Persea palustris is a species of plant in the family Lauraceae. It belongs to the evergreen trees genus Persea of about 150 species. Commonly known as the swampbay, is a tree native to eastern North America, from Texas eastwards to Florida and then extending north to Delaware, mostly on the Gulf Coastal Plain and Atlantic Coastal Plain but extending into the Piedmont somewhat. Its range also includes the Bahamas.1. Persea palustris (Rafinesque) Sargent, Flora of North America It was previously considered a subspecies of the redbay P. borbonia.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: 11.6 m · USDA: 10.67 m · TRY: 3.5 m
Life cycle & reproduction24
Bloom periodEarly Spring
Coppice potentialNo
Deciduousnessevergreen
Dispersal typeanimal
Flower colouryellow
Flower conspicuousYes
Fruit seed period beginSpring
Fruit seed period endSummer
Growth rate USDAModerate
Life spanperennial
Lifespan categoryModerate
Propagated by bare rootYes
Propagated by bulbNo
Propagated by containerYes
Propagated by cormNo
Propagated by cuttingsNo
Propagated by seedYes
Propagated by sodNo
Propagated by sprigsNo
Propagated by tubersNo
Resprout abilityYes
Seed spread rateSlow
Seedling vigorMedium
Vegetative spread rateNone
Habitat & environment21
Active growth periodSpring and Summer
Adapted to coarse textured soilsYes
Adapted to fine textured soilsNo
Adapted to medium textured soilsYes
BloatNone
Climberself-supporting
Foliage colorGreen
Foliage porosity summerDense
Foliage porosity winterModerate
Foliage textureCoarse
Fruit colourblack
Growth formtree
Growth form USDASingle Stem
Hedge toleranceLow
Known allelopathNo
Leaf retentionNo
Low growing grassNo
Root depth min24 in
Shape and orientationIrregular
Small grainNo
Woodinesswoody
Physiology & chemistry20
Anaerobic toleranceLow
C:N ratioHigh
Caco3 toleranceLow
Cold stratification requiredNo
Drought toleranceLow
Fertility requirementMedium
Fire resistantNo
Fire toleranceMedium
Frost free days min220 days
Leaf dry-matter content (LDMC)470 mg/g
Moisture useHigh
Nitrogen fixation levelNone
Precipitation max60 in
Precipitation min35 in
Salinity toleranceLow
Shade toleranceMedium
Soil pH max7 pH
Soil pH min5 pH
Specific leaf area (SLA)10.96 mm²/mg
Temperature min12 °F
Uses & economy14
Berry nut seed productNo
Christmas tree productNo
Commercial availabilityNo Known Source
Fodder productNo
Lumber productNo
Naval store productNo
Nursery stock productYes
Palatable browse animalLow
Palatable graze animalLow
Palatable humanNo
Post productNo
Pulpwood productNo
ToxicityNone
Veneer productNo
Other traits7
Fall conspicuousNo
Fruit seed abundanceMedium
Fruit seed conspicuousYes
Fruit seed persistenceNo
Height at 20yr7.62 m
Planting density max1 200 per acre
Planting density min200 per acre
05DNA & barcoding6 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Persea palustris has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens6
Marker genes4
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections5
Countries1
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK3★rbcL5★ITS2★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPersea palustris carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin2.75 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type635 records
Wild obs. + sensor1
Museum / vouchered623
Cultivated / captive4
Other7
Origin
Introduced7
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO1 880 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤1 km 1
1 georeferenced
Open the mapobservation + sensor1
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy40% within 1 km
≤100 m 19≤1 km 54≤10 km 56>10 km 53
182 georeferenced · 441 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence623
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤1 km 4
4 georeferenced
Open the mapnot free-living4
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions37 of 59 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Tampa, US
110
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
72
Bronx, US
55
Miami, US
32
Valdosta State Universitylocation not on record
30
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
24
Williamsburg, US
22
Columbia, US
21
Chapel Hill, US
19
University of Southern Mississippilocation not on record
18
US
17
Norfolk, US
13
Saint Louis, US
12
Tuscaloosa, US
11
Knoxville, US
11
Paris, FR
10
Clemson, US
9
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
9
GAlocation not on record
8
BAYLUlocation not on record
7
AUAlocation not on record
7
Wuzhou, CN
7
Mississippi State, US
7
Bloomington, US
7
Austin, US
7
Tall Timbers Research Stationlocation not on record
6
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
6
Fort Worth, US
5
Riverside, US
4
Lord Fairfax Community Collegelocation not on record
4
Jackson, US
4
Philadelphia, US
3
University of North Carolina at Pembrokelocation not on record
3
San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record
3
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
3
Mount Pleasant, US
2
Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preservelocation not on record
2
Millersville, US
2
Philadelphia, US
2
Kew, GB
2
Tempe, US
2
ASUlocation not on record
2
DOI/NPS, Mississippi National River & Recreation Arealocation not on record
2
Phoenix, US
1
Moscow, US
1
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
1
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
1
Little Rock, US
1
Museum of the Rockieslocation not on record
1
Audubon Society -- Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuarylocation not on record
1
EL PASO, US
1
Beijing, CN
1
Florida Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
San Angelo, US
1
Claremont, US
1
Lincoln, US
1
Oskarshamn, SE
1
Baltimore, US
1
Minia, EG
1
59 institutions · 618 of 623 vouchered records shown · 5 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA5 detections
Where the DNA of Persea palustris was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found5
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 5 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility635 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI5 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics6 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