Name:
Andropogon gerardii - Schizachyrium scoparium - Helianthus mollis Patch Prairie Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This vegetation group includes open, prairie-like vegetation of distinct portions of the Cumberland Plateau, undissected portions of the Interior Low Plateau, and parts of the Ridge and Valley ecoregions, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Physiognomy is variable, with management or natural disturbance. These are plant communities with open canopies, ranging from herbaceous-dominated barrens (some of which are maintained today by mowing instead of fire and grazing), as well as prairie-like areas and savanna and woodland types. Stands are dominated by grasses and forbs with scattered shrubby vegetation and occasionally trees. The primary dominant grasses include <i>Schizachyrium scoparium</i> and <i>Sorghastrum nutans</i> as well as <i>Andropogon</i> spp., <i>Panicum</i> spp., and <i>Sporobolus</i> spp. Other more mesic grasses (<i>Andropogon gerardii, Tripsacum dactyloides</i>) are found in mesic and wet phases. Some other typical species found in examples may include <i>Helianthus mollis, Helianthus silphioides, Helianthus occidentalis, Panicum anceps, Silphium trifoliatum</i>, and <i>Silphium terebinthinaceum</i>. The scattered trees (under historical or current managed conditions) are primarily <i>Quercus alba, Quercus muehlenbergii</i>, and <i>Quercus macrocarpa</i>. Under current conditions, <i>Acer rubrum, Liquidambar styraciflua, Quercus coccinea</i>, and <i>Quercus falcata</i> may be present, but these species are not characteristic. This vegetation was formerly more widespread, but is now found in relatively scattered and isolated remnants. Some proposed factors which have functioned to maintain the openness of these vegetation types include the droughty, gravelly soils and resulting stresses to vegetation, as well as fire and grazing.<br /><br />In the bluegrass region of Kentucky, the understory is composed of cool-season grasses, as far as known (e.g., <i>Elymus, Dichanthelium</i>) with <i>Arundinaria gigantea</i> (extensive canebrakes). Settlers referred to a "buffalo grass" of unknown identity (possibly <i>Dichanthelium clandestinum</i> or <i>Dichanthelium scoparium</i>). The fire regime is unknown. Characteristic remnant trees (e.g., <i>Fraxinus quadrangulata, Quercus macrocarpa</i>) are fire-tolerant. On the Cumberland Plateau, wetter areas may include <i>Quercus bicolor, Quercus falcata, Quercus palustris, Nyssa sylvatica, Liquidambar styraciflua</i>, and <i>Acer rubrum var. trilobum</i>. The primary dominant grass in the wetter phase is <i>Chasmanthium laxum</i>. This vegetation was the predominant type here in the early 1800s and earlier and probably was maintained from burning by Native Americans.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:39977-{15681A05-908D-4CB5-949D-468DDB1B76C2}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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