Name:
Dasiphora fruticosa - Carex sterilis - Carex flava Alkaline Shrub Fen Alliance
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This alliance includes calcareous sedge fens of the northeastern United States and possibly adjacent eastern Canada. This alliance brings together a suite of spring-fed herbaceous vegetation occurring on shallow peat and irrigated by base-rich surface discharge or groundwater. The vegetation has a consistent set of characteristic species but a locally variable set of associates, many of which are uncommon within the region. Occurrences are generally small, local and restricted to a rather particular set of conditions. The prominent architectural elements of this alliance include a well-developed herbaceous layer dominated by short cespitose sedges, a ground layer of bulky "brown" mosses, and clumped or scattered shrubs (generally restricted to micro-hummocks). Typically there is no clear dominant species allowing for a highly variable compositional and structural aspect from occurrence to occurrence. The cespitose, short shrub <i>Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda</i> is perhaps the most characteristic species of the alliance although it is rarely present in the Northern Appalachian examples. <i>Rhamnus alnifolia</i> is another characteristic and much more spreading short shrub, which may be quite extensive in some examples. Additionally, tall branching shrubs such as <i>Cornus sericea, Salix discolor, Salix bebbiana, Salix candida, Salix lucida, Salix serissima</i>, and others are very typical and often form a fringe around the lower slope of the fen. <i>Juniperus virginiana</i> occurs as scattered individuals in some stands. Common herbs include <i>Andropogon gerardii, Carex lasiocarpa, Carex sterilis, Carex prairea, Cladium mariscoides, Eleocharis quinqueflora, Lobelia kalmii, Rhynchospora capillacea, Schoenoplectus americanus</i>, and <i>Triglochin maritima</i>, which are all abundant in parts of the alliance.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:38917-{488B89FB-CA8E-45D6-8D06-C5EA4C06C3A6}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
|
