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Aristida longespica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Grassland | NatureServe Biotics 2019
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Name: Aristida longespica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Grassland Reference: NatureServe Biotics 2019 Description: This edaphically controlled grass-forb prairie association occurs on saline-sodic soils of alluvial origin in the northern West Gulf Coastal Plain and Mississippi River Alluvial Plain of Arkansas and Louisiana. The topsoil is thin silt with toxic levels of sodium and/or magnesium salts in the subsoil, and some areas are often exposed as "slick spots," which are denuded of vegetation. Although the subsoil is silt, it is essentially cemented into an impervious hardpan by calcium or other minerals. Sites therefore alternate between extremely dry and extremely wet, a condition that has been described as xerohydric. Genesis is uncertain, but salts may be "wicked" to the surface through evaporation. The so-called slick spots are rimmed by a "cryptogamic lip" of lichens, algae and diminutive vascular plants. <i>Geocarpon minimum</i> occurs in this zone in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Farther back from the lip, <i>Cladonia</i> lichens, <i>Aristida longespica, Aristida</i> spp., and <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> sequentially become dominant, along with <i>Sabal minor</i> in the West Gulf Coastal Plain. <i>Schoenolirion wrightii</i> is a regionally rare species in this zone. The role of fire in maintaining this community is not understood; some areas may support relatively frequent fire, and others are too thinly vegetated to carry a fire.  Accession Code: urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:36486-{A9938D9D-9EE4-407A-9A71-0B28BFD18B36} Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 0
	Party Perspective according to: NatureServe (organization) Perspective from: 30-Jan-2009 to: ongoing
	status: accepted Community's Parent: Bigelowia nuttallii - Aristida longespica - Schizachyrium scoparium West Gulf Coastal Plain Grassland Alliance This Community's Level: Association This Community's Children: [none]		Names:   UID: ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.689006 NatureServe Explorer   Code: CEGL008419   Translated: Slimspike Three-awn - Little Bluestem - Rough Buttonweed Saline Grassland   Common: Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain Saline Prairie   Scientific: Aristida longespica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Grassland (convergence) and Synonyms: (similar) Aristida longispica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Herbaceous Vegetation (similar) CEGL008419 (similar) Aristida longispica - Schizachyrium scoparium - Diodia teres Saline Herbaceous Vegetation