Name:
Ceratiola ericoides - Chrysoma pauciflosculosa Scrub Alliance
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This alliance includes shrub scrub vegetation along the coast of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi and in more interior areas of Florida and Georgia on deep, very dry sands dominated by <i>Ceratiola ericoides</i> or <i>Chrysoma pauciflosculosa</i>, sometimes with substantial admixture of other shrubs, such as scrub <i>Quercus</i> spp. It occurs in the Florida peninsula (especially on the Lake Wales Ridge, but also on other inland sand ridges), along the Atlantic Coast of Florida and Georgia (on near-coastal sand ridges), along the Gulf Coast of panhandle Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi (on maritime dunes along this low energy coast), and on inland river-associated deep sand deposits of Georgia and perhaps South Carolina. Communities in this alliance may also contain scrub oaks at low densities, primarily <i>Quercus geminata, Quercus myrtifolia, Quercus chapmanii</i>, and <i>Quercus inopina</i> (in Lake Wales Ridge examples). Other sclerophyllous or microphyllous shrubs may also be present along with <i>Ceratiola ericoides</i>. <i>Pinus clausa</i> or <i>Pinus elliottii</i> are typically absent, or occur at very low densities, in the <i>Ceratiola ericoides</i> scrub vegetation. Some characteristic species in Gulf Coast examples include <i>Chrysoma pauciflosculosa, Conradina canescens, Smilax auriculata, Helianthemum arenicola, Lechea sessiliflora</i>, and <i>Paronychia erecta</i>. Some peninsular Atlantic Coast examples have <i>Ceratiola ericoides</i> as a single dominant. The ground cover frequently includes fruticose lichens such as <i>Cladonia leporina, Cladonia prostrata, Cladonia evansii</i>, and <i>Cladonia subtenuis</i>, at very high cover in some places. <i>Ceratiola ericoides</i> scrub is pyrogenic with fire frequencies of 10-40 years, depending on fuel availability and ignition sources. This alliance occurs on various kinds of deep sands: recent coastal or near-coastal dunes, inland sand ridges, ancient dune systems, and eolian-reworked riverine sand deposits. The soils on the Lake Wales Ridge are excessively well-drained Quartzipsamments which lack silt, clay, or organic matter and are very low in nutrients. While often associated with deep white sands ("sugar sands"), not all examples of scrub occur on these particular sands. It has been inferred that whiter sands are associated with more ancient scrub vegetation. In coastal areas early-successional scrub vegetation occurs on younger, more exposed dune ridges; more protected examples may eventually develop a characteristic open <i>Pinus clausa</i> or <i>Pinus elliottii</i> overstory. The exposed occurrences tend to have much larger areas of open sand than do their more protected counterparts.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:38110-{9DFFF673-F835-4BF8-AA81-9F07F5CA62AA}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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