Name:
Quercus alba - Quercus montana - Carya glabra / Cornus florida / Vaccinium pallidum Forest
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This community is associated with substrates weathered from shale, sandstone, and other sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks in the Central Appalachian region. It appears to be widespread at low elevations of the Ridge and Valley province in Virginia and more local on the western flank of the Northern Blue Ridge, the northern edge of the Southern Blue Ridge, and extending into the Ridge and Valley of West Virginia and Maryland. It is rare on monadnocks of the extreme western Piedmont in southwestern Virginia. Extensive sites for this community in the Ridge and Valley occur on low shale knobs and ridges, or at the base of higher sandstone ridges, where local shale strata have been exposed by stream incision. On the Blue Ridge, stands are confined to a belt of metasedimentary rocks that overlie the plutonic basement complex on the western side of the anticlinorium. Habitats encompass dry, mostly southeast- to west-facing slopes, hollows, broad sub-level ridge crests, and occasionally dry valley bottoms at low elevations (mostly <610 m [2000 feet]). Slope shape is generally convex in at least one direction. The characteristic vegetation of this type is an open oak-hickory or oak-hickory-pine forest dominated by oaks (particularly <i>Quercus montana</i> and <i>Quercus alba</i>), with high cover of <i>Carya</i> spp., especially <i>Carya glabra</i>. <i>Quercus velutina, Quercus rubra, Carya tomentosa, Pinus virginiana</i>, and <i>Pinus strobus</i> are also important, sometimes codominant trees. Stands in which <i>Quercus alba</i> greatly dominates are also common. Total canopy cover is usually in the range of 60-80%, and dominant canopy trees typically do not much exceed, and in some situations do not reach, 20 m in height. Minor canopy associates include <i>Carya ovalis, Pinus echinata, Quercus coccinea</i>, and <i>Quercus stellata</i>. Young representatives of most canopy species are common in the understory, along with <i>Cornus florida</i> and <i>Amelanchier arborea</i>. Generally, there is only a moderate to sparse representation of ericaceous (heath family) shrubs in this community type. However, on gentle ridge crests, where litter and humus tend to accumulate, <i>Vaccinium pallidum</i> may dominate the shrub layer in low colonies. On the more extensive steep, convex slopes, where litter accumulations are thin and patchy, ericads are sparse and herbaceous richness tends to be moderately high, although total herb cover can be quite sparse.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:36575-{A482096F-0252-47C7-B2C3-F8A9B2854ADD}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
57
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