Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Common Buttonbush / Sedge species Central Interior Wet Meadow & Shrubland Group

Colloquial Name: Central Interior Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp

Hierarchy Level:  Group

Type Concept: This open shrub and herb vegetation group encompasses ponds of the unglaciated eastern United States, found landward of the coastal plains (i.e., in the Ozark, Ouachita, and Interior Low Plateau, as well as the Southern and Central Appalachians and the Piedmont regions). Stands occur on flat to gently sloping to undulating surfaces, as well as in shallow to deep basins of sinkholes or other isolated depressions on uplands. Soils are poorly drained to very poorly drained, and surface water may be present for extended periods of time, rarely becoming dry. The typical hydrology is seasonally flooded, but the hydroperiod may be of greater or lesser length, depending on the depth of the basin or depression feature and the annual rainfall. Water depth may vary greatly on a seasonal basis and may be a meter deep or more in the winter in longer hydroperiod examples. Some examples become dry in the summer. Soils may be deep (100 cm or more), consisting of poorly drained mineral soil, as well as of peat or muck, with parent material of peat, muck or alluvium. Ponded examples vary from open scattered to more closed herb- or shrub-dominated ponds. The vegetation may be zoned, with an outer ring of trees, a more interior ring of shrubs, herbs and vines, and possibly a deeper central area with or without standing water year-round depending on precipitation. The shrub-dominated examples typically contain Cephalanthus occidentalis, or Dulichium arundinaceum and Salix spp. The herbaceous layer is widely variable depending on geography, but includes Carex aquatilis, Carex comosa, Panicum virgatum, Juncus spp., Scirpus and/or Schoenoplectus spp., and Polygonum spp. Trees fringing the ponds include Quercus spp. (particularly Quercus phellos [to the south] or Quercus palustris [to the north]), Platanus occidentalis, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Acer saccharinum, or Nyssa spp.

Diagnostic Characteristics: These are shrub- and herb-dominated stands, more-or-less isolated flat to depressional wetlands of the unglaciated interior eastern United States. Examples are typically dominated by shrubs and herbs tolerant of long periods of flooding, with variable draw-down periods. Diagnostic species include the shrubs Cephalanthus occidentalis, Dulichium arundinaceum, and Salix spp., and the herbs Carex aquatilis, Carex comosa, Panicum virgatum, Juncus spp., Scirpus and/or Schoenoplectus spp., and Polygonum spp.

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This group (G599) is an open herbaceous or shrub pond, with woody vegetation of Cephalanthus occidentalis, a maximum of 3 m tall, and is distinguished from the forested ~Central Interior-Appalachian Flatwoods & Swamp Forest Group (G597)$$. It may be that G597 should be restricted to "north-central (glaciated) shrub swamps", and this group to "south-central shrub swamps." It may also be that this group should only include shrub types, and herb types should be placed with either ~Eastern North American Freshwater Marsh Group (G125)$$ or ~Midwest Wet Prairie, Wet Meadow & Shrub Swamp Group (G770)$$. There are two vernal pool IVC groups: ~Piedmont Dome & Flatrock Vegetation Group (G671)$$ is limited to wet areas, such as small depressions or seep areas on Piedmont granite outcrops, in the Carolinas and Georgia; and ~Northeastern Forest Vernal Pool Group (G667)$$ encompasses small depressions under forest canopy and occurs in New England, north of the range of G599.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available