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A.1330 | EcoArt 2002
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Name: A.1330
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: This desert alliance occurs in intermittently flooded depressions and floodplains in western Texas, southern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona and likely in northern Mexico. Sites are generally flat with stands occurring in depressions in basins and plains (playas), and in the floodplains along the drainages that dissect the mesas and piedmonts. These sites receive runoff from the surrounding landscape and are intermittently flooded. The flooding is typically caused by locally occurring, summer thunderstorms. Soils are shallow to deep; fine-textured, alkaline, often calcareous, and sometimes with caliche or argillic horizons that impede water percolation. This grassland alliance is characterized by a sparse to dense graminoid layer, often patchy in distribution. The bunchgrass ~Pleuraphis mutica (= Hilaria mutica)$ usually dominates, with ~Panicum obtusum$ occasionally codominating. The presence of ~Pleuraphis mutica$ is diagnostic of this alliance even if the stand is dominated by ~Panicum obtusum$. Other characteristic graminoids may include ~Bothriochloa barbinodis, Chloris virgata, Enneapogon desvauxii, Eriochloa lemmonii, Panicum hirticaule$, and ~Sporobolus wrightii$. The usually sparse forb layer may include ~Amaranthus palmeri, Datura quercifolia (= Datura ferox), Hoffmannseggia glauca, Solanum elaeagnifolium, Solanum rostratum$, and ~Talinum aurantiacum$. Scattered shrubs and cacti, such as ~Prosopis glandulosa, Flourensia cernua$, and ~Opuntia phaeacantha$, may be present, but never more than 10% cover. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.1103.A1330
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 26-Nov-1997 to: 17-Mar-2005
     
  • status: accepted
  • Community's Parent: V.A.5.N.i
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Scientific: PLEURAPHIS MUTICA INTERMITTENTLY FLOODED HERBACEOUS ALLIANCE
  Code: A.1330
  Common: Tobosa Grass Intermittently Flooded Herbaceous Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Pleuraphis mutica Intermittently Flooded Herbaceous Alliance