COMMON WETLAND PLANTS OF NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources Division of Water Quality Water Quality Section 4401 Reedy Creek Road Raleigh, NC 27607 Report # 97-01 August 1997 1 COMMON WETLAND PLANTS OF NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources Division of Water Quality Water Quality Section 4401 Reedy Creek Road Raleigh, NC 27607 Report # 97-01 August 1997 1000 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $5,500 or $5.50 per copy. 2 Table of Contents Introduction........................................................................................….….… …...1 Table 1. Definitions for Wetland Indicator Status............................………....2 Trees....................................................................................................………. …....4 Shrubs.....................................................................................…..........……… …..36 Herbs...................................................................................….............………. ......69 Grasses, Sedges, Rushes........................................................……..…........…....96 Vines....................................................................................……..............…. …...117 Aquatic herbs...........................................................................….....….….…....129 Appendix 1 Dominant Plants from Major Wetland Types......……......…...137 Appendix 2 Leaf Characteristics and Flower Types ............……….............141 Glossary.........................................................................................…………. ......143 Bibliography.....................................................................................…….…… ..148 Index - Plant List by Common and Scientific Name..............……...………....149 3 4 Introduction Common Wetland Plants of North Carolina is a field guide to our most commonly encountered wetland flora. It is intended to be useful for novices and casual observers as well as wetland scientists. Because vegetation is one of the three criteria (hydrology, soils, vegetation) for an area to be considered a wetland, it is an important factor in wetland evaluations. Wetlands are intermediate areas between land and water, where aquatic and terrestrial communities meet. Throughout wetlands, the presence of plants and their subsequent adaptations to wetland conditions give evidence of long term wetland hydrology. Common Wetland Plants of North Carolina is intended to accompany the Field Guide to North Carolina Wetllands (NCDEHNR 1996). In the Field Guide to North Carolina Wetlands, fourteen major types of wetlands and their most common plants are described as well as characteristic features of these wetlands. Appendix 1 also lists dominant plants from these fourteen wetland types. These wetland types include: wet flats, pocosins, ephemeral wetlands, seeps, mountain bogs, bog forests, headwater forests, bottomland hardwood forests, swamp forests, freshwater marshes, estuarine fringe forests, brackish marshes, salt shrub wetlands and salt marshes. Plants most commonly encountered in wetlands are described and pictured herein. This guide includes 128 of some of the most common wetland plants found in the state. In Common Wetland Plants of North Carolina, characteristics and descriptions of plant's habit (growth form), leaves, flowers, fruit, habitat and field characteristics are discussed for each wetland plant. For ease in identification, plants are arranged by growth structure and type. The following categories are used: 1) trees; 2) shrubs; 3) herbs; 4) grasses, sedges and rushes; 5) vines; and 6) aquatic herbs. Preceding each category is a list of common names, scientific names and wetland indicator status. Because plants have different tolerances for hydric conditions, a wetland 5 indicator status is assigned to plants for each region of the United States. Indicator status may vary within regions and the southeast region was used for this manual since North Carolina falls within this region. Table 1 explains these terms for variations in hydrology. The indicator status is obtained from the 1996 National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands (Reed 1997). The facultative indicators are sometimes assigned a positive or negative sign. A positive (+) sign always indicates a strong tendency toward wetland conditions, while a negative (-) sign infers less of an association with wetlands. Some plants may have more than one indicator status depending on the geographic region in which they are found. The indicator status for each plant described is found at the beginning of each section of this manual. Table 1. Definitions for Wetland Indicator Status Obligate Wetland contain plants that almost always (OBL) occur in wetlands (99% of the time) Facultative Wetland contain plants that usually occur in (FACW) wetlands (67-99% of the time) Facultative (FAC) includes plants that are just as likely to occur in wetland or non-wetland areas (34-66% chance of occurring in wetlands or non-wetlands) Facultative Upland contain plants that occasionally occur (FACU) in wetlands (1-33% of the time) Upland (UPL) contain plants that almost always occur in uplands (99% of the time) Diagrams of plant structure (leaf arrangement, shape, flower type, etc.) are found in Appendix 2. The bibliography contains wetland references that were useful in preparing this manual. Wetland plants are listed in the index in the back by both common and scientific name. Throughout the manual, scientific names 5 are listed according to Kartesz (1994). The original botanist or authority who named each plant follows the scientific name. For some plants, a second name follows the plant authority (which is in parenthesis), indicating that further taxonomic work was conducted that led to a name change. Illustrations throughout this manual were drawn and donated by Karen M. Lynch. Wetlands are a valuable and vanishing resource and can provide useful functions such as water storage and purification, wildlife and aquatic habitat and outdoor recreation and education. It is hoped that visitors to wetlands will recognize and appreciate the values of these wonderlands, beginning with the observation of wetland flora and fauna. 6 Wetland TREES status Ash, Green Fraxinus FACW pennsylvanica Birch, River Betula nigra FACW Gums, tupelos Black gum Nyssa sylvatica FAC Swamp black gum; Nyssa biflora FACW+ Swamp tupelo Water tupelo Nyssa aquatica OBL Box elder Acer negundo FACW Cedar, Atlantic Chamaecyparis OBL White thyoides Cypress, Bald Taxodium distichum OBL Elm, American Ulmus americana FACW Hemlock, Eastern Tsuga canadensis FACU Hop hornbeam Ostrya virginiana FACU- Ironwood Carpinus caroliniana FAC Loblolly bay Gordonia lasianthus FACW Maple, Red Acer rubrum FAC (coastal plain) FACW- Oaks Oak, Cherrybark Quercus pagoda FAC+ Oak, Laurel Quercus laurifolia FACW Oak, Overcup Quercus lyrata OBL Oak, Swamp Quercus michauxii FACW- Chestnut Oak, Water Quercus nigra FAC Oak, Willow Quercus phellos FACW- Pines Pine, Loblolly Pinus taeda FAC Pine, Longleaf Pinus palustris FACU+ Pine, Pond Pinus serotina FACW+ Pine, White Pinus strobus FACU Persimmon Diospyros virginiana FAC Redbay Persea borbonia FACW Sourwood Oxydendrum arboreum FACU (mountains) UPL Sweet bay Magnolia virginiana FACW+ Sweetgum Liquidambar FAC+ styraciflua Sycamore Platanus occidentalis FACW- Tulip poplar; Tulip Liriodendron tulipifera FACU tree (coastal plain) FACW Willow, Black Salix nigra OBL 7 Green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh. Family: Oleaceae Olive Family Habit: Medium tree up to 24 meters (m). Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compound leaves, 15 to 23 centimeters (cm) long. Contain 5-9 oval or lanceolate toothed leaflets. Flowers/fruit: Flowers inconspicuous with male and female flowers on separate trees. Fruit is a samara. Habitat: Low areas, natural levees, bottomlands and swamps in the piedmont and coastal plain, mainly in brownwater streams. Field characteristics: This is the most widely distributed of the ashes. Note opposite branches, twigs more slender than hickories which have similar compound leaves, but have alternate branches. Vegatative specimens (without samaras) of F. pennsylvanica and F. americana are difficult to distinguish. TREES Common Wetland Plants of NC 8 River birch Betula nigra L. Family: Betulaceae Birch Family Habit: Deciduous, medium sized tree up to 30 m, with curly papery bark, peeling horizontally. Leaves: Alternate, doubly serrated, triangular or ovate leaves, 4-8 cm long. Leaves contain 7-9 straight veins on each side of leaf. Flowers/fruit: Male flowers are drooping catkins and female flowers are in a cone-like catkin. Habitat: Flood plains, river and stream banks in deep soil. Found statewide, but most common in the piedmont and coastal plain. Field characteristics: Peeling bark and triangular leaves distinctive. Younger trees have rusty colored bark, while older bark is darker. River birch often has several main trunks and thin twigs TREES Common Wetland Plants of NC 9 Black gum Nyssa sylvatica Marsh. Nyssa biflora Walt. Family: Nyssaceae Sourgum Family Habit: Medium to large tree, to 30 m. Leaves: Alternate, elliptic, glabrous leaves up to 15 cm long. Leaves are entire or with scattered teeth. Leaves appear clustered at the tips of branches. N. biflora has thicker, more narrow obovate leaves with rounded tips. Flowers/fruit: Male and female flowers occur on separate trees. Fruit is a dark blue-black drupe, 1-1.5 cm wide.