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A.268 | EcoArt 2002
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Name: A.268
Reference: EcoArt 2002
Description: This alliance once occurred at high elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. These forests were dominated by mixtures of ~Castanea dentata$ and ~Quercus rubra$, but all associations in this alliance now are extirpated. ~Castanea dentata$ was a major forest dominant in the eastern United States that has virtually been eliminated since 1900 by ~Cryphonectria parasitica (= Endothia parasitica)$ (Chestnut Blight), introduced on Asiatic chestnut. In the Great Smoky Mountains, these forests occurred at high elevations (mostly over 4500 feet, 1400 m) and have been described as the submesic, high-altitude equivalent of chestnut oak - chestnut forests, dominated by ~Quercus rubra$ and ~Castanea dentata$, sometimes with ~Fagus grandifolia$ or ~Quercus alba$. Other associated species included ~Halesia tetraptera var. monticola, Rhododendron calendulaceum, Vaccinium$ spp., ~Carex pensylvanica, Athyrium filix-femina ssp. asplenioides, Laportea canadensis$, and ~Rugelia nudicaulis$. Today these forests have been replaced, in part, by forests in the I.B.2.N.a ~~Quercus rubra$ Montane Forest Alliance (A.272)$$, I.B.2.N.a ~~Quercus alba$ Montane Forest Alliance (A.271)$$, and I.B.2.N.a ~~Quercus prinus - Quercus rubra$ Forest Alliance (A.250)$$. There is some hope for the potential recovery of these forests, or something resembling it, if a blight-resistant chestnut can be developed and introduced. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.1878.A268
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: I.B.2.N.a
  • This Community's Level: Alliance
  • This Community's Children: [none]
Names:   Code: A.268
  Scientific: CASTANEA DENTATA - QUERCUS RUBRA FOREST ALLIANCE
  Common: American Chestnut - Northern Red Oak Forest Alliance
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(undetermined) Castanea dentata - Quercus rubra Forest Alliance