Name:
Taxodium distichum - Nyssa aquatica Floodplain Forest Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This wetland forest group is primarily affiliated with the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from southeastern Virginia (rarely north into the Chesapeake Bay) to Texas, portions of the adjacent Piedmont and interior regions, and the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain and adjacent Upper East Gulf Coastal Plain from southern Illinois, western Kentucky and southeastern Missouri, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and west in the coastal plains of Louisiana and Texas. Dominant and characteristic trees are <i>Taxodium distichum</i> (and occasionally <i>Taxodium ascendens</i>) and <i>Nyssa aquatica</i> (and occasionally <i>Nyssa biflora</i>). These are generally known as "Bald-Cypress - Tupelo Forests." Both <i>Taxodium distichum</i> and <i>Nyssa aquatica</i> are primarily, if not entirely, found in the coastal plains. Their ranges are not entirely congruent, with <i>Nyssa aquatica</i> being more limited. So, vegetation may be dominated by either or both of these characteristic species (and occasionally including <i>Taxodium ascendens</i> and/or <i>Nyssa biflora</i> as noted above). Also included here are embedded patches of smaller trees, including <i>Forestiera acuminata, Itea virginica</i>, and <i>Planera aquatica</i>, as well as <i>Cephalanthus occidentalis</i>, which can range in lifeform from small tree to shrub. These are usually smaller-patch features embedded within larger-patch (and taller stature) bald-cypress - tupelo forests. The basis of this group is floristic rather than purely hydrologic. This group primarily encompasses communities of streams and rivers of all orders and sizes, including some (or most) tidal forests. Stands are typically flooded for periods of up to 3 months, but not during the growing season. Stands are mainly from low bottomlands, depressions, sloughs and abandoned channel segments, and are not typically affiliated with elevated features such as riverfronts, point bars, natural levees, high bottomlands, levees, ridges, and upper terraces. This group includes forests known as "blackwater" as well as "brownwater" examples, as well as several tidally flooded associations. Isolated wetlands such as depression ponds dominated by <i>Taxodium</i> are excluded.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:39761-{3142E55B-10A9-4023-B932-2F9803E278ED}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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