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A2076 Pellaea atropurpurea - Cystopteris bulbifera Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff Alliance

Type Concept Sentence: This alliance includes vegetation of dry to rather moist igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock outcrops and cliffs of essentially neutral base status. Vascular plants are generally confined to crevices, and characteristic species include Aquilegia canadensis, Asplenium spp., and Pellaea spp. Examples are found primarily in the Ridge and Valley, Blue Ridge, Cumberland Plateau, Central Appalachians, and Allegheny Plateau, extending into the northern Piedmont of New Jersey and New York.

Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Purple Cliffbrake - Bulblet Bladderfern Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff Alliance

Colloquial Name: Central Appalachian Circumneutral Fern Cliff

Hierarchy Level:  Alliance

Type Concept: This alliance includes vegetation of dry to rather moist igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock outcrops and cliffs of essentially neutral base status. Vascular plants are generally confined to crevices. Stands are usually shaded by trees rooted in adjacent forested communities, generally with very little vascular vegetation and little nonvascular vegetation. Characteristic species include Aquilegia canadensis, Aralia racemosa, Asplenium spp., Cystopteris fragilis, Pellaea spp., Rubus odoratus, and Solidago canadensis. Examples may have low cover of vascular plants. The moister microhabitats of crevices may have mosses such as Anomodon rostratus and Anomodon attenuatus. Examples are found primarily in the Ridge and Valley, Blue Ridge, Cumberland Plateau, Central Appalachians, and Allegheny Plateau, extending into the northern Piedmont of New Jersey and New York. This vegetation occurs primarily on limestone and dolomite, but there are some examples on apparently nutrient-rich sandstones.

Diagnostic Characteristics: Sparse vegetation of circumneutral rock cliffs of the Central Appalachians, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, Alleghany Plateau, to the northern Piedmont of New York and New Jersey.

Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available

Classification Comments: ~Pellaea atropurpurea Cliff Sparse Vegetation (CEGL006527)$$, formerly part of this alliance, was moved to the more appropriate ~Central Midwest-Interior Alkaline Cliff Alliance (A3998)$$.

Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Physiognomy and structure are somewhat variable among associations and within occurrences. Some examples are typically shaded by trees rooted in adjacent forested communities and/or adjacent rock outcrops. Up to 90% of the rock surface may lack cover of vascular plants. Mosses and lichens can have moderate coverage, and vascular plants typically occur on ledges and rooted in cracks.

Floristics: Vascular and nonvascular vegetation are sparse in stands of this alliance. This alliance includes cliff vegetation of circumneutral substrates. Characteristic species include Aquilegia canadensis, Asplenium resiliens, Asplenium ruta-muraria, Asplenium trichomanes, Cystopteris bulbifera, Pellaea atropurpurea, Pellaea glabella ssp. glabella, and others. In addition, Cystopteris bulbifera and Asplenium rhizophyllum are characteristic and diagnostic in some associations. Additional species may include Allium cernuum, Arabis hirsuta, Arabis lyrata, Bouteloua curtipendula, Carex oligocarpa, Dodecatheon meadia, Dryopteris marginalis, Heuchera americana, Hylotelephium telephioides (= Sedum telephioides), Phlox subulata, Saxifraga virginiensis, Sedum ternatum, Symphyotrichum ericoides, and Symphyotrichum oblongifolium. The moister microhabitats of crevices may have mosses such as Anomodon attenuatus, Anomodon rostratus, Dumortiera hirsuta, and others, which can be locally abundant. In some examples, woody species may occur scattered throughout or at the margins of occurrences; these species may include Carya spp., Cercis canadensis, Cornus florida, Fraxinus americana, Hydrangea arborescens, Juniperus virginiana, Ostrya virginiana, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Physocarpus opulifolius, Quercus muehlenbergii, Rhus aromatica, Tilia americana, and Toxicodendron radicans.

Dynamics:  No Data Available
Environmental Description:  This alliance includes vegetation of dry to rather moist limestone and dolomite outcrops and cliffs, with vascular plants rooted in suitable crevices. Some examples may be shaded by trees rooted in adjacent forested communities. This vegetation occurs primarily on limestone and dolomite, but there are some examples on apparently nutrient-rich sandstones.
Geographic Range: This alliance ranges from Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, south through Kentucky and Tennessee to Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

Nations: US

States/Provinces:  AL, GA, KY, MD, NC, NJ?, NY, PA, SC, TN, VA, VT, WV


Confidence Level: Low

Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: GNR

Greasons: No Data Available
Type Name Database Code Classification Code
Class 6 Open Rock Vegetation Class C06 6
Subclass 6.B Temperate & Boreal Open Rock Vegetation Subclass S04 6.B
Formation 6.B.1 Temperate & Boreal Cliff, Scree & Other Rock Vegetation Formation F034 6.B.1
Division 6.B.1.Na Eastern North American Temperate Cliff, Scree & Rock Vegetation Division D051 6.B.1.Na
Macrogroup 6.B.1.Na.1 Shrubby Fivefingers - Rock Polypody / Cup Lichen species Eastern North American Cliff & Rock Vegetation Macrogroup M111 6.B.1.Na.1
Group 6.B.1.Na.1.c Appalachian Cliff & Rock Vegetation Group G840 6.B.1.Na.1.c
Alliance A2076 Purple Cliffbrake - Bulblet Bladderfern Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff Alliance A2076 6.B.1.Na.1.c
Association CEGL004394 Bulblet Bladderfern - (Walking Fern) Cliff Sparse Vegetation CEGL004394 6.B.1.Na.1.c
Association CEGL004476 Wall-rue - Purple Cliffbrake Cliff Sparse Vegetation CEGL004476 6.B.1.Na.1.c
Association CEGL004988 Bulblet Bladderfern / Dumortiera Sinkhole Wall Cliff Sparse Vegetation CEGL004988 6.B.1.Na.1.c
Association CEGL006436 Shale Cliff Sparse Vegetation CEGL006436 6.B.1.Na.1.c
Concept Lineage: This alliance accommodates elements that were formerly members of Asplenium ruta-muraria - Pellaea atropurpurea Sparsely Vegetated Alliance (A.1832) and Cystopteris bulbifera - Asplenium rhizophyllum Sparsely Vegetated Alliance (A.1834). Cystopteris bulbifera - Asplenium rhizophyllum Ozark Sparse Vegetation (CEGL008486), an Ozarkian provisional association from Cystopteris bulbifera - Asplenium rhizophyllum Sparsely Vegetated Alliance (A.1834), has been made inactive. A.1832 & A.1834, in part

Predecessors: No Data Available

Obsolete Names: No Data Available

Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: No Data Available
Concept Author(s): M. Pyne, after M.P. Schafale and A.S. Weakley (1990)

Author of Description: M. Pyne and L. Sneddon

Acknowledgements: No Data Available

Version Date: 12-18-14
  • Faber-Langendoen, D., J. Drake, M. Hall, G. Kittel, S. Menard, C. Nordman, M. Pyne, M. Reid, M. Russo, K. Schulz, L. Sneddon, K. Snow, and J. Teague. 2013-2019b. Screening alliances for induction into the U.S. National Vegetation Classification: Part 1 - Alliance concept review. NatureServe, Arlington, VA.
  • 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.