The plot is located in an old ox bow of the Tygart River. On the down river end of the Oxbow is plot RAND.46, an open Nuphar wetland. The western edge of the ox bow is an upland white oak forest. The western edge of the ox bow has a thin patch of Alnus serrulata shrubland.;The community is a shrub land of 2m tall Cephelanthus occidentalis growing in an old intact and relatively undisturbed oxbow of the Tygart River. The community is flooded at the time of the survey with obvious beaver activity. There are small openings within the shrubland where Nuphar dominates. The areas that aren't flooded are covered with sticky mucky mud. This end of the ox bow is subject to drying, hence the presence of shrubs. Beaver channel in plot.
Representativeness
Small patch of a buttonbush swamp located in the upstream end of an old oxbow of the Tygart river. Similar to stands observed at Winfield swamp, except there the patches were larger.
