Associated Forest Cover
Loblolly-bay is found in five forest cover types (2) within the Atlantic Coastal Plain (9,10,11). Pondcypress (Society of American Foresters Type 100) is found in certain Carolina Bays with ponded water. Loblolly-bay is not found in the bay interior with pondcypress (Taxodium distichum var. nutans), probably because of the high water table; rather it is found along better drained margins. Here it is growing with loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and redbay (Persea borbonia var. borbonia) in the overstory and fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), inkberry (Ilex glabra), and greenbrier (Smilax spp.) in the understory.
Loblolly-bay is a minor component of Loblolly Pine-Hardwood (Type 82) but cannot be found consistently. In the middle Coastal Plain of South Carolina, loblolly-bay is found with loblolly pine, water oak (Quercus nigra), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), American holly (Ilex opaca), redbay, longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Loblolly-bay is found only in the wetter areas of this forest cover type.
Loblolly-bay is a minor component of Atlantic White-Cedar (Type 97), along with pond pine (Pinus serotina), swamp cyrilla (Cyrilla racemiflora), redbay, and sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana).
Pond Pine (Type 98) is the typical vegetation of wet flats and some Carolina Bays in South Carolina. Loblolly-bay, pond pine, sweetbay, and redbay are the tree species present, and they rarely form a closed canopy. The thick, shrub layer is composed of fetterbush, greenbrier vines, inkberry, and loblolly-bay.
Sweetbay-Swamp Tupelo-Redbay (Type 104) is the "broadleaf evergreen forest" of the lower Coastal Plain of North and South Carolina. Loblolly-bay is a minor component in the overstory along with red maple (Acer rubrum), black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica var. sylvatica), sweetgum, and water oak.
Read more about this topic: Gordonia Lasianthus, Soils and Topography
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