The Lady Slipper newsletter, and now blog, of the Kentucky Native Plant Society has been published since the Society’s founding in 1986. We occasionally feature an article from a past issue. In this article from 2005, David Taylor, KNPS Board Member, takes an in-depth look at bay starvine (Schisandra glabra), a rare native found in only two counties in Kentucky. This article ran in Vol. 20, No. 3. If you would like to see these and other past issues, visit the Lady Slipper Archives, where all issues from Vol. 1, February 1986 to Vol. 39, 2024, can be found.
Bay Starvine
By David Taylor
Drawing by Joe MacGown (2004)
Kentucky’s flora includes some little known odd plants. Many of these are known only from a few sites. Some may be endemic to the state or be outliers of populations centered elsewhere. One of the plants in the latter category, bay starvine, is of particular interest to me. It is a high climbing vine (actually a liana, a woody vine) which throughout its range is associated with rich, sheltered sites. I was introduced to this species in Louisiana where it is known only from a few parishes (the Louisiana equivalent of county) in the southeastern part of the state. I saw it later in Mississippi and Kentucky.
Bay starvine, sometimes called magnolia vine or scarlet woodbine, is known to the botanical world as Schisandra glabra. An older name, Schisandra coccinea, is sometimes encountered. A variant of the generic name, Schizandra, is sometimes found in 19th and early 20th century literature. This species was long considered part of the Magnolia family, the Magnoliaceae or the Magnoliales (Small 1933; Correll and Johnston 1970). It, like magnolias, has simple flowers with multiple stamens and pistils, and appears to be beetle or fly pollinated. It has simple, alternate leaves, usually with scattered teeth along the margins. In general, it was considered a primitive species, closely related to magnolias. In recent years (see Vincent 1997), all species in the genus and another closely related genus of lianas were elevated to their own family, the Schisandraceae or Schisandra family. The family, while distantly related to the Magnoliaceae, is most closely related to another, the Illiciaceae, (Star Anise family) which also has a strong Old World distribution and an scattered southeastern United States distribution. The two genera, Schisandra and Kadsura, are Old World with the exception of bay starvine. The Old World species are Asian, found largely in China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo, India, Myanmar, Philippines, and Thailand. There are 23 Asian species (plus several subspecies) of Schisandra, and 15 species of Kadsura. Two recent monographs (Saunders 1998, 2000) provide keys, descriptions and drawings for all species.
In 1991, I found a population of an odd vine in McCreary County, Kentucky. I nearly passed it by as it superficially resembled Virginia creeper, and indeed was growing mixed with it. Because the leaf did not quite fit the expected image, a couple of specimens were collected. It was then I realized it was not Virginia creeper. The simple leaves were pale green, somewhat fleshy, and were tightly and spirally packed around the stem giving the first appearance of a palmate leaf. At the time, the only plants found were creeping on the ground, although it is typically a high climber. It took a few days to remember the plant from the Gulf Coast. Checking several sources, I learned that it had not been reported previously from the state (see Taylor 1994). The McCreary County flora by Rogers (1941), representing a reasonably thorough look at the county did not report the species. It was not reported by Braun (1943) in her Kentucky species list, nor was it reported in Johnston and Nicely (1990) in their study of Kentucky’s Magnoliaceae. Browne and Athey (1992) did not include it in their Kentucky species list. Max Medley (1993) did report this find in his dissertation. Jones (2005) includes it in his guide to Kentucky’s flora. I have since learned that an additional location occurs in Kentucky in Pike County. The specimen was collected in the mid-1980s but was buried in a herbarium in North Carolina. This was brought to my attention by Deborah White (KSNPC) and Alan Weakley (UNC, Chapel Hill).
Bay starvine is considered rare throughout its range. It has a global status of G3 meaning that it is in some danger of becoming rarer. NatureServe (2005) reports approximately 30 sites, but records for many are old. Populations are apparently most secure in Louisiana and Mississippi, but even these have a vulnerable rank. Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee rank the species as imperiled in their states. Kentucky and North Carolina considered the populations within their borders as critically imperiled. It is extirpated from South Carolina. The biggest threats to the species are encroachment and closing of the forest, especially from non-native invasive species such as Japanese honeysuckle, and the conversion of occupied habitat to industrial pine plantations.
The plant grows in open hardwood forest throughout its range. It seems to thrive on filtered sunlight, neither full shade nor full sun. Sites are in protected, rich, mesic valleys or hollows. Ettman (1980) provides more quantitative information about the species’ habitat. The plant does not seem to tolerate much heavy disturbance, but in at least one case in Arkansas, bay starvine benefited from the removal of some shading trees (Tucker, pers. com.). Patrick et al. (1995) state that hand removal of some vegetation may be beneficial. It can be propagated from cuttings and during the 1980s was sufficiently in demand for horticulture. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was prompted to consider it as a Candidate 3 species. This means that while it warranted study for listing, it was not of the same priority as other more imperiled species. It no longer has U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service status, but the U.S. Forest Service considers it a sensitive species on National Forest lands.
