Name:
Quercus montana - Quercus rubra / Vaccinium pallidum - (Rhododendron periclymenoides) Forest
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This community is documented primarily from the northern Blue Ridge and its eastern foothills, from Amherst County in west-central Virginia to the Catoctin Mountains of northern Maryland, and extending into northeastern West Virginia. It is likely to be more widespread, but certain topographic and/or soil conditions on the northern Blue Ridge may favor its development and abundance there. This community occupies sites intermediate between the xeric, oligotrophic sites of chestnut oak/heath forests and the somewhat sheltered, submesic, subacidic sites of other montane mixed oak and oak-hickory forests. It occurs on chiefly convex, moderately steep middle to upper slopes, ridge crests, and boulderfields with southeastern to northwestern exposures. Soils are subxeric or xeric and strongly infertile. Many sites have high cover of boulders, cobbles, gravel, or mineral soil. Underlying bedrock includes massive quartzite of the Chilhowee group, various members of the northern Blue Ridge gneissic granitic complex, and less frequently metabasalt of the Catoctin Formation. This type spans a very broad range of elevations, from <300 m to nearly 1100 m (<1000-3600 feet). <i>Quercus montana</i> and <i>Quercus rubra</i> generally codominate the overstory, but either species may dominate discrete areas within stands. Minor canopy associates include <i>Quercus velutina, Quercus alba, Betula lenta, Carya</i> spp., <i>Robinia pseudoacacia</i>, and <i>Pinus strobus</i>. <i>Acer rubrum</i> cover may equal or exceed that of the diagnostic oak species in stands with recent harvesting. The shrub layer is dominated by patchy <i>Vaccinium pallidum, Vaccinium stamineum, Rhododendron periclymenoides</i>, and <i>Kalmia latifolia</i>. <i>Acer pensylvanicum</i> and <i>Smilax rotundifolia</i> may be present in minor amounts. A suite of low-cover, xerophytic herbs is characteristic, including <i>Houstonia longifolia, Campanula divaricata, Potentilla canadensis, Lysimachia quadrifolia, Carex pensylvanica, Aureolaria laevigata</i>, and <i>Hieracium paniculatum</i>.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:36583-{F4755CF1-C092-471D-8922-678C5AFE0089}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
53
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