Name:
Vittaria appalachiana - Heuchera parviflora Saturated Herbaceous Alliance
Reference:
Southeastern Ecology Working Gro...
Description:
This alliance accommodates saturated communities associated with overhanging to vertical rocks and a seasonal to perennial waterfall as a source of aqueous aerosol. One association includes sparse to moderately dense vegetation of sandstone rockhouses in portions of the Cumberland Plateau, where seasonal waterfalls and strongly overhanging erosion features called rockhouses provide moist conditions. Vittaria appalachiana and Heuchera parviflora are dominant and characteristic. Endemics such as Ageratina luciae-brauniae and Solidago albopilosa are associated with the floors of the rockhouses and often dominate the vegetative cover, and the endemic Minuartia cumberlandensis also sometimes occupies the floor but is more characteristic of somewhat drier sandstone exposures. Thalictrum mirabile is also endemic to this community but is more characteristic of seepages on the rockhouse walls. In the Southern Blue Ridge escarpment region, this alliance includes herbaceous vegetation on rock substrates associated with waterfalls, on nearly vertical rock surfaces and ledges, slopes, and crevices with shallow soils which are constantly saturated. Other characteristic species include Huperzia porophila, Asplenium montanum, Asplenium trichomanes ssp. trichomanes, Asplenium monanthes, Cystopteris protrusa, Polypodium virginianum, Trichomanes boschianum, Grammitis nimbata (= Micropolypodium nimbatum), Hymenophyllum tayloriae, Trichomanes intricatum, Phegopteris connectilis, Adiantum pedatum, Saxifraga careyana, Saxifraga caroliniana, Impatiens capensis, Hydrocotyle americana, Thalictrum spp., Oxalis montana, Carex biltmoreana, Galax urceolata, Sphagnum quinquefarium, Sphagnum girgensohnii, Plagiomnium carolinianum, Plagiomnium affine, Mnium marginatum, Pseudotaxiphyllum distichaceum, Bryocrumia vivicolor, Thamnobryum alleghaniense, Oncophorus raui, Hyophila involuta, Dichodontium pellucidum, Plagiochila sharpii ssp. sharpii, Plagiochila caduciloba, Plagiochila sullivantii, Plagiochila austini, Fissidens osmundioides, Bazzania denudata, Conocephalum conicum, Pellia epiphylla, Pellia neesiana, and Riccardia multifida.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.23271.VITTARIAAPPALAC
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
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