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Acer saccharum - Tilia americana / Acer pensylvanicum / Caulophyllum thalictroides Forest | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Acer saccharum - Tilia americana / Acer pensylvanicum / Caulophyllum thalictroides Forest
Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description: This rich sugar maple - white ash - basswood forest is found from the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania and New York, the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie plains and Lower New England, south to the Central Appalachian region of western Virginia and eastern West Virginia. Stands occur on nutrient-rich, mesic or wet-mesic settings on sloped to rolling terrain. Slope bottoms, where colluvium collects, are a common landscape position. The surface soils are deep sand, loamy sand, or loam and may be underlain by sandy clay loam to clay loam. The sites are somewhat poorly drained to well-drained and can have a water table 0.4-2 m below the surface. Small (&lt;1 ha) seep areas that may occur within these forests have soils that are usually saturated. This forest community has a well-developed tree canopy composed of deciduous species. Shrubs are scattered, but the herbaceous stratum is generally extensive. Bryoids are only a minor component of the ground layer, which is predominantly nitrogen-rich sugar maple leaves. <i>Acer saccharum</i> and <i>Tilia americana</i> are the dominant trees; <i>Fraxinus americana</i> is frequent but not necessarily abundant. <i>Ostrya virginiana</i> is very common as a small tree. <i>Acer rubrum, Fagus grandifolia</i>, and <i>Prunus serotina</i> are typical associates, in small amounts. <i>Ulmus rubra</i> and <i>Juglans cinerea</i> are occasional, <i>Magnolia acuminata</i> infrequent. Shrubs that may be found in this community include <i>Cornus alternifolia, Hamamelis virginiana</i>, and <i>Lonicera canadensis</i>. The ground flora, including many spring ephemerals, is diverse and consists primarily of nutrient- and light-requiring species. Many of these flower and fruit early in the spring before the tree canopy has fully leafed out. Fern richness is often high. Various sedges are present (particularly the Laxiflorae). These forests are differentiated from less-rich northern hardwood forests, e.g., ~<i>Acer saccharum - Fagus grandifolia - Fraxinus americana / Arisaema triphyllum</i> Forest (CEGL006632)$$, primarily by their abundant and diverse herbaceous layer, as well as by the greater prominence of sugar maple, basswood and ash in the canopy and reduced importance of beech. 
Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:35253-{8FCB728F-59F6-47B2-ADAE-F078DA677724}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 21
      Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization)
Perspective from: 20-Dec-2018 to: ongoing
      Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.933859 NatureServe ExplorerNatureServe Explorer logo
  Code: CEGL006637
  Translated: Sugar Maple - American Basswood / Striped Maple / Blue Cohosh Forest
  Common: Transitional Northern Sugar Maple - Ash Rich Mesic Forest
  Scientific: Acer saccharum - Tilia americana / Acer pensylvanicum / Caulophyllum thalictroides Forest
(convergence) and Synonyms:
(similar) Acer saccharum - Tilia americana / Acer pensylvanicum / Caulophyllum thalictroides Forest
(similar) Acer saccharum - Tilia americana / Acer pensylvanicum / Caulophyllum thalictroides Forest