodic horizon below to maintain additional moisture."[2] It is restricted to native groundcover with a statistical affinity in upland pinelands of South Georgia. [3]
Phenology
Generally, I. glabra flowers from May until June and fruits from September until November.[2] It has been observed to flower from April to June with peak inflorescence in May.[4]
Pollination
The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Ilex glabra at Archbold Biological Station:[5]
Apidae: Apis mellifera, Bombus griseocollis, B. impatiens, Epeolus erigeronis, E. glabratus, E. pusillus, E. zonatus
Colletidae: Colletes banksi, C. brimleyi, C. distinctus, C. mandibularis, C. nudus, C. sp. A., C. thysanellae, Hylaeus confluens, H. schwarzi
Halictidae: Agapostemon splendens, Augochlora pura, Augochloropsis metallica, Halictus poeyi, Lasioglossum coreopsis, L. miniatulus, L. nymphalis, L. pectoralis, L. placidensis, L. puteulanum, Sphecodes brachycephalus
Leucospididae: Leucospis affinis, L. slossonae
Megachilidae: Anthidiellum notatum rufomaculatum, A. perplexum, Anthidium maculifrons, Coelioxys sayi, Dianthidium floridiense, Megachile brevis pseudobrevis, M. exilis parexilis, M. mendica, M. petulans, M. rugifrons, M. xylocopoides
Pompilidae: Ageniella partita, Anoplius krombeini, Episyron conterminus posterus, Priocnemis cornica, Psorthaspis legata, Sericopompilus apicalis
Sphecidae: Alysson melleus, Bembecinus nanus floridanus, Bembix sayi, Bicyrtes quadrifasciata, Cerceris bicornuta, C. blakei, C. flavofasciata floridensis, C. fumipennis, C. rufopicta, Crabro arcadiensis, Ectemnius rufipes ais, Gorytes dorothyae ruseolus, Isodontia auripes, I. exornata, I. mexicana, Larropsis greeni, Liris muesebecki, Microbembex monodonta, Miscophus americanum, M. slossonae slossonae, Oxybelus laetus fulvipes, Palmodes dimidiatus, Sphex ichneumoneus, Stictiella serrata, Tachysphex apicalis, T. similis, Tanyoprymnus moneduloides, Trypargilum clavatum johannis, T. collinum
Vespidae: Eumenes fraternus, E. smithii, Leptochilus alcolhuus, L. krombeini, L. republicanus, Mischocyttarus cubensis, Monobia quadridens, Pachodynerus erynnis, Parancistrocerus fulvipes rufovestris, P. salcularis rufulus, Polistes dorsalis hunteri, Stenodynerus fundatiformis, S. lineatifrons, Vespula squamosa, Zethus slossonae, Z. spinipes
Conservation and management
Cultivation and restoration
Photo Gallery
Flower of Ilex glabra Photo by John R. Gwaltney
Fruit of Ilex glabra Photo by John R. Gwaltney
References and notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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. 679-84. Print.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Weakley, A. S. (2015). Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Herbarium.
- ↑ Ostertag, T.E., and K.M. Robertson. 2007. A comparison of native versus old-field vegetation in upland pinelands managed with frequent fire, South Georgia, USA. Pages 109–120 in R.E. Masters and K.E.M. Galley (eds.). Proceedings of the 23rd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference: Fire in Grassland and Shrubland Ecosystems.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Deyrup, M.A. and N.D. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.
