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CEGL007857 Carex barrattii Marsh

Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Barratt''s Sedge Marsh

Colloquial Name: Maple Flats Barratt''s Sedge Sinkhole Pond

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This community occurs in seasonally flooded depression ponds developed by solution and collapse of carbonate rocks underlying acidic colluvial materials deposited on the eastern edge of the Great Valley of Virginia, in Augusta, Rockingham, and southern Page counties, Virginia. This community is dominated by nearly monospecific swards of Carex barrattii. Scattered associates include Bartonia paniculata, Bartonia virginica, Spiraea tomentosa, and Triadenum virginicum. This community occurs in drier, seasonally flooded portions of Horseshoe Swamp and has a relatively deep, organic soil.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Examples occur in the Maple Flats pond complex (Augusta County, Virginia). This community needs to be compared to possibly related communities with abundant or dominant Carex barrattii in New Jersey and in the Eastern Highland Rim of south-central Tennessee (Coffee County).

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: No Data Available

Floristics: Stands are dominated by dense, nearly monospecific swards of Carex barrattii. Scattered associates include Bartonia paniculata, Bartonia virginica, Spiraea tomentosa, and Triadenum virginicum.

Dynamics:  No Data Available
Environmental Description:  This community occurs in depression ponds developed by solution and collapse of carbonate rocks underlying acidic alluvial fan materials eroded from the Blue Ridge and deposited along the eastern edge of the Great Valley of Virginia. A 0.4-ha (1 acre) patch of this vegetation occurs in drier, seasonally flooded portions of a shallow basin known as Horseshoe Swamp. A much smaller patch occurs in an arm of a nearby pond known as Split Level Pond. See Buhlmann et al. (1999) for pond locations. Horseshoe Swamp is unusual among seasonally flooded ponds of the region in having groundwater seepage inputs and a relatively deep, organic soil.
Geographic Range: This community is known only from two natural ponds of the Maple Flats area in Augusta County, Virginia.

Nations: US

States/Provinces:  VA


Confidence Level: Low - Poorly Documented

Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G1

Greasons: No Data Available
Type Name Database Code Classification Code
Class 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class C02 2
Subclass 2.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass S44 2.C
Formation 2.C.4 Temperate to Polar Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Formation F013 2.C.4
Division 2.C.4.Nd Eastern North American Temperate Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Division D323 2.C.4.Nd
Macrogroup 2.C.4.Nd.2 Broadleaf Cattail - White Snakeroot - Rush species Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Macrogroup M069 2.C.4.Nd.2
Group 2.C.4.Nd.2.d Appalachian-Northeast Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp Group G903 2.C.4.Nd.2.d
Alliance A4680 <i>Dulichium arundinaceum - Polygonum hydropiperoides - Carex</i> spp. Sinkhole Marsh Alliance A4680 2.C.4.Nd.2.d
Association CEGL007857 Barratt''s Sedge Marsh CEGL007857 2.C.4.Nd.2.d
Concept Lineage: No Data Available

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = Carex barrattii Herbaceous Vegetation (Fleming and Coulling 2001)
? Carex barrattii community (Fleming and Van Alstine 1999)
Concept Author(s): G.P. Fleming and P.P. Coulling (2001)

Author of Description: G. Fleming and P. Coulling

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 10-02-01
  • Buhlmann, K. A., J. C. Mitchell, and L. R. Smith. 1999. Descriptive ecology of the Shenandoah Valley sinkhole pond system in Virginia. Banisteria 13:23-51.
  • Fleming, G. P., K. D. Patterson, and K. Taverna. 2017. The natural communities of Virginia: A classification of ecological community groups and community types. Third approximation. Version 3.0. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. [http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/natural-communities/]
  • Fleming, G. P., and K. D. Patterson. 2009b. Classification of selected Virginia montane wetland groups. In-house analysis, December 2009. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond.
  • Fleming, G. P., and N. E. Van Alstine. 1999. Plant communities and floristic features of sinkhole ponds and seepage wetlands in southeastern Augusta County, Virginia. Banisteria 13:67-94.
  • Fleming, G. P., and P. P. Coulling. 2001. Ecological communities of the George Washington and Jefferson national forests, Virginia. Preliminary classification and description of vegetation types. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage, Richmond, VA. 317 pp.
  • Southeastern Ecology Working Group of NatureServe. No date. International Ecological Classification Standard: International Vegetation Classification. Terrestrial Vegetation. NatureServe, Durham, NC.