Difference between revisions of "Galactia regularis"

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Species of ''Elephantopus'', ''Yucca'', bahia grass, centipede grass, ''Galactia volubilis'' and ''Rhynchosia difformis'' have been associated with ''G. regularis'' (FSU Herbarium).   
 
Species of ''Elephantopus'', ''Yucca'', bahia grass, centipede grass, ''Galactia volubilis'' and ''Rhynchosia difformis'' have been associated with ''G. regularis'' (FSU Herbarium).   
 
===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/ -->
“A prostrate perennial with showy violet-purple flowers, frequently found climbing over bushes.”<ref name="Graham 1941"/>
+
“A prostrate perennial with showy violet-purple flowers, frequently found climbing over bushes”(Graham 1941).
 +
 
 +
Flowers June through November (FSU Herbarium).
  
Flowers June through November (FSU Herbarium).
 
 
===Seed dispersal===
 
===Seed dispersal===
 
===Seed bank and germination===
 
===Seed bank and germination===

Revision as of 15:13, 16 September 2015

Galactia regularis
Galactia regularis Gil.jpg
Photo was taken by Gil Nelson
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae ⁄ Leguminosae
Genus: Galactia
Species: G. regularis
Binomial name
Galactia regularis
(L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.
GALA REGU dist.jpg
Natural range of Galactia regularis from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: eastern milkpea

Description

Is strongly paraheliotropic,[1]

Distribution

“It occurs in pinelands and sandy woods from New York to Florida and Mississippi” (Graham 1941). Occurs in Pinus elliottii plantation in South Carolina.[2]

Ecology

Habitat

Galactia regularis has been documented in open sand ridges, open cedar glades, dry prairies, dry upland woods, along rocky banks, scrub oak-wiregrass ridges, shell ridge in a brackish marsh, dry grassy scrub border of a cypress swamp, open oak-hickory woods of a bog boarder, and mature longleaf pine-wiregrass stand that is frequently burned (FSU Herbarium). It can be found in xeric areas with hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters.[3] Pine sandhill communities.[4] It can be found in shrubland.[3]

At Heart Island Conservation area it has been recorded in pine flatwoods and at the edges of pond cypress wetlands (FSU Herbarium). Along the Apalachicola River East of Sneads, G. regularis was observed growing in an edge of a floodplain woodland on a natural levee (FSU Herbarium).

In areas of human impact, G. regularis has been found growing entwined with Galactia volubilis and Rhynchosia difformis(FSU Herbarium). Recorded populations have been found at Miami Biscayne Dog Track and an area of clay with sandstone that had been recently cleared and bulldozed (FSU Herbarium).

Soils range from sand to sandy loam.

Species of Elephantopus, Yucca, bahia grass, centipede grass, Galactia volubilis and Rhynchosia difformis have been associated with G. regularis (FSU Herbarium).

Phenology

“A prostrate perennial with showy violet-purple flowers, frequently found climbing over bushes”(Graham 1941).

Flowers June through November (FSU Herbarium).

Seed dispersal

Seed bank and germination

Maximum germination was observed for G. regularis at the 80 degrees Celsius dry heat shock treatment. Wet heat (boiling water) treatments, however, resulted in 100% mortality of seeds.[5] Soil scarification seems to impede germination.[2] It reproduces by resprouting after fire.[6]

Fire ecology

In a field study of vegetation change in Florida scrub, G. regularis cover increased after fire.[7] However, this increase may not be the direct result of fire. Heat shock germination may play a role in its post-fire recruitment.[5] The amount of G. regularis decreased after a spring burn; decreased slightly after a summer burn; and increased in the control plots.[8] A total of 24 plants in four new quadrants were recruited postburn study in the Florida scrub – Lake Wales Ridge area.[9] “Results from previous studies[10] indicate that leguminous plants and seed respond best to “hot” f i r e s - - i . e., those in which a high proportion of the ground fuel is consumed. Laboratory tests[11] have also shown that seed from several leguminous species germinate best after scarification with moist heat at temperatures near 80” C., a situation requiring a hot fire. The response of the leguminous plants and seed in this study, therefore, would probably have been greater if the pine stands had been burned with more intense fires. Nevertheless, further work will be necessary before we can make final conclusions about the value of prescribed burning to quail and other wildlife in the 2.5 million acres of pine in the South Carolina Piedmont.”[8] As an herbaceous vine, the amount of groundcover of G. regularis increased slightly when the area has not been burned (controlled treatment). The amount of groundcover decreased from ~58 to 23% after a burn. (Michelle’s understanding that the G. regularis had a higher population when the area was burned previously before the experiments were conducted).[12]

Pollination

The following Hymenoptera families and species were observed visiting flowers of Galactia regularis at Archbold Biological Station (Deyrup 2015):

Apidae: Apis mellifera, Bombus impatiens, Svastra atripes

Halictidae: Augochlorella aurata, Augochloropsis metallica, A. sumptuosa, Nomia maneei

