Environmental Description:  This acidic herbaceous community occurs on temporarily flooded, semipermanently flooded, or saturated peat in the Allegheny Mountains region of West Virginia and Maryland, at elevations between 770 and 1210 m. It is a small-patch type that occupies flat-lying land (0-1° slopes) in headwater basins. Older stands typically occur over shallow bedrock, where they are kept open by high water tables. Younger stands often occur in beaver-influenced wetland mosaics, often behind breached dams on the site of former beaver ponds. The type also occurs as a successional community on formerly forested peatlands that have been logged and/or burned within the last century. Hummock-and-hollow microtopography is moderately well-developed, with hummocks ranging from 10-30 cm in height. Bedrock is typically acidic sandstone and, less commonly, shale or limestone. The substrate is poorly to very poorly drained peat or muck. Peat deposits are shallow, ranging from 10-75 cm in depth, underlain by clay-rich soils or bedrock. Hydric soil indicators include histisol, histic epipedon, black histic, hydrogen sulphide, 2 cm muck, sandy mucky mineral, dark surface, depleted matrix, and redox depressions. Mean soil pH is 3.8 (n=5), mean pore water pH is 4.3 (n=9), and electrical conductivity averages 30 micromhos/cm (n=9). Soil chemistry is characterized by high exchangeable nitrogen and organic matter; moderate Fe, P, S, and total exchange capacity; and low B, Ca, Cu, K, Mg, Mn, Na, and Zn (n=5). Aluminum is variable, ranging from 337-1310 ppm. The unvegetated surface is predominantly litter, with an average of 4% standing water (Byers et al. 2007).