Name:
Schizachyrium scoparium - Sorghastrum nutans - Dalea candida - Liatris squarrosa - (Silphium terebinthinaceum) Black Belt Herbaceous Vegetation
Reference:
Southeastern Ecology Working Gro...
Description:
This herbaceous association includes tallgrass prairies of the Black Belt of Alabama, Mississippi, and southern Tennessee (McNairy County), with outlying occurrences southwards in the Chunnenuggee Hills, Red Hills, and Lime Hills of southern Alabama (in Washington, Wilcox, Monroe, and Clark counties), and possibly on the Fort Valley Plateau of Houston and Bleckley (?) counties in the South Atlantic Coastal Plain of Georgia. This community occurs on calcareous soils of the Sumter and Binnsville series, described as beds of marly clay over Selma Chalk. In Alabama, the formations on which this system primarily occurs are the Demopolis Chalk and the Mooreville Chalk. In Tennessee, only the Demopolis is mapped. The area has an average annual precipitation of 130-140 cm and a frost-free period of 200-250 days. This prairie is dominated by Andropogon glomeratus, Andropogon virginicus, Bouteloua curtipendula, Panicum virgatum, Schizachyrium scoparium, and Sorghastrum nutans, with lesser amounts of Paspalum floridanum, Setaria parviflora, and Sporobolus indicus (exotic). Other common species include Aristida purpurascens var. virgata, Arnoglossum plantagineum, Blephilia ciliata, Buchnera americana, Chamaecrista fasciculata, Crotalaria sagittalis, Dalea candida, Dalea purpurea, Desmanthus illinoensis, Desmodium ciliare, Dracopis amplexicaulis, Lespedeza virginica, Liatris aspera, Liatris squarrosa, Liatris squarrulosa, Linum sulcatum var. sulcatum, Neptunia lutea, Nothoscordum bivalve (= Allium bivalve), Ratibida pinnata, Ruellia humilis, Sabatia angularis, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Silphium trifoliatum var. latifolium, Sisyrinchium albidum, Solidago nemoralis, Symphyotrichum dumosum (= Aster dumosus), and Symphyotrichum patens (= Aster patens). Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana may invade examples. Moist, seepy inclusions within this herbaceous matrix are often dominated by Rhynchospora colorata and Scleria verticillata; Rhynchospora divergens, Lythrum alatum var. lanceolatum, Mitreola petiolata, and Gratiola floridana also occur but much less frequently.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.23592.SCHIZACHYRIUMSC
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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