SWAMP BAY

Florida native, under attack by red bay ambrosia borer beetle

(Xyleborus glabratus ) vectoring a fungal vascular wilt disease
(Raffaelea lauricola)
Threatened status in Arkansas
Swamp bay
Persea palustris
• Lauraceae
• Communities: Swamps, bogs, hydric savannas, wet
flatwoods, sloughs, seepage slopes, bayheads, tree
islands, edges of canals and marshes, coastal swales,
spring margins
• Habit: Large shrub or small to medium tree. Woody
evergreen.
• Height: typically 15-25 ft
• Width: Usu. taller than broader; trunk 6 to 18 in. diam.
• Description of trunk (if applicable)
• Single or multi-stemmed
• Bark texture: gray to brown, rough and ridged, <1/4 in thick
• Crown shape: pyramidal, round-topped to cylindrical
Swamp bay
Persea palustris
• Leaf description
• Type and arrangement: simple, alternate
• Shape: oval or lance-shaped (sickled)
• Apex: acute or short-acuminate (pointed)
• Base: cuneate (wedged) and long-petioled
• Margin: entire
• Surface: upper glabrous – dark green; lower glaucous -
dull brown or silvery white with orange tinge, rusty,
shaggy sparse pubescence - kinked tricombes (hairs),
esp. main veins
• Leaves often infested with insect galls
• Larval host for palamedes and spicebush swallowtail
butterflies
• Seminole medicine to aid bowel, treat fever
Swamp bay
Persea palustris
• Flowers (mid to late spring)
• Incomplete, perfect (bisexual)
• Symmetry: actinomorphic
• Sepals: 6 greenish-yellow sepals, tepals in 2 sets of 3; bractlets
• Petals: apetalous
• Stamen: 9 in 3 outer series + 3 inner staminodia
• Ovary: superior, 1-pistil, 1-carpel
• Inflorescence-tiny, inconspicuous, stalked cyme-panicle, axillary
• Fruit type:
• Color blue-black; ~ ½ inch
• Drupe (dehisces by flap-like valves), ellipsoid, sour-tasting
• Fruits eaten by songbirds, turkey, quail, deer, bear
• Long flower and fruit stems – peduncle longer than petiole
• Fruit and seed usually infested with wasp larvae
References

Class textbook, p. 159.

Andreu, Michael G., Melissa H. Friedman, Mary McKenzie, and Heather V. Quintana. "Persea palustris, Swamp Bay." (FOR
260) Gainesville, FL: UF-IFAS Extension (EDIS). 2010.
Benvie, Sam. Encyclopedia of North American trees. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Bks. 2000.
Castner, James L. Photographic Atlas of Botany and Guide to Plant Identification. Gaiinesville, FL: Feline Pr. 2004.
Coder, Kim D. "Redbay (Persea borbonia): A Tree of Confusion." (Outreach Pub. SFNR06-3). Athens, GA: U. GA. 2006.
Colodney, Ellen J. "Hurricanes, Bears, and Propagating: Persea palustris." Native Plants. Fall, 2005.
Dehgan, Bijan and Thomas J. Sheehan. "Vegetative Propagation of Florida Native Plants: VI. Persea Palustris (Swampbay)."
Proceedings of the Florida State Horticultural Society. 104: 291-293. 1991.
Duncan, Wilbur Howard. Trees of the southeastern United States. Athens, GA: U GA Pr. 1988.
Flora of North America Association. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume 3. Oxford, UK: Oxford U. Pr. 1997.
Godfrey, Robert K. and Jean W. Wooten. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of the Southeastern United States. Dicotyledons.
Athens, GA: U GA Pr. 1981.
Grimm, William Carey. The Illustrated Book of Trees. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Bks. 2002.
Huegel, Craig Norman. Native plant landscaping for Florida wildlife. Gainesville, FL: U. Pr. of FL. 2010.
Lakela, Olga and Richard P. Wunderlin. Trees of central Florida. Miami, FL: Banyan Bks. 1980.
Nelson, Gil. Florida's best native landscape plants.: 200 readily available species for homeowners and professionals. Gainesville,
FL: U. Pr. of FL. 2003.
Nelson, Gil. The trees of Florida: a reference and field guide. Sarasota: Pineapple Pr. 1994.
Proenza, Lynn and Michael Andreu. "Key to Common Bay Trees of Florida." (FOR 311) Gainesville, FL: UF-IFAS (EDIS). 2013.
Rodgers, Leroy, Andrew Derkson, and Tony Pernas. "Expansion and Impact of Laurel Wilt in the Florida Everglades." Florida
Entomologist. 97(3): 1247-1250. 2014.
Sargent, Charles Sprague. The Silva of North America. Volume VII. NY: Peter Smith. 1947.
Tobe, John D. et. al. Florida Wetland Plants: an Identification Manual. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of Environmental
Protection. 1998.
Zomfeler, Wendy B. Common Florida Angiosperm Families. Part I. Gainesville, FL: Storter Pr. 1983.
http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/pepa.html
http://regionalconservation. org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.sap?tx=Perspalu
http://southeastgarden.com/persea.html