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Hydrangea arborescens / Impatiens capensis - Heuchera villosa Cliff Shrubland | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Hydrangea arborescens / Impatiens capensis - Heuchera villosa Cliff Shrubland
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: This association includes forb-dominated seepage vegetation from low to moderate elevations (about 305-400 m [1000-1300 feet]) in the Interior Low Plateau, Highland Rim Section. Examples are found on saturated, sloping to concave to near-vertical exposures of gray calcareous mudstones and/or siltstones of the Fort Payne Formation, as well as on other calcareous substrates, and on the walls of sinkholes which develop in the St. Louis Limestone at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. These exposures vary greatly in size, from about 10 to perhaps 50 square meters. The seeps occur where blocky limestones with vertical fissures and joints overlie more flatly bedded strata. Herbs observed include <i>Impatiens capensis, Impatiens pallida, Heuchera villosa, Saxifraga virginiensis, Dodecatheon meadia, Cardamine diphylla, Polymnia canadensis</i>, and <i>Thaspium pinnatifidum</i> (<i>sensu lato</i>). They are primarily herbaceous systems but may be ringed by shrubs. <i>Hydrangea arborescens</i> is invariably present and often dominant in this marginal shrub zone; other shrubs present include <i>Staphylea trifolia</i> and <i>Hypericum prolificum</i>. Sheltered areas under rock overhangs or boulders may harbor thallose liverworts and various mosses, including <i>Mnium</i> sp. This distinctive vegetation is maintained by seepage from the siltstones; this seepage and the steep irregular topography do not allow trees to take hold and dominate the community. In a sparsely vegetated variant on near-vertical, gently concave exposures of gray siltstone talus of the Fort Payne, <i>Polymnia canadensis</i> and <i>Heuchera villosa</i> dominate; also present in this variant are <i>Pellaea atropurpurea, Monarda fistulosa</i>, and <i>Packera obovata</i>. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:33487-{0D7D7F03-C622-42B0-8395-9A99B5E60FF7}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 10-Apr-2009 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.686752 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: CEGL004708
  Translated: Wild Hydrangea / Orange Jewelweed - Hairy Alumroot Cliff Shrubland
  Common: Highland Rim Limestone Cliff/Talus Seep
  Scientific: Hydrangea arborescens / Impatiens capensis - Heuchera villosa Cliff Shrubland
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) CEGL004708
(similar) Hydrangea arborescens / Impatiens (capensis, pallida) - Heuchera villosa Shrubland
(similar) Impatiens (capensis, pallida) - Heuchera villosa - (Saxifraga virginiensis, Cardamine diphylla) Herbaceous Vegetation