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
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Tree Cover
50
%
Shrub Cover
70
%
Field Cover
50
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
The habitat is a steep, convex, southwest facing slope fronting the Kerr Reservoir. Several similar slope "noses" are located nearby and support similar vegetation and gnarled canopy trees of Quercus stellata and Q. muhlenbergii. The area is underlain by Buffalo Granite, which is abundantly exposed where the slopes were abruptly undercut during creation of the reservoir impoundment. The plot is located just upslope of this abrupt cut and represents the remnant of what may have been a larger dry forest/woodland which probably extended far downslope prior to the creation of the reservoir. The vegetation is highly unusual in the prominence of a number of calciphilic or basidophilic species (e.g. Q. muhlenbergii, Salvia urticifolia, Ruellia purshiana, Tragia urticifolia, Arabis canadensis, etc.) on granite. Overall floristic composition is similar to that of piedmont oak-hickory forests on mafic substrates such as gabbro and greenstone. Measured trees (dbh in cm.): Quercus stellata (50.7), Q. muhlenbergii (68.6).