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
9
m
Shrub Height
6
m
Field Height
1
m
Tree Cover
15
%
Shrub Cover
45
%
Field Cover
40
%
Nonvascular Cover
5
%
Misc Fields:
Observation Narrative
This plot was placed at the top of the steeper and more open part of an extensive shale barren / woodland complex on the southwest-facing flank of Edinburg Gap in the Massanutten Mountains. Soils here have little surficial litter, consist largely of small channery, and are highly erosive with numerous bare patches devoid of plants. The vegetation is a stunted, mixed woodland of Pinus virginiana, Quercus montana, and Q. rubra, with a patchy herb layer dominated by xerophytic graminoids (Danthonia spicata, Deschampsia flexuosa, Carex pensylvanica). The stand contains only two true shale endemics, Eriogonum allenii (common) and Trifolium virginicum (rare), but a number of other characteristic species are present, including Phlox subulata, Antennaria virginica, Paronychia montana, Clitoria mariana, and Selaginella rupestris. Upslope, soils become more stable and the vegetation grades into a more closed oak woodland with a more continuous graminoid herb layer and patches of deciduous heaths and Rhus aromatica. Community condition is excellent.
