Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Cypress Swamp Sedge - Slender Spikerush - Rush species - Redtop Panicgrass Interior Highlands Channel Scar Depression Wooded Marsh

Colloquial Name: Interior Highlands Channel Scar Depression Wooded Marsh

Hierarchy Level:  Association

Type Concept: This wetland type is found on abandoned terraces of mid-gradient streams in the Ouachita Mountains and Arkansas Valley ecoregions of Arkansas and possibly Oklahoma. These wetlands occur in depressions that occupy former channels of these streams and range from forested, oak-dominated vernal flats to buttonbush/graminoid marshes to permanent open-water ponds with sedge hummocks. These wetlands are typically seasonally inundated but may hold water year around in deeper examples. Some examples are completely removed from overbank flooding of the present-day stream and receive all of their hydrologic input from precipitation. Other examples may receive water from the adjacent stream in major flood events. Forested examples are typically dominated by Quercus phellos, Quercus nigra, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, and Liquidambar styraciflua. Deeper ponds may have an open-water zone fringed with large, overhanging trees, including Taxodium distichum, Quercus lyrata, and Planera aquatica. Common shrubs include Lyonia ligustrina, Vaccinium fuscatum, Vaccinium virgatum, Amorpha fruticosa, Morella cerifera, and Cornus foemina. Cephalanthus occidentalis may be common in wetter examples. Forested examples typically contain a graminoid understory rich in sedges and rushes and often with extensive bryophyte cover (particularly Sphagnum spp.). Areas of bare mineral soil are not uncommon. The herbaceous layer is dominated by sedges such as Carex albolutescens, Carex crinita, Carex debilis, Carex flaccosperma, Carex ozarkana, Carex tribuloides, Carex hyalinolepis, Eleocharis tenuis var. verrucosa, Eleocharis wolfii, and Rhynchospora glomerata; grasses such as Chasmanthium laxum, Chasmanthium latifolium, and Agrostis perennans; and rushes such as Juncus debilis, Juncus effusus, and Juncus coriaceus. Forbs are often scattered around the edges of these wetlands or on hummocks within them. The wettest areas are often sparsely vegetated except for Sphagnum spp. and may be covered by leaf litter or have exposed mineral soil. Non-forested (open) examples have an open, exposed shoreline fringed by concentric zones of emergent herbaceous vegetation and shrubs. Water levels fluctuate throughout the growing season as water is lost to evaporation, exposing a ring of mudflats colonized primarily by various herbaceous annual plants. Submergent and floating-leaved vegetation occurs in open-water ponds in this habitat and includes Brasenia schreberi, Ceratophyllum demersum, Utricularia gibba, Utricularia radiata, Nuphar advena, Potamogeton pulcher, and Potamogeton pusillus. These ponds are often fringed by a diverse shrub community.

Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: This association may require subdivision into a wooded association and an herbaceous/open association. They have different dominant species (T. Witsell pers. comm. 2012). For now, they are combined; this association captures both the wooded and open phases and is ecologically broad enough to encompass most of the known sites.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available

note: No Data Available