Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Chinquapin Oak - (White Oak, Black Oak) - (Eastern Red-cedar) Driftless Bluff Woodland

Colloquial Name: Chinquapin Oak Driftless Bluff Woodland

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This chinquapin oak woodland type occurs primarily on bluffs of large rivers in the midwestern United States. Stands occur in scattered areas along steep southwest-facing bluffs or slopes, particularly on the Mississippi River. Presumably the underlying soils and bedrock have a calcareous influence. Stands contain an open tree layer, with Quercus muehlenbergii as the characteristic dominant, and Quercus alba, Quercus velutina, Quercus macrocarpa, and Juniperus virginiana as common associates. Cornus racemosa may be common in the shrub layer. The ground layer may contain a dry to dry-mesic prairie flora, but little is known about this type and few stands are available for characterization.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This association is similar in some respects to limestone glades farther south, such as ~Quercus muehlenbergii - Juniperus virginiana / Schizachyrium scoparium - Manfreda virginica Wooded Grassland (CEGL005131)$$, and may represent the more northern equivalent of this type. This type is poorly defined and may currently only consist of small inclusions on steep slopes, especially on Mississippi River bluffs. In Wisconsin, this type is almost of historic note only, occurring now in a few locations where cedar glades or bedrock bluff prairies also occur. A single occurrence of good quality in Grant County along the Mississippi River is now being managed to maintain its woodland character (E. Epstein pers. comm. 1999). In northeastern Iowa, stands of this type can be codominated by Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana and contain an understory dominated by prairie flora with a more open canopy grading into flora more typical of dry forests as the canopy becomes more closed. Type may have varied from more open savanna or glade-like conditions to more closed-canopy conditions.

This type may have once occurred in southeastern Minnesota in Houston County. Smith (2008, p. 384) describes a site there where Quercus muehlenbergii once occurred, as follows: "The site is on a dry southwest-facing hillside...the soil is calcareous and coarse textured, derived from Prairie du Chien dolomite (a limestone). At the time of the discovery [1899] the habitat was apparently open and prairie-like, or possibly savanna-like, with a few scattered trees or oak grubs...The site has since grown into a substantial forest....chinquapin oak is missing."

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available