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G063 Quercus ilicifolia - Kalmia angustifolia - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Sand Barrens Group

Type Concept Sentence: No Data Available

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Bear Oak - Sheep Laurel - Kinnikinnick Sand Barrens Group

Colloquial Name: Northern Atlantic Acidic Sand Barrens Scrub & Grassland

Hierarchy Level:  Group

Type Concept: This group encompasses vegetation dominated by shrubs and/or herbs, sometimes with scrubby Pinus rigida, on sandy, well-drained, nutrient-poor soils. It is often associated with pine barrens but lacks significant tree cover. Pinus rigida may form a shrub cover, often with one or more of the scrubby oaks Quercus ilicifolia, Quercus prinoides, or Quercus marilandica. Common shrubs include Gaylussacia baccata (and, near the coast, Gaylussacia dumosa), Kalmia angustifolia, Vaccinium angustifolium, Vaccinium pallidum, Comptonia peregrina, and Viburnum dentatum. The dwarf-shrubs Corema conradii, Hudsonia tomentosa, and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi are particularly diagnostic of this vegetation. Herb cover may be extensive in patches among the shrubs, with Schizachyrium scoparium the most abundant and characteristic grass. Deschampsia flexuosa and Carex pensylvanica or Carex lucorum are common but less abundant graminoids. Forbs (and creeping forblike shrubs) include Ionactis linariifolius, Melampyrum lineare, Achillea millefolium, Lespedeza hirta, Lupinus perennis, Gaultheria procumbens, Polygonella articulata, and Epigaea repens. Pteridium aquilinum is a common fern, and in seasonally wet spots Lycopodiella appressa may be characteristic. This group includes the well-known dwarf "pine plains" of the New Jersey Pine Barrens where Pinus rigida less than 1 m tall forms cover with scrub oaks and a mixture of dwarf-shrubs and herbs including Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Pyxidanthera barbulata, Leiophyllum buxifolium, and Helianthemum canadense.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: Most work on the vegetation related to this group has focused on pine barrens as a whole rather than this non-treed component.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: The vegetation is characterized by dwarfed scrubby shrubs and pines (rarely Betula spp.) forming a canopy rarely over 1 m tall. These may form patches with openings dominated by lower shrubs and herbs. Open areas of lichen cover may also be present.

Floristics: Pinus rigida may form a shrub cover, often with one or more of the scrubby oaks Quercus ilicifolia, Quercus prinoides, or Quercus marilandica. Common shrubs include Gaylussacia baccata (and, near the coast, Gaylussacia dumosa), Kalmia angustifolia, Vaccinium angustifolium, Vaccinium pallidum, Comptonia peregrina, and Viburnum dentatum. The dwarf-shrubs Corema conradii and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi are particularly diagnostic of this vegetation. Herb cover may be extensive in patches among the shrubs, with Schizachyrium scoparium the most abundant and characteristic grass. Deschampsia flexuosa and Carex pensylvanica or Carex lucorum are common but less abundant graminoids. Forbs include Ionactis linariifolius, Melampyrum lineare, Achillea millefolium, Lespedeza hirta, Lupinus perennis, Gaultheria procumbens, Polygonella articulata, and Epigaea repens. Pteridium aquilinum is a common fern, and in seasonally wet spots Lycopodiella appressa may be characteristic.

Dynamics:  This vegetation typically develops in high-frequency fire areas or in frost pockets within pine barrens. In some cases it has developed after catastrophic removal of forest or woodland vegetation.
Environmental Description:  Climate: North-temperate. Soil/substrate/hydrology: This vegetation develops on well-drained, sandy, nutrient-poor soils. Most of the distribution is in glaciated territory where the typical occurrence is on glacial outwash plains, but it also occurs south of the glacial extent in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and at a few locations in eastern and central Pennsylvania.
Geographic Range: This group occurs in the northeastern United States from New Jersey north to Maine and west to central Pennsylvania and New York.

Nations: CA,US

States/Provinces:  CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT


Confidence Level: Moderate

Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: GNR

Greasons: No Data Available
Type Name Database Code Classification Code
Class 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class C02 2
Subclass 2.B Temperate & Boreal Grassland & Shrubland Subclass S18 2.B
Formation 2.B.4 Temperate to Polar Scrub & Herb Coastal Vegetation Formation F005 2.B.4
Division 2.B.4.Na Eastern North American Coastal Scrub & Herb Vegetation Division D026 2.B.4.Na
Macrogroup 2.B.4.Na.2 American Beachgrass - Sea-oats - Seaside Goldenrod Dune & Grassland Macrogroup M057 2.B.4.Na.2
Group 2.B.4.Na.2.e Bear Oak - Sheep Laurel - Kinnikinnick Sand Barrens Group G063 2.B.4.Na.2.e
Alliance A0682 Little Bluestem River Bluff Alliance A0682 2.B.4.Na.2.e
Alliance A3911 Bear Oak Sand Barrens Scrub Alliance A3911 2.B.4.Na.2.e
Alliance A3913 Lowbush Blueberry - Blue Ridge Blueberry Sandy Heath Alliance A3913 2.B.4.Na.2.e
Alliance A4369 Northern Bayberry / Little Bluestem species Heath & Grassland Alliance A4369 2.B.4.Na.2.e
Alliance A4471 <i>Schizachyrium scoparium - Sorghastrum nutans - Baptisia tinctoria</i> Hempstead Grassland A4471 2.B.4.Na.2.e
Concept Lineage: No Data Available

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: >< Dwarf Pine Plains (Whittaker 1979a)
> Heath (Latham et al. 1996)
> Pine-heath (Harshberger 1918)
> Rhodora (Latham et al. 1996)
> Scrub Oak Barrens (Latham et al. 1996)
> Type 7 (Motzkin et al. 1996)
Concept Author(s): R.H. Whittaker (1979a)

Author of Description: S.C. Gawler

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 03-18-10
  • Clark, W. S., Jr. 1946. Effect of low temperatures on the vegetation of the barrens in central Pennsylvania. Ecology 27:188-189.
  • Faber-Langendoen, D., J. Drake, S. Gawler, M. Hall, C. Josse, G. Kittel, S. Menard, C. Nordman, M. Pyne, M. Reid, L. Sneddon, K. Schulz, J. Teague, M. Russo, K. Snow, and P. Comer, editors. 2010-2019a. Divisions, Macrogroups and Groups for the Revised U.S. National Vegetation Classification. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. plus appendices. [in preparation]
  • Harshberger, J. W. 1918. American heaths and pine heaths. Memoirs of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden 1:175-186.
  • Latham, R. E., J. E. Thompson, S. A. Riley, and A. W. Wibiralske. 1996. The Pocono till barrens: Shrub savanna persisting on soils favoring forest. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 123:330-349.
  • Motzkin, G., D. Foster, A. Allen, J. Harrod, and R. Boone. 1996. Controlling site to evaluate history: Vegetation patterns of a New England sand plain. Ecological Monographs 66(3):345-365.
  • Motzkin, G., S. C. Ciccarello, and D. R. Foster. 2002. Frost pockets on a level sand plain: Does variation in microclimate help maintain persistent vegetation patterns? Journal of the Torrey Botanical Club 129:154-163.
  • Petraitis, P. S., and R. E. Latham. 1999. The importance of scale in testing the origins of alternative community states. Ecology 80:429-442.
  • Whittaker, R. H. 1979a. Appalachian balds and other North American heathlands. Pages 427-439 in: R. L. Specht, editor. Ecosystems of the world. Series Publication 9A. Heathlands and related shrublands: Descriptive studies. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, New York.