Corkwood (Leitneria floridana)
Description
Leitneria floridana, commonly called corkwood, is an uncommon to rare, suckering, deciduous shrub or small tree that is native only to a few wetland areas (swamps, ponds, marshes, estuaries, tidal streams, wet thickets and roadside ditches), in both freshwater and brackish conditions, in far southeastern Georgia, along the Gulf Coast in Florida and Texas plus in the Mississippi River basin in both Arkansas and the Missouri bootheel. It is considered to be rare in Missouri where plants are restricted to Dunklin, Butler and Ripley counties (Steyermark). Although it will grow to 25- tall in the wild, it is usually observed in shorter form. In cultivation, it typically grows in the 3-12- tall range. Flowering catkins and fruit are not particularly ornamental, but the shrub/tree has interesting aspects, including attractive foliage that remains green well into autumn and reddish bark with lighter colored lenticels. In swamps, trunks are often swollen at the base. Wood is very light and buoyant (less so than cork), having been once used by fishermen for fishing net floats. This is a dioecious (separate male and female plants), catkin-producing shrub/tree. It is somewhat similar to other catkin-producing plants such as poplars. Catkins appear in spring (March) before the leaves emerge. Male catkins are brownish and female catkins are reddish. Female plants produce fruit (oblong single-seeded light olive brown drupe to 5/ 8- long) in late spring. Green to olive green leaves (gray-hairy beneath) are elliptic-oblong to lanceolate (to 3-6- long) and crowded near the branch tips.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Sapindales
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Family: Simaroubaceae
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Genus: Leitneria
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