Op upper slopes, rhododendron drops out under oak - hemlock canopy. Much of area has younger forest compared to this plot, with hemlock mostly in the subcanopy. In ravine bottom upstream are large patches of deciduous tree / rhododendron.;Moist cove bottom above a high gradient stream. Substrate is bouldery sandstone colluvium. Community is a forest of large hemlock and tulip poplar with smaller birches over a dense thicket of great laurel. Low herb cover and diversity.
Representativeness
Sampled to compare to similar hemlock / rhododendron forests at New River and Gauley. Here it is patchy in ravine bottom in mosaic with deciduous tree / rhododendron.