Name:
Quercus virginiana - (Pinus elliottii, Sabal palmetto) / Persea borbonia - Callicarpa americana Forest
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This forest of barrier islands and related habitats from the Carolinas to Alabama has a low to moderately high tree canopy, often stunted and pruned by salt spray into streamlined shapes. The canopy is mostly closed with well-developed subcanopy and shrub layers and a sparse herb layer. Along the seaward edge of this community, the canopy tends to be quite low in stature with shrub species grading smoothly into the dominant canopy species. Vines are often an important component. This community ranges from Smith Island complex, Brunswick County, North Carolina, south to mid-peninsula, Atlantic Coast Florida (Cape Canaveral); the concept also includes temperate maritime hammocks of the northeastern and Panhandle coasts of Florida. The species composition varies along a latitudinal gradient throughout the geographic limits of its range. In general, from Cape Fear, North Carolina (Bald Head Island), south to mid-South Carolina, the canopy is dominated by <i>Quercus virginiana</i> and <i>Pinus taeda</i> occurring with <i>Sabal palmetto</i>. Farther south, <i>Pinus elliottii var. elliottii</i> replaces <i>Pinus taeda</i>, and <i>Sabal palmetto</i> becomes more prominent. Some floristic elements of the Georgia islands, such as <i>Lyonia ferruginea</i> and <i>Forestiera segregata</i>, are completely absent from barrier islands in the Carolinas. <i>Serenoa repens</i> does not occur on the North Carolina barrier islands. This association has been found along the St. Johns River in Florida on the Ocala National Forest, far upstream from brackish water influence. In mid-Florida, tropical species begin to dominate the understory while temperate species retain canopy dominance. South of Martin County, Florida, tropical species such as <i>Bursera simaruba, Sideroxylon foetidissimum</i>, and <i>Ficus aurea</i> begin to dominate the forest canopy and mark the northern limits of the Tropical Barrier Island Forest community. In northeastern Florida, at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, dead and dying <i>Persea borbonia</i> indicate that these maritime hammocks are being affected by laurel wilt, which is caused by a vascular wilt fungus that is transmitted to species in the Lauraceae family via. the non-native redbay ambrosia beetle (<i>Xyleborus glabratus</i>).
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:35349-{B6D24961-9C5C-498D-8BF2-388BAAC30E51}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
18
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