Name:
Aquilegia micrantha - Calamagrostis scopulorum Hanging Garden
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This association is confined to seeps emerging from sandstone cliffs in the Colorado Plateau and lower elevation canyons in adjacent southern Rocky Mountains where it may occur on metamorphic substrates. Elevations are below 2000 m. Aspect is not important in determining the distribution of this association. Instead, seeps will tend to occur on the side of the canyon where gravity and hydrology combine to force groundwater out. The unvegetated surface often has high cover of bare soil, sometimes coated with a white calcareous crust or bedrock. For the most part, soils are derived from dissolution of sandstone grains and fragments from adjacent slopes and ledges and are saturated year-round from water seeping between sedimentary rock layers. In the case of a stand in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, a north-facing alcove with a seep and overhanging ledge is cut into Black Canyon schist and gneiss. Total vegetation cover ranges from 20 to 75% and is characterized by clumps of <i>Calamagrostis scopulorum</i> and <i>Aquilegia micrantha</i>. In drier gardens, <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> may be dominant. Other herbaceous species occurring frequently in this association include <i>Zigadenus vaginatus, Epipactis gigantea, Platanthera zothecina, Cirsium ownbeyi, Petrophytum caespitosum, Dodecatheon pulchellum, Clematis ligusticifolia, Solidago nana, Pellaea glabella, Zigadenus elegans</i>, and <i>Solidago velutina</i>. There is no developed shrub or tree layer, but most occurrences include scattered woody plants such as <i>Pinus edulis, Amelanchier utahensis, Prunus virginiana, Paxistima myrsinites, Cercocarpus intricatus, Glossopetalon spinescens var. meionandrum, Betula occidentalis, Brickellia</i> sp., <i>Ericameria</i> sp., <i>Symphoricarpos rotundifolius, Holodiscus dumosus</i>, and <i>Rhus trilobata</i>.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:31500-{77471535-4D13-4BEE-A238-CDF3A1E93644}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
|
