Name:
Pinus rigida - Quercus marilandica / Corema conradii Scrub
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This dwarf pine plains community is restricted to the Outer Coastal Plain of New Jersey. The short stature of the vegetation is a result of very high fire frequency, which is fostered by dry sandy soil on flat to gently rolling topography and relative paucity of wetlands to act as firebreaks. Occurrences are found at elevations of 30.5-61 m (100-200 feet) above sea level in gently rolling terrain. Soils are well-drained to poorly drained, with high permeability, and a sand to sandy loam subsoil (Woodmansie-Lakehurst association). The dominant trees are dwarfed (less than 3.4 m tall), multi-stemmed <i>Pinus rigida, Quercus marilandica</i>, and <i>Quercus ilicifolia</i>. <i>Pinus rigida</i> makes up 25-65% of the trees, with the oak species making up the rest. There is a notable absence of <i>Pinus echinata</i> or any other oak species. Characteristic shrubs include <i>Kalmia latifolia, Kalmia angustifolia, Comptonia peregrina</i>, and <i>Leiophyllum buxifolium</i>. The ground layer is comprised of dwarf-shrubs, forbs and grasses, including <i>Gaultheria procumbens, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Pyxidanthera barbulata, Epigaea repens, Hudsonia ericoides, Carex pensylvanica, Schizachyrium scoparium, Andropogon virginicus, Danthonia spicata, Pteridium aquilinum, Helianthemum canadense, Hypericum gentianoides</i>, and <i>Polygonella articulata</i>. <i>Corema conradii</i> is prominent in places. Lichens, such as <i>Cladonia caroliniana</i> and <i>Cladonia strepsilis</i>, sparsely cover the ground.<br /><br />In New Jersey, pine plains (PP) is a shrubland type of the central Pinelands dominated by dwarf pitch pine and shrub oaks, with a ground cover dominated by heaths, herbs and bare sand, found in the broadest most frequently burned dry uplands with fewest wetland firebreaks to impede fire spread. The pine plains community is characterized by high genet and stem densities of dwarf serotinous <i>Pinus rigida</i> and shrub oak species including <i>Quercus marilandica, Quercus ilicifolia, Quercus x brittonii</i>, and occasional <i>Kalmia latifolia</i> in an open to closed coppice shrubland. Also typical are low heaths such as <i>Gaylussacia baccata</i> and <i>Vaccinium pallidum</i>, as well as a diversity of ground cover herbs and subshrubs in sandy openings, including <i>Corema conradii, Pyxidanthera barbulata, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Epigaea repens, Hudsonia ericoides, Comptonia peregrina, Schizachyrium scoparium, Panicum</i> spp., <i>Carex pensylvanica, Lechea</i> spp., <i>Tephrosia virginiana, Baptisia tinctoria, Ionactis linariifolius</i>, and many others.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:34796-{42B98A05-4D24-4119-834F-2B454523F6C1}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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