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
32
m
Shrub Height
5
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
85
%
Shrub Cover
30
%
Field Cover
60
%
Nonvascular Cover
2
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Site is a forested floodplain slough along Elklick Run in the northern Piedmont Culpeper (Triassic) Basin. This habitat is probably flooded most of the winter and spring, and periodically during wet periods of the summer. Soils probably contain a mixture of alluvium washed from diabase and siltstone. Vegetation is a mixed bottomland forest of good-sized trees. Quercus bicolor, Q. palustris, Q. shumardii, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, and Acer rubrum are all represented in the overstory, with the two latter species also in the sub-canopy; Carpinus caroliniana is the leading shrub dominant. The herb layer is species-rich with a variety of hydrophytic sedges, grasses, and forbs.