Kalmia cuneata

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Kalmia cuneata
Kalmia cuneata 136-8319.jpg
1910 illustration [1]
Status TNC G3.svg
Vulnerable  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Kalmia
Species:
K. cuneata
Binomial name
Kalmia cuneata
Synonyms [3] [4]

Chamaedaphne cuneata(Michx.) Kuntze

Kalmia cuneata is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common name whitewicky, sometimes spelled white-wicky or white wicky. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs only in North Carolina and South Carolina. [2] [5]

Kalmia cuneata is a shrub growing up to 1.5 [6] to 2 meters (5-6.7 feet) tall. It is deciduous, a key identifying characteristic. [2] [5] The leaves are widely lance-shaped, measuring up to 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long by 3 cm (1.2 inches) wide, and light green, [2] turning red in the fall. [5] They are alternately arranged. The lateral inflorescence is a raceme or fascicle of up to 10 flowers. The five petals are joined into a lobed, open corolla which is white with a red ring near the center. In the center are ten stamens. The fruit is a small capsule. [6] This species is easily told from Kalmia carolina , which is evergreen and has pink flowers and oppositely arranged leaves. It also occurs in the same region as Kalmia latifolia , which is evergreen and has terminal inflorescences. [2]

Kalmia cuneata grows mainly in the ecotone between the Carolina Sandhills and adjacent pocosins. The soils are moist and acidic. It grows alongside many other types of shrubs, such as the ericaceous species Rhododendron viscosum , Lyonia lucida , L. ligustrina var. foliosiflora, Vaccinium corymbosum , Zenobia pulverulenta , Leucothoe racemosa , Oxydendrum arboreum , and Gaylussacia frondosa , and other shrubs such as Clethra alnifolia , Ilex glabra , I. coriacea , Aronia arbutifolia , and Fothergilla gardenii . There are trees in the habitat, but they are small and do not provide much canopy. [2] The trees are kept low by wildfire, which prevents the succession of large trees into the shrub and herb layer. [6]

Kalmia cuneata occurs in seven North Carolina counties and one South Carolina county. [5] Its current range is similar to its historical range, but it occurs in less total area within that range. [2]

The main threat to the plant is fire suppression, which prevents the natural fire regime. Other forms of habitat loss include the conversion of land for agriculture, including silviculture operations, and development for other uses such as residential space. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Kalmia latifolia</i> Species of plant

Kalmia latifolia, commonly called mountain laurel, calico-bush, or spoonwood, is a broadleaved evergreen shrub in the heather family, Ericaceae, that is native to the eastern United States. Its range stretches from southern Maine south to northern Florida, and west to Indiana and Louisiana. Mountain laurel is the state flower of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It is the namesake of Laurel County in Kentucky, the city of Laurel, Mississippi, and the Laurel Highlands in southwestern Pennsylvania.

<i>Kalmia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the heath family Ericaceae

Kalmia is a genus of about ten species of evergreen shrubs from 0.2–5 m tall, in the family Ericaceae. They are native to North America and Cuba. They grow in acidic soils, with different species in wet acid bog habitats and dry, sandy soils.

<i>Xerophyllum asphodeloides</i>

Xerophyllum asphodeloides is a North American species of flowering plants in the Melanthiaceae known by the common names turkey beard, eastern turkeybeard, beartongue, grass-leaved helonias, and mountain asphodel. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs in the southern Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Alabama, and also in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

<i>Lindera</i> Genus of flowering plants

Lindera is a genus of about 80-100 species of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae, mostly native to eastern Asia but with three species in eastern North America. The species are shrubs and small trees; common names include spicewood, spicebush, and Benjamin bush.

<i>Garrya congdonii</i> Species of tree

Garrya congdonii, the chaparral silktassel or Congdon silktassel, a fairly common evergreen shrub native to the northern California Coast Ranges, is one of a small biological family of approximately twenty known species in the family Garryaceae, most of which are Garrya. While the female and male sexual organs of Congdon silktassel are on separate plants, the pendant male catkins are much more showy. This plant is reasonably attractive and neat enough in its growing habit to be appealing as a landscape species. It is stocked commonly at commercial plant nurseries. All Garrya are associated with warm temperate regions of North America.

<i>Kalmia polifolia</i> Species of shrub

Kalmia polifolia, previously known as Kalmia glauca and commonly called bog laurel, swamp laurel, or pale laurel, is a perennial evergreen shrub of cold acidic bogs, in the family Ericaceae. It is native to north-eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Hudson Bay southwards.

