Name:
NY Heritage: Freshwater tidal swamp
Reference:
Ecological Communities of New York, 2nd Ed.
Description:
A forested or shrub-dominated tidal wetland that occurs in lowlands along large river systems characterized by gentle slope gradients coupled with tidal influence over considerable distances. The swamp substrate is always wet and is subject to semidiurnal flooding by fresh tidal water (salinity less than 0.5 ppt).
The characteristic trees are green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), black ash (F. nigra), red maple (Acer rubrum), slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), and American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana); northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) is a distinctive associate in at least one example in the Hudson Valley. Common shrubs and vines are alders (Alnus serrulata, A. incana ssp. rugosa), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum), silky dogwood (Cornus amomum), red-osier dogwood (C. sericea), gray dogwood (C. foemina ssp. racemosa), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), and poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).
Characteristic groundlayer species are rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides), sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis), clearweed (Pilea pumila), spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), common monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens), knotweeds (Polygonum hydropiper, P. hydropiperoides, P. sagittatum), skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), hog peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata), groundnut (Apios americana), wild yam (Dioscorea villosa), sedge (Carex grayi), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).
Accession Code:
VB.CC.28659.NYHERITAGEFRESH
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
4
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