Name:
Quercus palustris - Quercus bicolor / Viburnum prunifolium / Leersia virginica - Impatiens capensis Wet Forest
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This wetland forest community is nearly endemic to hardpan soils of the Culpeper Basin in northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland, with a few known outliers elsewhere in the Piedmont and the Ridge and Valley of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Habitats are shallow, seasonally flooded upland basins and wet, elongated bottoms along sluggish small streams with little or no active alluvial deposition. These habitats are characterized by shallow seasonal flooding induced by perched groundwater. Moderate hummock-and-hollow microtopography is often present, and maximum flooding depth is usually <25 cm (10 inches). A-horizon soils are dark brown to blackish, loamy clays which typically exhibit pronounced orange and white mottling and have moderate base status. This type is most common on areas underlain by diabase but also occurs on some soils weathered from siltstone and other metasedimentary substrates. The vegetation is an open forest or woodland dominated by <i>Quercus palustris</i>, mixtures of <i>Quercus palustris</i> and <i>Quercus bicolor</i>, or less frequently <i>Quercus bicolor</i> alone. <i>Fraxinus pennsylvanica</i> and <i>Acer rubrum</i> are the most frequent subcanopy trees. <i>Viburnum prunifolium</i> is the sole shrub dominant, while <i>Smilax rotundifolia, Toxicodendron radicans</i>, and <i>Parthenocissus quinquefolia</i> are common climbing and scrambling vines. The herb layer is usually open or sparse. The most constant and characteristic herbs are <i>Leersia virginica, Cinna arundinacea, Impatiens capensis, Arisaema triphyllum, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum, Galium obtusum, Lycopus virginicus</i>, and <i>Juncus tenuis</i>. Less constant herbs that can be locally common or abundant include <i>Carex pellita, Carex festucacea, Dichanthelium acuminatum var. lindheimeri, Eleocharis tenuis var. tenuis, Glyceria striata, Scirpus georgianus</i>, and <i>Stachys pilosa var. arenicola</i>. The invasive exotic <i>Microstegium vimineum</i> can be problematic on the drier edges and hummocks.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:33426-{DA574C1C-86ED-47EC-8BA7-1C88D6B044C0}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
18
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