Name:
Coccothrinax argentata - Pinus elliottii var. densa - Pinus caribaea Dry Forest Macrogroup
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This macrogroup encompasses tropical and subtropical forests of open to semi-open canopy, 8-12 m tall, characterized by a diverse shrub/subcanopy layer composed of species of palm and hardwood mostly of Caribbean floristic affinity. The uniqueness of the flora associated with the South Florida Slash Pine forest has long been recognized; it has been estimated that nearly one-third of the taxa found in this type are restricted to it, including half of southern Florida's endemic plants. Shrubs include <i>Chrysobalanus icaco, Coccothrinax argentata, Ilex cassine, Sideroxylon salicifolium, Tetrazygia bicolor</i>, and <i>Leucothrinax morrisii</i>. More common and representative (if not diagnostic) species on the mainland and Florida Keys include <i>Byrsonima lucida, Dodonaea viscosa, Guettarda elliptica, Guettarda scabra</i>, and <i>Serenoa repens</i>. Similar open pine forests occur in the northern Bahama Archipelago and along the coast in western and eastern Cuba where they are known as pine barrens or pine woodlands and are dominated by <i>Pinus caribaea, Pinus tropicalis</i>, and <i>Pinus cubensis</i>, respectively, accompanied by a similar set of species such as the palms <i>Coccothrinax argentata, Coccothrinax miraguana, Coccothrinax orientalis, Coccothrinax yuraguana</i>, and <i>Leucothrinax morrisii</i>. Other species include <i>Rhus copallinum, Tabebuia bahamensis, Tabebuia dubia, Tabebuia lepidophylla, Tabebuia shaferi, Zamia pumila</i>, and species of <i>Byrsonima, Guettarda</i>, and <i>Tetrazygia</i>. The macrogroup also includes pine-oak dry forests in western Cuba, where the oak species <i>Quercus oleoides</i> also occurs in the Dry Evergreen Oak forest type distributed in Mesoamerica and included in the macrogroup.<br /><br />~South Florida Slash Pine Rockland Group (G005)$$ is a pyrogenic community, a defining characteristic shared by all the other community types within the macrogroup, especially those dominated by pine species. In general, forests in this macrogroup experience a dry season of several months. Specific communities can be dry-mesic or xeric depending on landscape position and substrate. The macrogroup occurs in lowlands and low hills, littoral or sub-littoral flatlands on limestone or on thin sandy soils over limestone, or on light gray quartz sand or soils derived from sandstone or serpentine bedrock in the case of communities in Cuba. All these different substrates are nutrient-poor and drain very rapidly. Consequently, most sites are wet for only short periods following heavy rains.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40629-{8AC59CBF-0E49-408A-ADB4-FA9A162174B1}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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