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
20
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
30
%
Shrub Cover
60
%
Field Cover
85
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Directions to Plot: N on Route 24 from West Park entrance. First left past Park entrance; approx. 500 m before main visitor center entrance. Follow road past houses until it end and Park. Hike about 200 m NE downslope toward river. Plot is in seep about 80 m NW on floodplain of Appomattox River adjacent to slope with old roadbed.
Sample captures an open seep with overhanging trees. Trees rooted around the margin of the seep are mostly Fraxinus pennsylvanica with some Acer rubrum and an occasional Cercis canadensis. Lindera benzoin dominates the tall shrub stratum. Other common shrubs are Alnus serrulata and Ligustrum obtusifolium. Herbaceous dominance varies from Symplocarpus foetidus to Carex trichocarpa. A drainage runs through seep, 120 m from the main river channel. Upslope this community grades into a Quercus rubra - Liriodendron tulipifera forest and, on the floodplain, it grades into a forest of Fraxinus pennsylvanica with Platanus occidentalis.