Name:
Quercus rubra - Quercus montana - Carya ovalis / (Cercis canadensis) / Solidago caesia Forest
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This community is currently known from a narrow range in the Northern Blue Ridge and adjacent inner Piedmont of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is restricted to the western Piedmont foothills and lower- to middle-elevation slopes and spurs of the main Blue Ridge. Elevation ranges from 140 to 950 m (450-3100 feet). The type is generally associated with base-rich soils weathered from mafic igneous and metamorphic rocks, including metabasalt, amphibolite, pyroxene-bearing granulite, charnockite, and actinolite schist. It also occurs less frequently on granitic rocks and calcareous metasiltones and phyllites. Habitats are more-or-less rocky, gentle to steep, submesic to subxeric slopes with a wide range of aspects. Midslope topographic positions are typical, but stands occasionally occur on lower or upper slopes and crests. This association is a true oak-hickory forest with mixed canopy dominance by several <i>Quercus</i> spp. and <i>Carya</i> spp. In particular, <i>Carya ovalis, Quercus rubra</i>, and <i>Quercus montana</i> are consistent codominants and have the highest importance values based on standard forestry statistics generated from stem-diameter measurements. <i>Quercus alba, Quercus velutina, Carya tomentosa, Carya glabra, Fraxinus americana</i>, and <i>Liriodendron tulipifera</i> are less constant canopy species but achieve codominance in some stands. <i>Carya</i> spp., <i>Quercus</i> spp., <i>Acer rubrum, Nyssa sylvatica, Fraxinus americana</i>, and <i>Sassafras albidum</i> are well-represented in lower tree strata. <i>Cercis canadensis</i> (at lower elevations) and, to a lesser extent, <i>Cornus florida</i> dominate the shrub and lowest tree layers, while <i>Viburnum acerifolium</i> is a common low shrub. A large number of herbaceous species occur in the type.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:36574-{1EBCD0C2-07D1-452E-8DFE-B697F8CB58D3}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
123
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