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SPECIES:  Eupatorium capillifolium

Introductory

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : Van Deelen, Timothy R. 1991. Eupatorium capillifolium. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/forb/eupcap/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION : EUPCAP SYNONYMS : Eupatorium compositifolium Walt. SCS PLANT CODE : EUCA5 COMMON NAMES : dogfennel TAXONOMY : The currently accepted scientific name for dogfennel is Eupatorium capillifolium (Lam.) Small (Asteraceae) [2,6]. Eupatorium compositifolium Walt. and E. leptophyllum D.C. are closely related species which some authors include as varieties of E. capillifolium [2,11]. There are no recognized subspecies or varieties. LIFE FORM : Forb FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : No special status OTHER STATUS : NO-ENTRY


DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : Dogfennel grows in the southeastern United States from southern Florida west to eastern Texas. Its range extends north to Tennesee, Virginia, and New Jersey. It is occasional farther north along the East Coast to Massachusetts [2]. ECOSYSTEMS : FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine FRES14 Oak - pine FRES15 Oak - hickory FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress FRES41 Wet grasslands STATES : AL AR CT DE FL GA LA MA NJ NY NC RI SC TN TX VA BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : NO-ENTRY KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : K079 Palmetto prarie K080 Marl - everglades K089 Black belt K090 Live oak - sea oats K091 Cypress savanna K092 Everglades K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest K112 Southern mixed forest K113 Southern floodplain forest K114 Pocosin K115 Sand pine scrub K116 Subtropical pine forest SAF COVER TYPES : 40 Post oak - blackjack oak 43 Bear oak 45 Pitch pine 46 Eastern redcedar 57 Yellow poplar 61 River birch - sycamore 64 Sassafras - persimmon 69 Sand pine 70 Longleaf pine 71 Longleafpine - scrub oak 72 Southern scrub oak 75 Shortleaf pine 76 Shortleaf pine - oak 78 Virginia pine - oak 79 Virginia pine 80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine 81 Loblolly pine 82 Loblolly pine hardwood 83 Longleaf pine - slash pine 84 Slash pine 87 Sweet gum - yellow poplar 97 Atlantic white-cedar 111 South Florida slash pine SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : NO-ENTRY HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : Wells [18] cited dogfennel as a dominant of mid-seral, coastal meadows in his classification of Coastal Plain community types.

MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : Dogfennel has no value as forage for wildlife and livestock [9,15]. PALATABILITY : Dogfennel probably has very low palatability. Cattle graze it sparingly if at all, even when other forage is scarce [9]. NUTRITIONAL VALUE : NO-ENTRY COVER VALUE : NO-ENTRY VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : NO-ENTRY OTHER USES AND VALUES : NO-ENTRY OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : Dogfennel may serve as a reservior for disease-causing pathogens when growing among food crops [4]. Dogfennel is scarce on forest ranges in good condition [9]. Grazing forage utilization in excess of 65 percent will favor dogfennel establishment [3]. Dogfennel presence may indicate overgrazing.

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : Dogfennel is a common, aggressively weedy native of the southeastern United States [2,14]. It is alternately described as an annual [2,9,16] and a perennial [6,14]. It has several stems arising from a stout woody caudex. It grows in distinct colonies on favorable sites. Dogfennel normally reaches 4 to 5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) in height but can reach up to 9 feet (2.7 m) on fertile sites [9]. The fruit is a smooth achene [9]. RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : Hemicryptophyte Therophyte REGENERATION PROCESSES : Dogfennel is wind pollinated [9]. Following the typical pattern of weedy plants, dogfennel's primary mode of regeneration is probably sexual. Its regeneration strategy probably depends on the production of a great many wind-dispersed seeds. SITE CHARACTERISTICS : Dogfennel grows on disturbed sites in the Southeast. It is common on young burns in the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda)-turkey oak (Quercus laevis) type in Florida's Ocala National Forest [10], on recent burns in the Okefenokee Swamp [1], on burned and cut Atlantic white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) sites in the Great Dismal Swamp [14], and on overgrazed sites in Louisiana [3]. Dogfennel is a frequent invader of everglades sawgrass (Cladium sp.) communities during drought [7,13]. Other dogfennel sites include meadows, swales, old fields, pond borders, ditches, disturbed or overgrazed pastures, and roadsides [9]. Although apparently able to grow on a variety of soils, it is most common on dry, sandy soils [9]. SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : Obligate Initial Community Species Dogfennel is intolerant of closed or highly structured communities [9]. It is undoubtedly an early seral, if not an invader, species in most successional progressions within its range. SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : Dogfennel biomass peaks in the spring [14]. Its flowering period is unusually long because shaded plants bloom earlier than those in full sun. A population of dogfennel near Gainsville Florida had the following phenological sequence [3]. Phenological event Timing ------------------ ----------------------------- Flowering late August - early November Fruit ripening early - mid November Fruit dispersal late November - early December Drying late November - mid January Dormancy mid January - early March Bolting early April - June

