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CEGL003558 Quercus stellata - (Pinus echinata) / Schizachyrium scoparium - Echinacea laevigata - Oligoneuron album Woodland
Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Post Oak - (Shortleaf Pine) / Little Bluestem - Smooth Purple Coneflower - Prairie Goldenrod Woodland
Colloquial Name: Piedmont Dry Post Oak - Hickory - Pine Woodland
Hierarchy Level: Association
Type Concept: This community consists of one of two prairie-like woodlands associated with diabase in the Carolina Piedmont, representing the north-central North Carolina Piedmont type. Examples often have a canopy dominated by Quercus stellata and Pinus echinata (often some Pinus taeda as well because of fire suppression), a Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana understory (reduced or eliminated by fire), and grass/forb-dominated openings with numerous calciphilic prairie components dominating. Open conditions are maintained to some degree by shallow soils, shrink-swell clays, and perhaps by magnesium toxicity, but disturbance by fire is required for long-term persistence. Other characteristic species include Acer floridanum, Sorghastrum nutans, Baptisia australis var. aberrans, Silphium terebinthinaceum, Oligoneuron album, Oligoneuron rigidum, Symphyotrichum parviceps, Eryngium yuccifolium var. yuccifolium, Hypericum virgatum, Marshallia legrandii, Blephilia ciliata, Salvia urticifolia, Thaspium barbinode, and Packera anonyma. The large number of unique species (long-distance disjuncts and an endemic) suggest that recognition of this community as unique is warranted, though it is clearly related to diabase-influenced vegetation of both Virginia and the southern Carolina Piedmont.
Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: This type is closely related to ~Quercus stellata - (Pinus echinata) / Schizachyrium scoparium - Symphyotrichum georgianum Woodland (CEGL003711)$$, of the south-central North Carolina Piedmont and adjacent areas of South Carolina, primarily on gabbro geology. Although diabase and gabbro rocks types are closely related, the general distributions of these two types do not appear to be contiguous or overlapping. In addition, there are floristic differences between basic hardpan communities in the two regions. For example, Symphyotrichum georgianum is largely confined to the southern region, Helianthus schweinitzii is nearly so, while characteristic species of the northern type, including Oligoneuron album, Baptisia australis var. aberrans, and Echinacea laevigata, are lacking in the southern type. The primary known occurrence is at Picture Creek Diabase Barrens (Granville County, North Carolina), where it may once have been extensive. This type also ranges into Durham County, North Carolina, where lower quality examples currently persist.
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: No Data Available
Floristics: The canopy is dominated by Quercus stellata and Pinus echinata (often with some Pinus taeda because of fire suppression), a Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana understory (this reduced or eliminated by fire), and grass/forb-dominated openings with numerous calciphilic prairie components dominating. Other characteristic species include Acer floridanum (= Acer barbatum), Sorghastrum nutans, Baptisia australis var. aberrans (= Baptisia minor var. aberrans), Silphium terebinthinaceum, Oligoneuron album, Oligoneuron rigidum, Symphyotrichum parviceps (= Aster parviceps), Eryngium yuccifolium var. yuccifolium, Hypericum virgatum, Marshallia legrandii, Blephilia ciliata, Salvia urticifolia, Thaspium barbinode, and Packera anonyma (= Senecio anonymus).
Dynamics: Naturally open conditions are maintained to some degree by edaphic factors, but disturbance by fire is required for long-term persistence. Contributing edaphic factors may include shallow soils, shrink-swell clays, and perhaps magnesium toxicity. In the absence of fire this community may be heavily encroached with fire-intolerant hardwood species, such as Acer floridanum. As these hardwoods develop, they suppress understory species through shading and leaf litter deposition. Their continued persistence and development lead to increasingly mesophytic ground layer conditions reducing the likelihood and/or effectiveness of future fire events.
