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Quercus alba - Carya glabra - Fraxinus americana / Muhlenbergia sobolifera - Elymus hystrix Forest | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Quercus alba - Carya glabra - Fraxinus americana / Muhlenbergia sobolifera - Elymus hystrix Forest
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: Found in the Culpeper Basin and western Piedmont foothills of Virginia and Maryland, this subxeric to submesic oak-hickory forest occurs in association with soils weathered from fine-grained mafic rocks (diabase and metabasalt). These soils often have a plastic, hardpan subsoil or are shallow over bedrock, and some have pronounced shrink-swell properties. Forest canopies can be open to closed, sometimes stunted, with variable combinations of oaks (especially <i>Quercus alba</i> and <i>Quercus rubra)</i>, hickories (<i>Carya glabra, Carya ovalis, Carya tomentosa</i>), and <i>Fraxinus americana</i>. Subcanopy tree layers are usually dominated by young hickories and <i>Fraxinus americana</i>. Characteristic species in the shrub and small-tree layers are <i>Cercis canadensis var. canadensis, Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana, Cornus florida, Ulmus rubra, Celtis occidentalis</i>, and <i>Rosa carolina</i>. Less constant, but sometimes locally important, understory species include <i>Ostrya virginiana, Carpinus caroliniana</i> (on more mesic sites), and <i>Chionanthus virginicus</i>. The herb layer of this community is frequently characterized by patch-dominance of the dry-site forest grasses <i>Muhlenbergia sobolifera, Dichanthelium boscii, Elymus hystrix var. hystrix</i>, and <i>Danthonia spicata</i>. Co-occurring among the dominant grasses are a large number of low-cover forbs and graminoids. In 50 Virginia plot samples, this unit has a mean species richness of 82 taxa per 400 m2, one of the highest among all classified upland types in Virginia. This community is distinguished from other Mid-Atlantic region oak-hickory forests by its patch-dominance of forest grasses and its strong association with sub-level topography and soils with an impermeable hardpan or shallow bedrock. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:34863-{85E0ECF1-3026-4025-A4D9-BBBDB96D649D}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 54
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 01-Oct-2006 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.738472 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: CEGL006216
  Translated: White Oak - Pignut Hickory - White Ash / Rock Muhly - Eastern Bottlebrush Grass Forest
  Common: Northern Hardpan Basic Oak - Hickory Forest
  Scientific: Quercus alba - Carya glabra - Fraxinus americana / Muhlenbergia sobolifera - Elymus hystrix Forest
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) Quercus alba - Carya glabra - Fraxinus americana / Cercis canadensis / Muhlenbergia sobolifera - Elymus hystrix Forest
(similar) Quercus alba - Carya glabra - Fraxinus americana / Cercis canadensis / Muhlenbergia sobolifera - Elymus hystrix Forest