Name:
Picea rubens Forest Alliance
Reference:
Eastern Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
Evergreen forests dominated by Picea rubens or codominated by Picea rubens and Tsuga canadensis, occurring in the Central Appalachians and Southern Blue Ridge, from West Virginia south to western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Other species that may occur with low coverage in the canopy or subcanopy are Acer pensylvanicum, Acer spicatum, Aesculus flava, Amelanchier laevis, Betula alleghaniensis, Halesia tetraptera var. monticola, Prunus pensylvanica, and Sorbus americana. Density and composition of shrub and herbaceous strata vary with association and geographic location. Exposed, drier sites, such as upper convex slopes or slopes with a southerly aspect, will often have high coverage of evergreen shrub species. Typical shrubs in this alliance include Photinia melanocarpa (= Aronia melanocarpa), Crataegus spp., Ilex montana, Kalmia latifolia, Leucothoe fontanesiana, Rhododendron carolinianum, Rhododendron catawbiense, Rhododendron maximum, Smilax rotundifolia, Vaccinium angustifolium, Vaccinium erythrocarpum, Vaccinium simulatum, Viburnum lantanoides, and Viburnum nudum var. cassinoides. Herbaceous cover is typically sparse, but where the shrub stratum is more open, a moderate herb stratum may develop. Characteristic herbaceous species include Athyrium filix-femina, Clintonia borealis, Dryopteris campyloptera, Galax urceolata, Huperzia lucidula, Lycopodium clavatum, Lycopodium dendroideum, Lycopodium obscurum, Medeola virginiana, Mitchella repens, Oxalis montana, Rugelia nudicaulis, Schizachne purpurascens, and Trillium undulatum. Nonvascular plants are common and often abundant, especially on moister sites, where they grow on branches and around the base of trees and shrubs. Bryophyte species include Bazzania trilobata, Hylocomium splendens, Polytrichum ohioense, Ptilium crista-castrensis, and Sphagnum spp. This alliance includes forests occurring on steep, seepy boulderfields, and on ridges and steep slopes with northeast to southwest exposures, above 1370 m (4500 feet) elevation. It descends to 1000 m (3100 feet) in the Central Appalachians. In local landscapes of the Southern Blue Ridge and Central Appalachians, this alliance tends to occur bimodally, on high ridges and summits and steep, rocky upper slopes, and at lower elevations in frost pocket situations, where Picea rubens apparently has a competitive advantage because of moist, acid, organic soils and/or cold air drainage.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.18845.PICEARUBENSFORE
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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