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
100
m²
Plot Quality Fields:
Plot Validation Level
(2) classification plot: sufficient for inclusion in a classification revision
Overall Plot Vegetation Fields:
Shrub Cover
15
%
Field Cover
50
%
Nonvascular Cover
30
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
Plot describes herbaceous to sparsely scrubby vegetation of a low elevation greenstone outcrop barren. Plants unusual for the region abound here. Muhlenbergia capillaris var. capillaris, a grass of rare and local distribution in this part of Virginia, dominates the barren, along with Carex pensylvanica, Danthonia spicata and Bouteloua curtipendula, a grass usually confined to carbonate rock substrates. Ephemeral groundwater seepage on part of the outcrop supports a small colony of Dodecatheon meadia, which is not known elsewhere on the northern Virginia Blue Ridge.
Plot located on steep, southwest-facing slope ca. 50 m downslope of Shenandoah National Park boundary, 0.5 mi WNW of Dickey Ridge Visitor Center on Skyline Drive.