Ilex coriacea, large gallberry
Coladonato, Milo 1991. Ilex coriacea, large gallberry. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/ilecor
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| ILECOR | large gallberry | Ilex coriacea | Life Form: Plants/Shrub, Plants/Tree Kingdom: Plantae Class: Dicot Order: Celastrales Family: Aquifoliaceae Genus: Ilex | Fed. Protected: No Nativity: Native Invasiveness: Noninvasive |
Taxonomy
The currently accepted scientific name for large gallberry is Ilex coriacea (Pursh) Chapm. (Aquifoliaceae). The Ilex genus consists of 13 species [9,15].
Synonyms
- Prinos lucidus Ait.
- Prinos coriaceus Pursh
- Ilex lucida (Ait) Torr. & Gray ex Wats.
Other Common Names
sweet gallberry, bay-gallbush
General Distribution
Large gallberry grows along the Gulf and Southeastern coastal plains of the United States. Its range extends from southeastern Virginia south to northern and central Florida, and west to eastern Texas [2,3]. Large gallberry extends inland from the Atlantic coast to eastern Tennessee and from the Gulf coast to Arkansas [11].
States and Provinces
- United States: AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC OK SC TN TX VA
Site Characteristics
Large gallberry grows in pine savannas and flatwoods, shrub-tree bogs and bays, open bogs, seepage areas in woodlands, on lower slopes, wooded ravines, and depressions [7,11].
Typical soils are sandy, acidic, and low in organic matter. They are often poorly drained, and frequently or seasonally flooded [2,7].
Large gallberry is common on longleaf pine or longleaf pine-slash pine sites. Overstory associates include baldcypress and pondcypress (Taxodium spp.), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and water tupelo (N. aquatica) [8,11].
Understory associates include saw-palmetto (Serenoa repens), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), swamp cyrilla (Cyrilla racemiflora), bitter gallberry (Ilex galbra), laurelleaf greenbrier (Smilax laurifolia), buckwheat-tree (Cliftonia monophyla), blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), and blackberries (Rubus spp.) [8,25].
Plant Communities
Large gallberry is a dominant understory species in the longleaf-slash pine forest community [24].
Botanical Description
Large gallberry flowers.
Large gallberry is a small evergreen tree or large shrub, native to the southeastern United States. Its fruits are shiny black berries. Plants grow up to 7 feet (2.1 m) tall. The leaves are leathery. The flowers are usually unisexual; the plants are dioecious [7,9,11].
Raunkiaer Life Form (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Phanerophyte
- Cryptophyte
Seasonal Development
Large gallberry flowers between April and May; its fruit ripens from September to October [7,11,27].
Regeneration Processes
Large gallberry regenerates vegetatively by sprouting from rhizomes [5]. It also regenerates sexually, although the details have not been studied [27]. The nature of the fruit suggests that the seeds are dispersed by animals.
Successional Status
Large gallberry is a mid to late seral species that grows well under a canopy. It tends toward a mature forest and competes with tree seedlings [6,19]. It typically does not on sites lacking the shade of a dense canopy [17,18].
Immediate Fire Effects
Large gallberry has very flammable foliage. Most fires top-kill the plant [18].
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
- survivor species; on site surviving rhizomes
- off site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; post fire yr 1&2
Large gallberry growing in front of recently burned pines, North Carolina.
Fire Adaptations
Large gallberry is sensitive to fire, but survives by resprouting from rhizomes [5,29].
Plant Response to Fire
Large gallberry sprouts from underground rhizomes after fire [29].
Fire Regimes
For fire regime information, search FEIS for this species by entering the species name or acronym on the home page and selecting “Fire Regime” as the publication type.
Fire Management Considerations
Prescribed burning on a 1- to 3-year cycle effectively controls large gallberry [29].
Federal Status
None
Other Status
No entry.
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
Large gallberry is not a preferred livestock forage, but livestock will eat branches of young plants when other forage is scarce [14,23].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
The palatability of large gallberry to white-tailed deer is considered fair, although deer feed on more preferable forage when available [4,14].
Cover Value
Large gallberry provides security cover for a variety of reptile and amphibian species in the southern coastal parts of its range [21].
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
Large gallberry presumably provides watershed protection and erosion control.
Other Uses
No entry.
Other Management Considerations
Pine growth is reduced by overtopping of seedlings or proximity to large gallberry and other shrubs [28]. Large gallberry can be controlled by streamline basal application of the herbicide Garlon 4 [19].
Table A1— Forest and range ecosystems, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) physiographic regions, Kuchler plant associations, Society for American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types, and Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) rangeland cover types in which this species occurs.
Forest and Range Ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977)
- FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
- FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
- FRES14 Oak - pine
- FRES15 Oak - hickory
- FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
BLM Physiographic Regions (Bernard and Brown 1977)
- No entry.
Kuchler Plant Associations (Kuchler 1964)
- K089 Black Belt
- K090 Live oak - sea oats
- K097 Southeastern spruce - fir forest
- K100 Oak - hickory forest
- K104 Appalachian oak forest
- K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
- K112 Southern mixed forest
- K114 Pocosin
- K115 Sand pine - scrub
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 40 Post oak - blackjack oak
- 44 Chestnut oak
- 45 Pitch pine
- 46 Eastern redcedar
- 50 Black locust
- 52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
- 53 White oak
- 55 Northern red oak
- 57 Yellow-poplar
- 58 Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
- 59 Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
- 61 River birch - sycamore
- 69 Sand pine
- 70 Longleaf pine
- 71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
- 72 Southern scrub oak
- 73 Southern redcedar
- 74 Cabbage palmetto
- 75 Shortleaf pine
- 76 Shortleaf pine - oak
- 78 Virginia pine - oak
- 79 Virginia pine
- 80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
- 81 Loblolly pine
- 82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
- 83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
- 84 Slash pine
- 85 Slash pine - hardwood
- 87 Sweetgum - yellow poplar
- 88 Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
- 89 Live oak
- 91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
- 92 Sweetgum - willow oak
- 96 Overcup oak - water hickory
- 97 Atlantic white-cedar
- 99 Pond pine
- 100 Pondcypress
- 101 Baldcypress
- 102 Baldcypress - tupelo
- 103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
- 104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry.
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