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
400
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Height
30
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
80
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
20
%
Nonvascular Cover
5
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot was positioned in a shallow, middle-slope ravine head along the Appalachian Trail north of Rt. 42 at the southeast foot of Brushy Mountain. The site is submesic, very rocky, and underlain by acidic shale. Species richness is exceptionally high for such a site, with 78 taxa recorded in the 400 square meter plot. The overstory of this stand is highly mixed, with no clear dominant(s), containing Quercus alba, Q. rubra, Q. montana, Carya glabra, Magnolia acuminata, Acer rubrum, and Betula lenta up to ca. 60 cm DBH; Liriodendron tulipifera occurs in the canopy outside the plot. Some of the trees originated from coppice sprouts, indicating logging many decades ago. The subcanopy and shrub layers have rather open and interrupted cover by Oxydendrum arboreum, Acer rubrum, Nyssa sylvatica, Carya alba, Fagus grandifolia, Hamamelis virginiana, and Acer pensylvanicum. Several ericads (Kalmia latifolia, Rhododendron maximum, Vaccinium pallidum) occur at low cover. The herbaceous flora is patchy to quite sparse but contains numerous species, of which only Galax urceolata, Polystichum acrostichoides, and Gaultheria procumbens attain > 1% cover. Similar mixed oak forest is characteristic of the lower to middle, southwest-facing slopes of the small cove traversed by the Appalachian Trail north of Rt. 42.