Bay starvine wraps loosely around tree trunks to reach light higher in the canopy. It also occurs with some frequency as a sprawling ground cover. It roots at internodes and periodically sends up aerial shoots, which reach for support and become climbing vines. Leaves, as mentioned earlier, are simple and spirally arranged on the stem. Leaves are usually crowed together on creeping stems and spread apart on climbing stems. Leaves are pale to dark green, somewhat fleshy and typical leaf blades are 3- 4.5 inches long and 1.5 to 2.5 inches wide with petioles 1-2 inches long. First year stems are soft, supple and green. They begin to harden in the second year and form a thin reddish-brown bark. Climbing stems can reach one half inch diameter or more.
Flowers are unisexual and produced on the same plant. They are solitary at the base of young shoots or in the axils of leaves. The flowers are about 3/8 inch in diameter and are borne on pedicels 0.75-1.25 inches long. Outer tepals (sepals and petals not clearly distinct from one another) are greenish white in color. Inner tepals are are rose to red. Stamens are imbedded in a disk, but pistils are somewhat free. Fruits are composed of red berries about 3/8 inch long and around one quarter inch long arranged along a peduncle.
In my experience in Kentucky, staminate flowers tend to be produced lower on the vine than pistillate flowers, but I do not know if this holds across the range of the plant. I have observed that only staminate flowers are produced on young (small diameter) vines. Vines at a minimum of 5/16 inch diameter were needed to produce pistillate flowers, and then few were produced. Larger vines produce more pistillate flowers. Warren Stoutamire (2000) has observed similar flowering controls with S. chinensis, the schisandra of the herbal medicine trade.
A continued interest in the species has uncovered additional information about the plant and much of its biogeography is summarized here. Bay starvine was long considered a southeastern U.S. endemic, a status held until recently. In Louisiana and Mississippi, the plant occurs in dissected loess hills on the outer coastal plain (the Tunica Hills), and a few places on the Mississippian Embayment. The Tennessee populations are found on dissected loess hills along the Mississippi River. Delcourt and Delcourt (1975) refer to the region as the ‘blufflands.’ Arkansas’s population is associated with recent alluvial soils along the Mississippi River. The populations in Alabama and Florida are located in rich and protected eroded hills (bluffs in Florida-see Clewell 1985) on the outer coastal plain. North Carolina populations are on the outer coastal plain and in the piedmont in ravines with bluff-like hills. South Carolina’s populations are extirpated from outer coastal plain locales. Georgia’s populations centered on Atlanta, with coastal plain outliers, form the distribution center of the species. It has been reported from Texas (Correll and Johnston, 1970), but no specimens back the reports. Diggs et al. (1999), a more recent treatment of northcentral Texas does not list it, but is centered to the west and north of any likely range within Texas. It was recently discovered in the mountains of Hildago state in eastern Mexico (Panero and Aranda 1998); an east Texas (pinewoods region) distribution is possible.
Fossil records of Tertiary age (5-15 million years ago) for species of Schisandra are known from the Pacific Northwest in much the same area as dawn redwood fossils have been found. Additional fossil records are known from Europe where the family is no longer represented (Saunders 2000). Kadsura also shows this pattern in the fossil record (Saunders 1998). The current distribution of the family suggests a remnant of a more widespread tropical flora distributed in the northern latitudes which contracted with changing climate. This pattern is found in other groups such as magnolias, tulip poplar, buttercups, anemones, and pachysandra.
The current distribution of bay starvine suggests an origin in the distributional contraction of a tropical Tertiary flora as well as a contraction resulting from the last ice age. The Mexican disjunct is undoubtedly a remnant of the Tertiary flora which has remained in place in refuge habitat of higher elevations (5200 ft in this case- see Panero and Aranda 1998). Miranda and Sharp (1950) suggest that several of these refugia are present in some regions of eastern Mexico, and idea further developed by Panero and Aranda (1998). Familiar genera such as Carpinus (bluebeech), Ostrya (hop hornbeam), Alnus (alder), Mitchella (partridgeberry), Quercus (oak), Prunus (cherry and plum), and Pinus (pine) are found in these areas as well as less familiar genera such as Monotropa (pinesap), Pinguicula (bladderwort), Zanthoxylum (toothace-tree) and Symplocos (horse-sugar).
The loess hills along the Mississippi River and elsewhere in the outer coastal plain are considered an area of major refuge during the last glacial age. Hazel Delcourt (2002, p. 65-74) describes the distribution of a group of plants, many of them rare, including bay starvine, along the Mississippi River bluffs, across the bluffs/hills of the north Gulf coastal plain and the association of these species in general with the southern Appalachian mountains. Delcourt and Delcourt (1975) provide additional details. Later, using additional information sources, she develops the argument in favor of these regions serving as refugia for numerous species. What is interesting in this idea is the bluffs and coastal plain connection to the Appalachian Mountains. Numerous other coastal plain species are present in southern Kentucky, McCreary County in particular. The Kentucky locations suggest a remnant of a larger Appalachian distribution and the possibility of other sites in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and western North Carolina and Virginia. It works the other way too. There is a disjunct population of mountain laurel in Louisiana in the general area of the loess hills and there is a disjunct population of bloodroot in the panhandle of Florida.
