Name:
NY Heritage: Appalachian oak-hickory forest
Reference:
Ecological Communities of New York, 2nd Ed.
Description:
A hardwood forest that occurs on well-drained sites, usually on ridgetops, upper slopes, or south- and west-facing slopes. The soils are usually loams or sandy loams. This is a broadly defined forest community with several regional and edaphic variants.
The dominant trees include one or more of the following oaks: red oak (Quercus rubra), white oak (Q. alba), and black oak (Q. velutina). Mixed with the oaks, usually at lower densities, are one or more of the following hickories: pignut (Carya glabra), shagbark (C. ovata), and sweet pignut (C. ovalis). Common associates are white ash (Fraxinus americana), red maple (Acer rubrum), and hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana).
There is typically a subcanopy stratum of small trees and tall shrubs including flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), shadbush (Amelanchier arborea), and choke cherry (Prunus virginiana). Common low shrubs include maple-leaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium), blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium, V. pallidum), red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), gray dogwood (Cornus foemina ssp. racemosa), and beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta). The shrublayer and groundlayer flora may be diverse.
Characteristic groundlayer herbs are wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum), Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), tick-trefoil (Desmodium glutinosum, D. paniculatum), black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), rattlesnake root (Prenanthes alba), white goldenrod (Solidago bicolor), mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), and hepatica (Hepatica americana).
Characteristic animals include red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus), and wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).
Accession Code:
VB.CC.28583.NYHERITAGEAPPAL
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
7
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