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TOPIC: Atlantic White Cedar info?
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/91b31be04b78c4cf?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 14 2008 10:44 pm
From: Marcas Houtchings aka jeeping31

Shealy's Pond Heritage Preserve owned by the State DNR in Lexingon S.C.
is really Nice I have not really look to see what is the biggest tree
out there really in a mile from my house :) I hope to look into it
more to get some more info. Marcas

Shealy’s Pond covers 62 acres in Lexington County, and is centered
around an old mill pond and associated wetlands on spring-fed Scouter
Creek. County Road 279 crosses the dam of the mill pond, which covers
about 6 acres. The preserve also includes approximately 6 acres of
sandhills on the west side, which is forested primarily in longleaf
pine and turkey oak. The remainder of the tract is an Atlantic white
cedar bog surrounding the mill pond that supports several rare plant
species. This is one of only 3 known localities for the globally rare
Rayner's blueberry.

Atlantic white cedar is an aromatic evergreen tree, 50 to 80 feet tall
and 1 to 4 feet in diameter, with a conical crown of slender, often
pendulous branches. It occurs in a narrow belt along the Atlantic
coast from southern Maine to northern Florida, and along the Gulf
Coast to southern Mississippi.

Lack of adequate regeneration has decreased the acreage of Atlantic
white cedar in the Carolinas by at least 90 percent since the early
19th century. However, the stand at Shealy’s Pond is one of the best
in the state. Much of it is over 150 years old. The preserve’s
Atlantic white cedar forest filters and purifies water flowing through
it and helps stabilize streamflow by storing floodwater and mitigating
the effects of drought.

The rarest and most important species on the preserve is Rayner’s
blueberry, which is classified as a plant species of national concern
by Heritage Trust. Plants ranked as species of state concern on the
preserve include white beak-rush, swaying bullrush, Collins’ sedge,
wooly-berry, northern burmannia and Pickering’s breweria.
Insectivorous plant species include yellow pitcher plant, purple
pitcher plant, sweet pitcher plant, and three species of sundews. The
black water snake, a species of state concern, is also found on the
preserve.