Megachilidae: Anthidiellum notatum rufomaculatum, A. perplexum, Anthidium maculifrons, Coelioxys germana, C. sayi, Megachile albitarsis, M. brevis pseudobrevis, M. brimleyi, M. deflexa, M. exilis parexilis, M. georgica, M. integra, M. mendica, M. petulans

Sphecidae: Trypargilum clavatum johannis

Vespidae: Stenodynerus fundatiformis

Use by animals

On occasion, occurred in White-tailed deer’s diet.[13] “Seeds have been found in stomachs of the bobwhite, for which it is considered an important food.”[14]

Diseases and parasites

G. regularis reposnded moderately resistant to a root-knotnematodes study. A nematode, M. incognita, showed an immune response to the root galls and egg masses in the 2004 study but only a highly resistant response in 2001.[15]

Conservation and Management

Cultivation and restoration

Photo Gallery

References and notes

Deyrup, M.A. and N.D. 2015. Database of observations of Hymenoptera visitations to flowers of plants on Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015 Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, H. E. Ahles, Tom Barnes, Michael B. Brooks, Robert W. Simons, Dianna Hall, R. Kral, R. K. Godfrey, Sidney McDaniel, R. A. Norris, H. R. Reed, Cecil R. Slaughter, Frankie Snow, A. E. Redford, C. Simon, A. A. Eaton, Robert L. Lazor, Bruce Hansen, JoAnn Hansen, W. A. Silveus, A. F. Clewell, Robert Blaisdell, O. Lakela, George R. Cooley, Richard J. Eaton, Daniel B. Ward, Paul O. Schallert, A. H. Curtiss States and Counties: Florida: Bay, Brevard, Clay, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Franklin, Flagler, Gadsden, Hillsborough, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Osceola, Putnam, Sarasota, St. Johns, Taylor, Wakulla, Washington. Georgia: Camden, Coffee, Grady. Mississippi: Pearl River, Oktibbeha. North Carolina: Alexander. South Carolina: Hampton. Virginia: Pulaski. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Graham, E. H. (1941). Legumes for erosion control and wildlife. Washington, USDA

  1. KMR observation at Pebble Hill Plantation, Georgia in July.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Mou, P., R. H. Jones, et al. (2005). "Regeneration strategies, disturbance and plant interactions as organizers of vegetation spatial patterns in a pine forest." Landscape Ecology 20: 971-987.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hawkes, C. V. and E. S. Menges (2003). "Effects of lichens on seedling emergence in a xeric Florida shrubland." Southeastern Naturalist 2: 223-234.
  4. Downer, M. R. (2012). Plant species richness and species area relationships in a Florida sandhill community. Integrative Biology. Ann Arbor, MI, University of South Florida. M.S.: 52.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Bolin, J. F. (2009). "Heat shock germination responses of three eastern North American temperate species." Castanea 74: 160-167.
  6. Reinhart, K. O. and E. S. Menges (2004). "Effects of re-introducing fire to a central Florida sandhill community." Applied Vegetation Science 7: 141-150.
  7. Weekley, C.W. and E.S. Menges. 2003. Species and vegetation responses to prescribed fire in a long-unburned, endemic-rich Lake Wales ridge scrub. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 130: 265-282. Bolin, J. F. (2009). "Heat shock germination responses of three eastern North American temperate species." Castanea 74: 160-167.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Cushwa, C. T., M. Hopkins, et al. (1970). Response of legumes to prescribed burns in loblolly pine stands of the South Carolina Piedmont. Asheville, NC, USDA Forest Service, Research Note SE-140: 6.
  9. Weekley, C.W. and E.S. Menges. 2003. Species and vegetation responses to prescribed fire in a long-unburned, endemic-rich Lake Wales ridge scrub. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 130: 265-282.
  10. Cushwa, C. T., Czuhai, Eugene, Cooper, R. W., and Julian, W. H. 1969. Burning clearcut openings in Ioblolly pine to improve wildlife habitat. Ga. Forest Res. Count. Res. Pap. 61, 5 pp. Cushwa, C. T. and Redd, J. B. 1966. One prescribed burn and its effects on habitat of the Powhatan Game Management Area. Southeast. Forest Exp. %a., U. S. Forest Serv. Res. Note SE-61, 2 pp.
  11. Cushwa, C. T., Martin, R. E., and Miller, R. L. 1968. The effects of fire on seed germination. J. Range Manage. 21: 250-254. M a r t i n , R . E., a n d C u s h w a , C . T. 1966. Effects of heat and moisture on leguminous seed. Fifth Annu. Tall Timbers Fire Ecol. Conf. Proc. 1966: 159-175.
  12. Reinhart, K. O. and E. S. Menges (2004). "Effects of re-introducing fire to a central Florida sandhill community." Applied Vegetation Science 7: 141-150.
  13. Gee, K. L., M. D. Porter, et al. (1994). White-tailed deer : their foods and management in the cross timbers. Ardmore, OK, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.
  14. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Graham 1941
  15. Quesenberry, K. H., J. M. Dampier, et al. (2008). "Response of native southeastern U.S. legumes to root-knot nematodes." Crop Science 48: 2274-2278.