Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Pond Pine / Shining Fetterbush - Inkberry - (Swamp Titi) Wet Shrubland

Colloquial Name: Evergreen High Pocosin

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This is the typical high pocosin or tall pocosin of peatlands and wet mineral soils of the southeastern Coastal Plain, ranging from North Carolina south to Georgia and apparently to Florida. Pinus serotina individuals are scattered and more-or-less stunted. Typical shrubs, forming a dense tangle with abundant Smilax laurifolia, are Cyrilla racemiflora, Lyonia lucida, Ilex glabra, Ilex coriacea, Persea palustris, and sometimes Kalmia carolina. Other component shrubs can rarely include Clethra alnifolia, Vaccinium formosum, Gaylussacia frondosa, Kalmia cuneata, Aronia arbutifolia, Chamaecyparis thyoides, Acer rubrum var. trilobum, Morella cerifera, Lyonia ligustrina var. foliosiflora, Magnolia virginiana, Rhododendron viscosum, and Toxicodendron radicans. Of these species, Magnolia virginiana may be constant, all others are quite scarce, except Kalmia cuneata locally.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Georgia occurrences (in the Outer Coastal Plain) are in different topographic settings; they are found in depressional wetlands (Carolina bays and limesink wetlands) and along stream borders. They may have significantly different floristics as well; they lack Chamaecyparis thyoides and may lack Rhus copallinum and Kalmia carolina among other species. These are all so scarce and low constancy in these communities that this is not an issue. Some examples in North Carolina occur in large peat-filled bays, but limesinks would have CEGL004434 instead (M. Schafale pers. comm. 2004). More work is needed to determine whether these should be in a different association. Florida examples of this association are from Pinhook Swamp and Impassable Bay (Osceola National Forest) and Bradwell Bay (Apalachicola National Forest). These are very large poorly drained areas. Some stands from the Fall-line Sandhills of Fort Benning, Georgia (East Gulf Coastal Plain), at or near the local northern-most edge of the distribution of Pinus serotina are placed here. The polygons that have been referred here have dense evergreen shrubs (mostly Ilex glabra and Ilex coriacea) with some Arundinaria gigantea. They also have dense Smilax spp. (M. Mulligan pers. comm. 2001). See Element Occurrence CEGL003846*002*FB for more information. All three of these alliances and associations (CEGL003860, CEGL004666 and CEGL003846) are found at Fort Benning. This is primarily due to the dynamic nature of the vegetation types that are found in upland saturated soil conditions in a longleaf pine matrix. These vary among woodlands, shrublands, wooded shrublands and forests. Differences in fire intensity and fire frequency are common in these systems and often depend on season of burn, soil moisture levels, and burn return intervals. Divergence in these variables can play a significant role in the resulting vegetation structure and composition of the saturated woodlands, shrublands and wooded shrublands. This is the typical High Pocosin community, found all over the Outer Coastal Plain of North Carolina (M. Schafale pers. comm. 2004). At this time, Virginia''s limited Pond Pine Woodland vegetation is covered by ~Pinus serotina / Ilex glabra / Woodwardia virginica Swamp Woodland (CEGL004652)$$.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available