Environmental Description: This community occurs on diabase-derived soils in north-central North Carolina. As currently understood, this type appears to be best developed on diabase sills as opposed to diabase dikes. The reasons for this pattern may be complex and not readily apparent, although the spatial extent of the sills in combination with their flatness seems to be important. Although soils associated with diabase sills have been conventionally mapped as Alfisols (Schafale and Weakley 1990, USDA 1992), the bulk of currently known Mollisols closely follows the distribution of diabase sills, including those associated with diabase glade formation. There are an estimated 3321 acres of Mollisols reported from Granville County, North Carolina (USDA 1992). Mollisols are among the soils most often associated with grassland vegetation, especially in the American Plains (Soil Survey Staff 1975), as well as other regions (where forests and savannas were more closely associated with Alfisols) (Rogers and Anderson 1979). Locally, characteristics of this soil which favor the development of grass over trees include vertic (shrink-swell) properties which tend to prune permanent tree roots and subject them to a greater incidence of windthrow, and the poor drainage which causes ponding of water conducive to tree-root diseases (Buol pers. comm.). In natural condition we expect these sites to support an herbaceous community superficially similar to diabase glades but with a greater component of perennial grass and forb species. Dense stands of perennial grasses have tremendous below ground biomass (Weaver 1954) which upon decay leads to melanization (darkening of the soil profile). This appears to be the dominant soil-forming process associated with Mollisols (Buol et al. 1980, Sims and Risser 2000). This generally darker appearance may have given rise to local use of the term "black land" (Dayton 1966) before true Mollisols were formally recognized in the region. In comparison to other soils of this area, Mollisols, by definition, are higher in fertility (indicated by both greater carbon content and base saturation) yet not all Mollisols appear to support glades (Slapcinsky 1994). Given their fertility and deeper development, it is much easier to hypothesize greater alteration of these prairies than that of glades. There is no rock exposed at the surface.
Geographic Range: This association occurs only in a very limited area of diabase geology in north-central North Carolina.
Nations: US
States/Provinces: NC
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.689466
Confidence Level: Low
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G1
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 1 Forest & Woodland Class | C01 | 1 |
| Subclass | 1.B Temperate & Boreal Forest & Woodland Subclass | S15 | 1.B |
| Formation | 1.B.2 Cool Temperate Forest & Woodland Formation | F008 | 1.B.2 |
| Division | 1.B.2.Na Eastern North American Forest & Woodland Division | D008 | 1.B.2.Na |
| Macrogroup | 1.B.2.Na.1 White Oak - Southern Red Oak - Shortleaf Pine Forest & Woodland Macrogroup | M016 | 1.B.2.Na.1 |
| Group | 1.B.2.Na.1.a White Oak - Southern Red Oak - Water Oak Forest Group | G165 | 1.B.2.Na.1.a |
| Alliance | A4434 Post Oak Hardpan Woodland Alliance | A4434 | 1.B.2.Na.1.a |
| Association | CEGL003558 Post Oak - (Shortleaf Pine) / Little Bluestem - Smooth Purple Coneflower - Prairie Goldenrod Woodland | CEGL003558 | 1.B.2.Na.1.a |
Concept Lineage: No Data Available
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: No Data Available
- Buol, S. W. Personal communication. William Neal Reynolds Professor of Soil Science. Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
- Buol, S. W., F. D. Hole, and R. J. McCracken. 1980. Soil genesis and classification. Iowa State University, Ames. 404 pp.
- Dayton, B. R. 1966. The relationship of vegetation to Iredell and other Piedmont soils in Granville County, North Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Science Society 82:108-118.
- Rogers, C., and R. C. Anderson. 1979. Presettlement vegetation of two prairie peninsula counties. Botanical Gazette 140:232-240.
- Schafale, M. P. 2012. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina, 4th Approximation. North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh.
- Schafale, M. P., and A. S. Weakley. 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina. Third approximation. North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh. 325 pp.
- Sims, P. L., and P. G. Risser. 2000. Grasslands. Pages 325-356 in: M. G. Barbour and W. D. Billings, editors. North American terrestrial vegetation. Second edition. Cambridge University Press, New York. 434 pp.
- Slapcinsky, J. L. 1994. The vegetation and soils associated with diabase in Granville and Durham counties, North Carolina. M.S. thesis, North Carolina State University, Raleigh. 208 pp.
- Soil Survey Staff. 1975. Soil taxonomy: A basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys. USDA Soil Conservation Service. Agricultural Handbook No. 436. Washington DC. 754 pp.
- Southeastern Ecology Working Group of NatureServe. No date. International Ecological Classification Standard: International Vegetation Classification. Terrestrial Vegetation. NatureServe, Durham, NC.
- USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture]. 1992. Soil survey of Granville County. Soil Conservation Service. Oxford Field Office.
- Weaver, J. E. 1954. North American prairie. Johnsen Publishing Co., Lincoln, NE. 348 pp.