Name:
Sandstone Midwest Moist Cliff Sparse Vegetation
Reference:
Midwestern Ecology Working Group...
Description:
This moist sandstone cliff community is found throughout the central and upper midwestern United States and adjacent Canada. Stands occur as steep to vertical rock exposures of sandstone bedrock. Aspect is variable, but stands are best developed on north- and east-facing slopes, or under sandstone overhangs. Vegetation is restricted to shelves, cracks and crevices in the rock, generally averaging less than 20%, and often dominated by forbs and ferns, with mats of mosses and lichens. In the Ozarks and Interior Low Plateau, the herbaceous layer contains the forbs Dicentra canadensis, Dodecatheon frenchii, Heuchera parviflora, Triadenum walteri (= Hypericum walteri), Mitchella repens, Mitella diphylla, among others, and the ferns Athyrium filix-femina, Cystopteris bulbifera, Osmunda cinnamomea, Osmunda regalis, and Trichomanes boschianum. In the Allegheny region of Ohio, the sandstone cliffs include the forbs Agrostis perennans, Aquilegia canadensis, Mitchella repens, and Viola blanda, and the ferns Asplenium montanum, Asplenium pinnatifidum, Asplenium rhizophyllum, Asplenium trichomanes, Cystopteris fragilis, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, Dryopteris intermedia, Dryopteris marginalis, Polypodium virginianum, and the rare Asplenium bradleyi. In Minnesota and Wisconsin the moist cliffs include forbs, such as Aralia nudicaulis, Asarum canadense and Mitella diphylla, and the ferns Cystopteris bulbifera and Cystopteris fragilis. The nonvascular layer is poorly described. Seepage areas in Minnesota include Sullivantia sullivantii (= Sullivantia renifolia) (also found in Missouri) and Cryptogramma stelleri.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.18704.SANDSTONEMIDWES
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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