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
36
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
5
m
Tree Cover
90
%
Shrub Cover
70
%
Field Cover
25
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot located on an upper, south-facing slope above the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Just above the plot, near the ridge crest, is an area extensively strewn with quartz boulders. Although not particularly lush, vegetation in the plot is a mixed mesophytic forest with a fairly diverse herb flora, including a number of spring geophytes. The stand exhibits characteristics of successional change seen commonly in this area, i.e., poor recruitment of overstory-dominating oaks and hickories, and an understory dominated by the tolerant mesophytes Fagus grandifolia and Acer saccharum.