''Lyonia lucida'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

known by the common names fetterbush lyonia, hurrahbush, and staggerbush. Other plants may also be called

fetterbush Fetterbush is a common name for several plants in the family ''Ericaceae'', and may refer to: *''Leucothoe (plant), Leucothoe'' – several species including: **''Leucothoe fontanesiana'' (fetterbush) *''Pieris (plant), Pieris'' – several species ...

. This broadleaved evergreen plant grows on the

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...

of the southeastern United States from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. It also occurs in Cuba.Van Deelen, Timothy R. 1991
''Lyonia lucida''.
In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. This

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

can grow to 4 to 5''Lyonia lucida''.
Flora of North America. meters in height and just as wide. The plant has long

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s that can sprout up new plants, forming a colony. The leathery leaves are alternately arranged on scaly twigs. They are up to 10.5 centimeters long by 5.5 wide and are oval in shape. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a

fascicle Fascicle or ''fasciculus'' may refer to: Anatomy and histology * Muscle fascicle, a bundle of skeletal muscle fibers * Nerve fascicle, a bundle of axons (nerve fibers) ** Superior longitudinal fasciculus *** Arcuate fasciculus ** Gracile fas ...

of cylindrical flowers which are usually pink but may be white or red. The fruit is a capsule. The plant mostly reproduces

vegetatively Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spec ...

, but it also reproduces by seed. In soils poor in nutrients it does not flower and reproduces only by sprouting from the rhizome. This plant is a common species, growing in shrubby bogs, wet

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, and scrub. There are large populations in saw palmetto prairie habitat. It is common in the

Okefenokee Swamp The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee ...

. It grows in dry habitat but it is usually found in wet places, including habitat that is periodically flooded. It prefers acidic, saturated soils rich in organic matter, such as those in cypress swamps. It may grow in shady understories but it does well in full sun. Overstory species in the habitat may include

Atlantic white cedar ''Chamaecyparis thyoides'' (Atlantic white cedar, Atlantic white cypress, southern white cedar, whitecedar, or false-cypress), a species of ''Cupressaceae'', is native to the Atlantic coast of North America and is found from southern Maine to ...

(''Chamaecyparis thyoides''), sweet bay (''Magnolia virginiana''), red bay (''Persea borbonia''), loblolly bay (''Gordonia lasianthus''),

tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

(''Nyssa'' spp.) and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

s (''Pinus'' spp.). It shares the understory with other plants such as sweetbells (''Eubotrys racemosa''),

highbush blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

(''Vaccinium corymbosum''), sweet pepperbush (''Clethera alnifolia''),

titi The titis, or titi monkeys, are New World monkeys of the subfamily Callicebinae, which contains three extant genera: ''Cheracebus'', ''Callicebus'', and ''Plecturocebus.'' This subfamily also contains the extinct genera ''Miocallicebus, Homuncul ...

(''Cyrilla racemiflora''), laurelleaf greenbrier (''Smilax laurifolia''), honeycup (''Zenobia pulverulenta''), and

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s (''Quercus'' spp.). File:Lyonia lucida Florida.jpg, ''Lyonia lucida'' in fruit with capsules

References

External links

USDA Plants ProfileThe Nature Conservancy
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6709743 lucidua