Name:
Quercus phellos Seasonally Flooded Forest Alliance
Reference:
Southeastern Ecology Working Gro...
Description:
Forests in this alliance have seasonally flooded hydrology and are typically dominated or codominated by Quercus phellos. Other canopy species that frequently occur in these forests are Quercus lyrata, Quercus nigra, Quercus laurifolia (within its range), Quercus similis (within its range), Quercus texana (within its range), Quercus bicolor (within its range), Nyssa biflora, Liquidambar styraciflua, Ulmus americana, and in the northern extension of its range, Celtis laevigata var. laevigata and Fraxinus pennsylvanica. The subcanopy and shrub layers are poorly developed. Common species of these strata are Acer rubrum, Ilex decidua, Fraxinus caroliniana, Salix nigra, and Viburnum nudum var. nudum. Some other characteristic herbs of these forests include Boehmeria cylindrica, Saururus cernuus, Onoclea sensibilis, Carex joorii, Carex striata, Carex intumescens, Saccharum baldwinii, Juncus coriaceus, Trachelospermum difforme, Cinna arundinacea, Chasmanthium sessiliflorum, Rhynchospora glomerata, and Osmunda cinnamomea. Sphagnum spp. may be common, especially Sphagnum lescurii. This alliance occurs in upland depressions and swales in flatwoods that do not receive overbank flooding. In addition, some associations in this alliance are described from depressions in floodplains, but these may more appropriately placed in the related alliance, Quercus (laurifolia, phellos) Seasonally Flooded Forest Alliance (A.327). The flooding is seasonal in all these environments, but the hydroperiod may be longer or shorter depending on the situation. Some examples typically have longer hydroperiods than Quercus phellos-dominated communities in floodplain terraces. This alliance is found in the central and southeastern United States. Its component associations are distributed from the West Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas and Texas through the Gulf Coastal Plain, and north in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Piedmont to Virginia. They also occur in the Interior Low Plateau of Tennessee and Kentucky, the Cumberland Plateau of northern Alabama, and the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain north to southern Illinois.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.17953.QUERCUSPHELLOSS
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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