Name:
Campanula rotundifolia - Packera paupercula - (Aquilegia canadensis) Sparse Vegetation
Reference:
Eastern Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
This sparsely vegetated community is found on outcrops of circumneutral or calcareous rock along rivershores in the northern Appalachian Mountains and perhaps adjacent Canada. Substrates are usually dolomite, limestone, or slate. Most are flooded annually at high water; this helps to maintain open conditions and also provides silt that accumulates in the rock crevices. The annual disturbance pattern of flooding and ice-scour restricts the vegetation to tough crevice-rooting herbs and low shrubs. Total vegetation cover is often less than 20%. Floristic composition can vary considerably, but characteristic species include <i>Campanula rotundifolia, Aquilegia canadensis, Packera paupercula (= Senecio pauperculus), Allium schoenoprasum var. sibiricum, Carex eburnea, Carex granularis, Erigeron hyssopifolius, Houstonia longifolia (= Hedyotis longifolia), Viola novae-angliae, Lobelia kalmii, Trisetum spicatum</i>, and <i>Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda</i>. Associated species that are also common in other habitats include <i>Thalictrum pubescens, Solidago bicolor, Antennaria</i> spp., <i>Ionactis linariifolius, Deschampsia caespitosa, Toxicodendron rydbergii, Vaccinium angustifolium, Vaccinium caespitosum, Cornus amomum</i>, and <i>Cornus sericea</i>. <i>Grimmia</i> spp., <i>Tortella tortuosa</i>, and <i>Tortula ruralis</i> are characteristic mosses. This association is differentiated from more acidic shoreline outcrops, <i>~Vaccinium</i> spp. / <i>Danthonia spicata - Solidago puberula</i> Sparse Vegetation (CEGL006531)$$, by the presence of calciphilic herbs, and from more temperate shoreline outcrops, ~<i>Andropogon gerardii - Campanula rotundifolia - Solidago simplex</i> Sparse Vegetation (CEGL006284)$$, by the absence of temperate species such as <i>Andropogon gerardii</i> and <i>Sorghastrum nutans</i>.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.31384.CEGL006532
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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