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
24
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
75
m
Tree Cover
85
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
50
%
Nonvascular Cover
1
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Vegetation in the plot is a "rich," post-logging montane oak-hickory forest on a broad crest of Potts Mountain. Soils here are deep and loamy, with moderately high calcium and magnesium, and very high manganese content. Quercus rubra and Carya ovata co-dominant the overstory, with the latter and Carya ovalis making up much of the understory. Acer pensylvanicum dominates an open shrub layer, while Cimicifuga racemosa strongly dominates a lush herb layer. This stand is fairly typical of forests on the deeper-soiled summits and upper SE flank of the mountain. However, herbaceous plants were beginning to senesce of the late sampling data, and spring ephemerals may have been missed.