Keep an eye out for this plant. It is possible that other sites occur in eastern Kentucky. It is also possible that it occurs in south central Kentucky and within the Jackson Purchase region of the state. I would be interested in knowing of additional locations as would the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission. It is a gem in Kentucky’s flora and an attractive plant.
References:
Braun, E.L. 1943. An annotated catalog of spermatophytes of Kentucky. Privately published by the author. Cincinnati, OH. Browne, E.T. and R. Athey. 1992. Vascular plants of Kentucky: an annotated checklist. The University Press of Kentucky. Lexington, KY.
Clewell, A.F. 1985. Guide to the Vascular Plants of the Florida Panhandle. University Presses of Florida. Tallahassee, FL. 605 p.
Correll, D.S. and M.C. Johnston. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas. Texas Research Foundation. Renner, TX. 1881 p.
Delcourt, H.A. 2002. Forests in peril: tracking deciduous trees from Ice-age refuges into the greenhouse world. The MacDonald and Woodward Publishing Company. Blacksburg, VA. 234 p.
Delcourt and Delcourt. 1975. The blufflands: Pleistocene pathway into the Tunica Hills. Am. Mid. Nat. 94:385-400.
Diggs, Jr., G.M., B.L. Lipscomb, R.J.O’Kennon. 1999. Shinners and Mahler’s Flora of North Central Texas. Sida, Botanical Miscellany No. 16. Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Inc. Fort Worth, TX. 1626 p.
Ettman, D. 1980. A study of Schisandra glabra (Brickell) Rehder, a rare species endemic to the southeastern United States. Unpublished master’s thesis. Emory University. Atlanta, GA. Henderson J. (2004). Gulf South Research Corporation. Photo # 1241323. Image available at www.forestryimages.org and reproduced under terms of usage. Accessed 21 September 2005.
Johnston, G.P. and K.A.Nicely. 1990. The Magnoliales ofKentucky. Trans. Kentucky Acad. Sci. 51:14-17.
Jones, R.L. 2005. Plant life of Kentucky: an illustrated guide tothe vascular flora. The University Press of Kentucky. Lexington,KY. 834 p.
MacGown, J. 2004. Schisandra glabra. Drawing from Vines ofMississippi. Available at http://www.msstate.edu/org/mississippientmuseum/museumpersonnel./MS.vines.htm.Medley, M.E. 1993. An annotated catalog of known or reportedvascular flora of Kentucky. Unpublished dissertation,University of Louisville. Louisville, KY.
Miranda, F. and A.J. Sharp. 1950. Characteristics of thevegetation in certain temperate regions of eastern Mexico.Ecology 31:313-333.
NatureServe. 2005. NatureServe Explorer: An onlineencyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 4.5.NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. (Accessed: September 21,2005).
Panero, J.L. and P. Dávila Aranda. 1998. The familySchisandraceae: a new record for the flora of Mexico. Brittonia50:87-90.
Patrick, T.S, J.R. Allison and G.A. Krakow. 1995. Protected Plantsof Georgia. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, GeorgiaNatural Heritage Program. Social Circle, GA. pp. 248. p.167-168.Rogers, J.H. 1941. The flora of McCreary County, Kentucky.Unpublished masters thesis, University of Kentucky. Lexington,KY.
Saunders, R.M.K. 1998. Monograph of Kadsura(Schisandraceae). Sys. Bot. Mono. Vol. 54. 106 p.
Saunders, R.M.K. 2000. Monograph of Schisandra(Schisandraceae). Sys. Bot. Mono. Vol. 58. 146 p.
Small. J.K. 1933. Manual of the Southeastern Flora. TheUniversity of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, NC. 1554 p.
Stoutamire, Warren. 2000. Professor, University of Akron.Personal communication to D. Taylor.
Taylor, D.D. 1994. Schisandra glabra (Schisandraceae) new to Kentucky. Sida 16:213-214.
Tucker, G. 1992. Botanist, USDA Forest Service, Ozark-St. Francis National Forest, Arkansas. Personal communication to D. Taylor.
USACE. (2004). Savannah District of Army Corp of Engineers website. http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/ Accessed December 2004. Photo no longer on site.
Vincent, M.A. 1997. Schisandraceae Blume. pp. 62-63. IN: Floraof North American Editorial Committee. 1997. Flora of NorthAmerica, Vol. 3. Magnoliophyta: Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae.Oxford University Press. New York, NY; Oxford, England. 590 p
David Taylor, Forest Botanist for the Daniel Boone National Forest for the last 34 years, works with rare plants, invasive plants and plants in general. Most of his hiking and plant observations occur in the eastern and east-central parts of Kentucky. He encourages native plants and works to remove invasive plants on his property in central Kentucky.