Flora of North America species comparison

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Leitneria floridana

corkwood
Habit Shrubs or small trees, 1-4(-8) m, to 15 cm diam. at base.
Stems

unbranched or sparsely short-branched distally, slender, pubescent, becoming glabrous.
Bark

gray to dark reddish brown;

lenticels numerous, gray.
Leaves

blade lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 5-20 × 3.5-6 cm, leathery, base acute, margins narrowly revolute, apex acute to acuminate;

surfaces silky-pubescent when young, becoming glabrous and glossy adaxially.
Inflorescences

staminate catkins cylindric in bud, lax and outward curving at anthesis, 2-6 × 1-1.5 cm; pistillate stiffly erect, 1-3 × 1 cm.
Staminate flowers

stamens (3-)10-12(-15);

filaments short;

anthers basifixed, broadly oblong, 4-sporangiate, 2-locular at anthesis, dehiscing longitudinally.
Pistillate flowers

sepals (3-)4(-8), irregularly inserted, unequal;

ovary elliptic, ca. 2 mm, finely pubescent;

style 4-5 mm;

stigma exserted, often recurved or twisted, reddish.
Drupes

erect, green, becoming chestnut brown, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, often compressed on drying, 1-2.5 cm, glabrous, base and apex blunt, apex with conspicuous dark stylar scar, vascular bundles toughening the thin flesh;

endocarp brown, bony, surface rough-reticulate.
Seeds

1, compressed;

seed coat membranous, hilum blackish, elongate;

endosperm thin, starchy;

embryo large, straight;

cotyledons ovoid, slightly fleshy.
2n

= 32.

Leitneria floridana
Phenology Flowering late winter–early spring; fruiting spring–summer.
Habitat Open or forested swamps, wet thickets, roadside ditches, saw-grass-palmetto marshes, estuarine tidal shores
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; FL; GA; MO; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Vegetative reproduction is predominant, forming large clones from adventitious buds on shallow roots. Large, old plants ("small trees") are apparently rare in the field. Florida plants begin growth about a month before Missouri plants (J. W. Day 1975). Leitneria floridana is successfully cultivated as far north as Chicago, Rochester, and Boston.

The wood (sp. gr. 0.21) is lighter than cork (sp. gr. 0.24); it is used locally for fishnet floats or bottle stoppers.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Leitneriaceae > Leitneria
Synonyms Myrica floridana
Name authority Chapman: Fl. South. U.S., 427. (1860)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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