FIRE ECOLOGY

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : The fire ecology of dogfennel has not been adequately described. Dogfennel probably depends on off-site seed sources to colonize recently burned areas. Sprouting from a surviving caudex may also occur. 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". POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : NO-ENTRY

FIRE EFFECTS

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : Most fires probably kill or at least top-kill dogfennel. Its caudex may survive cool fires. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : NO-ENTRY PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : The presence of dogfennel on recently burned sites [1,10,14] indicates that seedling establishment and/or sprouting occurs following fire. DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : NO-ENTRY FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : NO-ENTRY

REFERENCES

SPECIES: Eupatorium capillifolium
REFERENCES : 1. Cypert, Eugene. 1961. The effects of fires in the Okefenokee Swamp in 1954 and 1955. American Midland Naturalist. 66(2): 485-503. [11018] 2. Duncan, Wilbur H.; Duncan, Marion B. 1987. The Smithsonian guide to seaside plants of the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts from Louisiana to Massachusetts, exclusive of lower peninsular Florida. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. 409 p. [12906] 3. Duvall, V. L.; Linnartz, N. E. 1967. Influences of grazing and fire on vegetation and soil of longleaf pine - bluestem range. Journal of Range Management. 20: 241-247. [7623] 4. Edwards, W. H.; Jones, R. K. 1984. Additions to the weed host range of Meloidogyne hapla. Plant Disease. 68(9): 811-812. [15899] 5. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905] 6. Fernald, Merritt Lyndon. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. [Corrections supplied by R. C. Rollins]. Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press. 1632 p. (Dudley, Theodore R., gen. ed.; Biosystematics, Floristic & Phylogeny Series; vol. 2). [14935] 7. Forthman, Carol Ann. 1973. The effects of prescribed burning on sawgrass. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami. 83 p. Thesis. [14571] 8. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others]. 1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998] 9. Grelen, Harold E.; Hughes, Ralph H. 1984. Common herbaceous plants of Southern forest range. Res. Pap. SO-210. New Orleans, LA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest and Range Experiment Station. 147 p. [2946] 10. Harlow, Richard F.; Bielling, Paul. 1961. Controlled burning studies in longleaf pine-turkey oak association on the Ocala National Forest. Proceeding, Annual Conference of Southeastern Association of Game and Fish. 15: 9-24. [9905] 11. Kartesz, John T.; Kartesz, Rosemarie. 1980. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. Volume II: The biota of North America. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press; in confederation with Anne H. Lindsey and C. Richie Bell, North Carolina Botanical Garden. 500 p. [6954] 12. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York: American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384] 13. Loveless, Charles M. 1959. A study of the vegetation in the Florida Everglades. Ecology. 40(1): 1-9. [11478] 14. McKinley, Carol E.; Day, Frank P., Jr. 1979. Herb. prod. in cut-burned, uncut-burned & contl areas of a Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) BSP (Cupressaceae) stand in the Great Dismal Swamp. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 106(1): 20-28. [14089] 15. Murray, Robert W.; Frye, O. E., Jr. 1964. The bobwhite quail and its management in Florida. 2d ed. Game Publ. No. 2. [Place of publication unknown]: Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. 55 p. [15421] 16. Patton, Janet Easterday; Judd, Walter S. 1988. A phenological study of 20 vascular plant species occurring on the Paynes Prairie Basin, Alachua County, Florida. Castanea. 53(2): 149-163. [15081] 17. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843] 18. Wells, B. W. 1928. Plant communities of the Coastal Plain of North Carolina and their successional relations. Ecology. 9(2): 230-242. [9307] 19. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p. [20090] 20. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982. National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names. SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]

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