Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Central Midwest-Interior Sandstone Dry Cliff Vegetation

Colloquial Name: Central Midwest-Interior Dry Sandstone Cliff

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This dry sandstone cliff community is found throughout the central midwestern and interior United States and adjacent southern Ontario, Canada. Stands occur as steep to vertical rock exposures of sandstone bedrock. Aspect is variable, but stands are best developed on south- and west-facing slopes. Vegetation is restricted to shelves, cracks and crevices in the rock, generally averaging less than 20%. Mosses and lichens are common, including crustose lichens. In the Ozarks and Interior Low Plateau, scattered occurrences of woody species, such as Juniperus virginiana, Quercus stellata, Vaccinium arboreum, and Vaccinium pallidum, are found. In the Ozarks and Interior Low Plateau, the herbaceous layer contains the ferns Asplenium bradleyi, Asplenium pinnatifidum, Cheilanthes lanosa, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, and Dryopteris marginalis. In Minnesota and Wisconsin the dry cliffs include forbs, such as Aquilegia canadensis, Campanula rotundifolia, Solidago hispida, Solidago sciaphila (Driftless Area endemic), Toxicodendron radicans, Selaginella rupestris, Silene antirrhina, and Tradescantia ohiensis, and the ferns Asplenium trichomanes, Pellaea atropurpurea, Pellaea glabella, Polypodium virginianum, and Woodsia spp. The nonvascular layer in Missouri includes the mosses Brothera leana, Polytrichum spp., and Rhodobryum roseum, and the lichens, Pleopsidium chlorophanum, Cladonia mateocyatha, Cladonia strepsilis, and Dermatocarpon miniatum.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This type could be split into an Ozark/Interior Low Plateau sandstone cliff type and a more northern Midwest sandstone cliff type. Relation of this type to stands in the southeast needs to be resolved. Cliffs are defined as vertical exposures of rock at least 3 m tall. The distinction between open (dry) vs. shaded (moist) may be more important that bedrock type, at least on a local or state level. Curtis (1959) comments that in an effort to group the Wisconsin cliff data into meaningful categories, sites were separated by rock type (dolomite, sandstone, igneous) and exposure (shaded, exposed). He found that type of rock was far less important than exposure. For example, the shaded sandstone community had an index of similarity (based on presence/absence) of 64% with the shaded limestone community, but an index of 29% with the exposed sandstone community. As a result, he lumped the bedrock types together, but this produced some of the lowest indices of homogeneity among stands (approx. 35%) of any type in Wisconsin, though this may also reflect differences among northern and southern Wisconsin cliffs, as well as bedrock type and exposure (Curtis 1959, Table IV-2). In order to continue such comparisons regionwide, it will be necessary to continue grouping types by the combination of bedrock, pH, and exposure. Some cliffs contain multiple types of rocks, typically sandstone mixed with limestone or dolostone. This may complicate assignment of the cliff to a single rock type. In Ohio, Anderson (1996) provides several references to lichen composition on sandstone cliffs. In Kansas, sandstone cliffs occur in the Dakota sandstone region (extending into Nebraska), along several creeks/rivers in eastern Kansas, and in the Chautauqua Hills area in southeastern Kansas (Chris Lauver pers. comm. 1998).

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available