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 Cover
90
%
Shrub Cover
60
%
Field Cover
80
%
Nonvascular Cover
2
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The habitat encompasses the lower portion of a steep, cliffy, east-facing forested bluff along the Potomac River, 0.25 mi northeast of Balls Bluff Regional Cemetery. In a detailed study of the northern Virginia Triassic basin, underlying bedrock was mapped as Balls Bluff siltstone, a calcareous formation. Fertile calcareous soils in the vicinity of the plot support such regionally noteworthy species such as Quercus muhlenbergii, Acer nigrum, Erigenia bulbosa, Erythronium albidum, Jeffersonia diphylla and Cystopteris bulbifera (in rock crevices outside plot).
Site is anomalous inclusion with soils unlike those of the mapped unit. A horizon: dark brown, friable silty clay loam with many small rock fragments; this is almost certainly a recently deposited colluvial soil washed from the steep bluff and uplands upslope from the plot location.