Releve Virginia Division of Natural Heritage, see http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/documents/nh_plotform_instructions.pdf
Overall Taxon Cover Values are Automatically Calculated?
no
Stem Observation Area
200
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
10
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
15
%
Shrub Cover
20
%
Field Cover
30
%
Nonvascular Cover
60
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Habitat is a narrow southwest-facing ridge spur on Mount Pony, a diabase monadnock in the north-central Piedmont Culpeper (Triassic) Basin. This site has high cover of massive diabase outcrops and weathered slabs of this rock, with only local, superficial development of soil veneers on ledges and in crevices. The soil that is present is rich in calcium and magnesium. The overall vegetation is a very open or sparse woodland of Juniperus virginiana, Fraxinus americana, and Carya glabra. Rhus aromatica forms patchy, low shrub colonies. The herb layer is quite restricted by the high rock cover and consists mostly of the xerophytic graminoids Carex pensylvanica, Schizachyrium scoparium, Danthonia spicata, Piptochaetium avenaceum, and Sporobolus clandestinus.