Swamp Titi

More info for the term: swamp

swamp titi
black titi
cyrilla
he-huckleberry
leatherwood
littleleaf cyrilla
littleleaf titi
red titi
swamp cyrilla
swamp ironwood
swamp leatherwood
southern leatherwood
titi
titi titi
white titi

Swamp titi provides environmental protection for a variety of birds,
mammals, and aquatic wildlife in the Carolina Bays of the southeastern
United States [4].

More info for the terms: capsule, fruit, perfect, shrub, tree

Swamp titi is a thicket-forming, tall, semievergreen shrub or small tree
growing to a height of 30 feet (9 m) [7,12,14]. It typically has a
short trunk with spreading, irregular branches and a wide, even crown.
Its narrow, long, elliptical leaves are semipersistent, alternate, and
clustered at the twig tips. The bark is thin and smooth. The perfect
flowers are in narrow racemes near the tips of the twigs and open in the
spring before new leaves appear. The fruit is a two-celled capsule with
two seeds in each capsule [8,27,33].

Swamp titi occurs in swamps on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from
eastern Texas eastward to Florida, and north to Virginia and Maryland.
It is also in the West Indies, Mexico, and Central and South America
[8,14,33].

More info for the terms: adventitious, duff, fire regime, seed, swamp

Fire does not usually invade the wetlands and lower slopes of the
floodplains because the soil duff layer is normally very damp. When
fire does occur during dry periods, swamp titi will sprout from
adventitious buds on the roots or, less commonly, establish seedlings
from seed stored in the soil [9,36].

FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info for the terms: shrubs, swamp

Woody shrubs such as swamp titi are found in great abundance as
understories on moist sites and compete with pine for available light,
moisture, and seeding sites. Periodic fires have been effective in
controlling swamp titi and other hardwoods [30]. Following two successive
burns in a 25-year-old slash pine plantation in Texas, 77 percent of 1
to 5 inch (2.5-12 cm) swamp titi were top-killed [2,29].

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More info for the term: phanerophyte

Phanerophyte

More info for the terms: swamp, tree

Swamp titi is usually restricted to low elevation areas along streambanks,
river swamps, and bottomlands [3,7]. Swamp titi grows well where moisture
is abundant and fairly permanent [6,10].

Common tree associates of swamp titi include sweetbay (Magnolia
virginiana), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), sweetgum (Liquidambar
styraciflua), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sassafras (Sassafras
albidum), loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus), and red maple (Acer
rubrum). Common understory associates include gallberry (Ilex glabra),
yaupon (I. vomitoria), southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera), zenobia
(Zenobia pulverulenta), swamp-bay (Persea borbonia var. pubescens), and
myrtle-leaved holly (I. myrtifolia) [2,16,26,35].

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

More info for the terms: hardwood, swamp

74 Cabbage palmetto
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
85 Slash pine - hardwood
97 Atlantic white-cedar
98 Pocosin
100 Pondcypress
101 Baldcypress
102 Baldcypress - tupelo
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
104 Sweetbay - swamp tupelo - redbay

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the term: forest

KO90 Live oak - sea oats
K091 Cypress savanna
K092 Everglades
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
K115 Sand pine scrub
K116 Subtropical pine forest

More info for the terms: peat, swamp

Fire typically top-kills aboveground portions of swamp titi [5]. Survival
of shallow underground roots is most likely following light- to
moderate-severity fires which do not burn the peat moss [1].

More info for the term: swamp

Swamp titi is an important browse for white-tailed deer [19,20].
Utilization of swamp titi by white-tailed deer has been recorded as high as
40 percent in loblolly (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata)
communities [15].

More info for the terms: bog, shrub, swamp

In the southeastern Coastal Plain, swamp titi dominates or codominates in
bay swamps, cypress swamps, and shrub bog communities [17,24,37]. It
has been included as an indicator or dominant in the following community
type (cts) classifications:

Area Classification Authority

NC general veg. cts Wells 1928
se NC general veg. cts. Kologiski 1977
SC general veg. cts Nelson 1986

More info for the terms: shrub, tree

Tree, Shrub

Swamp titi is highly tolerant of flooding [30].

Swamp titi has a relatively high nutrient value. Winter browse percent
nutrient content is as follows [19]:

N-free
protein fat fiber extract ash phosphorus calcium
4.99 4.64 20.64 52.73 2.00 0.04 0.56

AL AR FL GA KY LA MD MS NC SC
TN TX VA MEXICO

More info for the term: swamp

Honey producers value swamp titi for the excellent honey that bees make
from its flowers. Because of its attractive flowers, swamp titi is often
planted as an ornamental. It can be propagated by seeds and cuttings [34].

Swamp titi browse is highly palatable to to white-tailed deer [15,20].

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More info for the term: fruit

Swamp titi flowers appears from early May through July; the fruit ripens
from late August through early October [27,33].

More info for the term: adventitious

Swamp titi will sprout from adventitious buds on the roots following fire
[9,17].

More info for the term: root crown

survivor species; on-site surviving root crown or caudex

More info for the terms: adventitious, seed

Swamp titi can reproduce sexually from seed, but most seeds do not
germinate. Its primary mode of reproduction is by vegetative sprouting
from adventitious buds on the roots following disturbance [6,17].

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More info for the term: swamp

Swamp titi grows well under full sunlight and can survive under a closed
canopy [6]. Swamp titi is an early invader of disturbed sites. It
eventually crowds out shade-intolerant species and becomes part of the
dominant overstory [23,36].

More info for the term: swamp

The scientific name for swamp titi is Cyrilla racemiflora L. [21].

More info for the term: swamp

The wood of swamp titi has little commercial value [34]. The only value
for this species is for fuelwood, for which there is no current demand
[25].