<i>Kalmia angustifolia</i> Species of shrub

Kalmia angustifolia is a flowering shrub in the family Ericaceae, commonly known as sheep laurel. It is distributed in eastern North America from Ontario and Quebec south to Virginia. It grows commonly in dry habitats in the boreal forest, and may become dominant over large areas after fire or logging. Like many plant species of infertile habitats it has evergreen leaves and mycorrhizal associations with fungi. It is also found in drier area of peat bogs.

<i>Protea neriifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae

Protea neriifolia, also known as the narrow-leaf sugarbush, oleander-leaved sugarbush, blue sugarbush, or the oleanderleaf protea, is a flowering plant in the genus Protea, which is endemic to South Africa.

<i>Baccharis halimifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae

Baccharis halimifolia is a North American species of shrubs in the daisy family. It is native to Nova Scotia, the eastern and southern United States, eastern Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba.

<i>Ceanothus jepsonii</i> Species of tree

Ceanothus jepsonii is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names musk brush and Jepson ceanothus.

<i>Ceanothus velutinus</i> Species of tree

Ceanothus velutinus, with the common names snowbrush ceanothus, red root, and tobacco brush, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in several habitat types including coniferous forest, chaparral, and various types of woodland.

<i>Tiedemannia canbyi</i>

Tiedemannia canbyi is a rare species of flowering plant in the carrot family known as Canby's dropwort and Canby's cowbane. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs on the Atlantic coastal plain from North Carolina to Georgia, as well as the Chesapeake Bay area. It is threatened by the loss of the wetland habitat in which it grows. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Kalmia procumbens</i> Species of shrub

Kalmia procumbens, commonly known as alpine azalea or trailing azalea, is a dwarf shrub of high mountain regions of the Northern Hemisphere that usually grows no more than 10 centimeters (4 in) tall. Originally named by Linnaeus as Azalea procumbens, it is also named after French botanist L.L.A. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps - Loiseleuria procumbens.

<i>Solidago spithamaea</i>

Solidago spithamaea is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Blue Ridge goldenrod. It is native to a very small region around the border between North Carolina and Tennessee in the United States. Its three remaining populations are threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.

<i>Elaeagnus pungens</i> Species of flowering plant

Elaeagnus pungens is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeagnaceae, known by the common names thorny olive, spiny oleaster and silverthorn; also by the family name "oleaster". It is native to Asia, including China and Japan. It is present in the southeastern United States as an introduced species, a common landscaping and ornamental plant, and sometimes an invasive species.

<i>Gaylussacia frondosa</i> Berry and plant

Gaylussacia frondosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names dangleberry and blue huckleberry. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs from New Hampshire to South Carolina.

<i>Lyonia lucida</i> Species of flowering plant

Lyonia lucida is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae known by the common names fetterbush lyonia, hurrahbush, and staggerbush. Other plants may also be called fetterbush. This broadleaved evergreen plant grows on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States from Virginia to Florida to Louisiana. It also occurs in Cuba.

<i>Smilax laurifolia</i>

Smilax laurifolia is a species of flowering plant in the greenbrier family known by the common names laurel greenbrier, laurelleaf greenbrier, bamboo vine, and blaspheme vine. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs along the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains from Texas to New Jersey, the range extending inland to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. It also occurs in Cuba and the Bahamas.

<i>Kalmia buxifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Kalmia buxifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae known by the common name sandmyrtle, or sand-myrtle. It is native to the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States, where it has a disjunct distribution, occurring in three separate areas. It is known from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, the Coastal Plain of the Carolinas, and the southeastern Blue Ridge Mountains.

<i>Parnassia caroliniana</i> Species of flowering plant

Parnassia caroliniana is a species of flowering plant in the Celastraceae known by the common name Carolina grass of Parnassus. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs in North Carolina and South Carolina, with an isolated population in the Florida Panhandle.

References

  1. lithograph by J.N. Fitch, published in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, London, volume 136 [= series 4, volume 6]: plate 8319
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kalmia cuneata. The Nature Conservancy.
  3. Tropicos, Kalmia cuneata Michx.
  4. The International Plant Names Index
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kalmia cuneata. Archived 2011-10-26 at the Wayback Machine Center for Plant Conservation.
  6. 1 2 3 Kalmia cuneata. Flora of North America.