Name:
Quercus marilandica - Quercus stellata Clay/Loess Woodland Alliance
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This vegetation includes open woodlands found on clay soils derived from limestone in the Ridge and Valley of Georgia, winter-wet, summer-dry loessal soils on the Interior Low Plateau (Western Highland Rim) of Tennessee, and possibly undescribed associations of related areas in these and adjacent regions. The canopies of these examples are dominated by <i>Quercus stellata</i> and <i>Quercus marilandica</i>, with a diverse ground layer containing a wide variety of native forbs and grasses. <i>Pinus echinata</i> may be present in some examples. Among the dominant grasses, <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> is most abundant, with <i>Andropogon gerardii</i> and <i>Sorghastrum nutans</i>; <i>Panicum virgatum, Gymnopogon ambiguus, Sporobolus clandestinus, Carex</i> spp. and <i>Dichanthelium</i> spp. may also be present. In the Tennessee examples (CEGL004756), scattered <i>Quercus marilandica</i> are characteristic. Among the dominant grasses, <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> is most abundant, with <i>Andropogon gerardii, Carex complanata, Dichanthelium</i> spp., and <i>Sorghastrum nutans</i>. Forbs are diverse. These barrens occur on winter-wet, summer-dry loessal soils on the surface of the Western Highland Rim of middle Tennessee. Soils are generally deep, with chert fragments; rock outcrops are absent. The Georgia and Alabama examples (CEGL003868) are mixed evergreen - deciduous open-canopy forests or woodlands with nearly even mixtures of <i>Pinus echinata</i> and <i>Pinus taeda</i> over <i>Quercus marilandica</i> and <i>Quercus stellata</i> in the sparse subcanopy. The shrub layer contains <i>Crataegus spathulata, Crataegus marshallii, Diospyros virginiana, Vaccinium arboreum</i>, and <i>Vaccinium stamineum</i>. The herbaceous layer is well-developed with grasses such as <i>Andropogon gerardii, Gymnopogon ambiguus, Panicum virgatum, Schizachyrium scoparium, Sorghastrum nutans</i>, and <i>Sporobolus clandestinus</i> present to dominant. A wide variety of forbs, many of these either disjunct or prairie species near their southeastern limit, are codominant in the herbaceous layer. This vegetation consists of prairie-like woodlands occurring over stiff calcareous clay soils derived from weathered shale and limestone of the Conasauga Group. It ranges along the Coosa River Valley in northwestern Georgia and into northeastern Alabama.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:38602-{7DC60CCC-039F-4D73-AE58-933B41598CD6}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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