Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Sugarcane Plumegrass - Globe-fruit Primrose-willow - Warty Panicgrass Marsh

Colloquial Name: No Data Available

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This herbaceous wetland of the Great Dismal Swamp area, where it may occupy seasonally ponded depressions of anthropogenic origin, such as experimental marsh restoration clearings, burned-out peat areas, or depressional basins in powerlines. It is also known from natural ponds on the Outer Coastal Plain of Virginia. Some soils on which this vegetation occurs include Terric Medisaprists of the Bellhaven series and Typic Humaquepts of the Torhunta series. Slowly permeable, clay-rich subsoils probably impede internal drainage and contribute to surface water flooding at these sites. This community is characterized by tall Saccharum giganteum, low to mid-height Ludwigia sphaerocarpa, and short, sprawling Panicum verrucosum in variable combinations and proportions. Any one of the three nominal species may dominate, or dominance may be mixed. In these seasonally inundated habitats, colonies of Ludwigia sphaerocarpa, with their extensively branched, almost woody, aerenchymatous stems, resemble miniature swamp "forests." Typical associates include Bidens frondosa, Diodia virginiana, Hypericum mutilum, Juncus canadensis, Ludwigia linearis, Rhexia virginica, and Scirpus cyperinus. Other conspicuous but more uncommon components include Bidens coronata, Rhynchospora macrostachya, and Sagittaria latifolia. Ludwigia decurrens, Ludwigia leptocarpa, and Ludwigia pilosa may also be locally abundant.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Until rather recently, frequent fires would have helped maintain more diverse, light-demanding herbaceous vegetation similar to that described here in natural depressions.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available