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G756 Eastern North American Wet Shoreline Vegetation Group
Type Concept Sentence: This eastern North American group consists of low-energy wetlands on shorelines of rivers and ponds, characterized by low annual plants, emergent aquatic plants, and leafy forbs.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Eastern North American Wet Shoreline Vegetation Group
Colloquial Name: Eastern North American Wet Shoreline Vegetation
Hierarchy Level: Group
Type Concept: This group consists of low-energy shorelines of rivers and ponds, characterized by low annual plants, emergent aquatic plants, graminoids, leafy forbs, and scattered shrubs. Typical taxa include Boehmeria cylindrica, Carex spp., Cyperus spp., Eragrostis hypnoides, Hydrocotyle umbellata, Juncus effusus, Leersia oryzoides, Lindernia dubia, Ludwigia palustris, Peltandra virginica, Polygonum spp., Saururus cernuus, Schoenoplectus spp., Triadenum walteri, and Utricularia gibba. Diminutive annuals include Eragrostis hypnoides, Lipocarpha micrantha,and Fimbristylis autumnalis. Aquatic species include Heteranthera spp., Nuphar, and Nymphaea spp. Cephalanthus occidentalis may occur as scattered individuals. Stands occur in shallow basins, shores of slow-moving rivers, or lake and pond margins that flood in the spring and draw down later in the season. This group ranges broadly in the southeastern, mid-Atlantic, and midwestern U.S.
Diagnostic Characteristics: Annual plants, including numerous species of Polygonum, as well as leafy forbs and emergent aquatic plants growing on the wet shoreline of lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivershores in the southeastern, mid-Atlantic, and midwestern U.S.
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: In western Nova Scotia, there are lakeshores with coastal plain flora. These stands may better fit with ~Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Plain Pondshore & Wet Prairie Group (G111)$$, but that concept is being revised. The Nova Scotia stands contain the following species (S. Basquill pers. comm. 2015): the shrub zone contains Alnus serrulata, Gaylussacia baccata, Ilex glabra, Vaccinium corymbosum, and sometimes the rarer Clethra alnifolia; lakeshore is herbaceous with Carex longii, small Cephalanthus occidentalis, Coreopsis rosea, Dichanthelium spretum, Eleocharis tuberculosa, Euthamia caroliniana, Gratiola aurea, Juncus caesariensis, Panicum rigidulum var. pubescens, Rhexia virginica, Rhynchospora macrostachya, Sabatia kennedyana, Symphyotrichum tradescantii, Triadenum virginicum, and/or Xyris difformis.
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Physiognomy is a combination of emergent perennial (semi-terrestrial) and annual terrestrial vegetation, including low forbs, graminoids, leafy forbs, and occasional deciduous shrubs.
Floristics: Typical taxa include numerous species of Boehmeria cylindrica, Calamagrostis canadensis, Carex spp., Cicuta maculata, Cyperus spp., Eragrostis hypnoides, Hydrocotyle umbellata, Juncus effusus, Leersia oryzoides, Lindernia dubia, Ludwigia palustris, Peltandra virginica, Polygonum spp., Saururus cernuus, Schoenoplectus spp., Spartina pectinata, Triadenum walteri, and Utricularia gibba. Diminutive annuals include Eragrostis hypnoides, Lipocarpha micrantha (= Hemicarpha micrantha),and Fimbristylis autumnalis. Aquatics include Heteranthera spp., Nuphar, and Nymphaea spp. Cephalanthus occidentalis may occur as scattered individuals.
Dynamics: This vegetation is influenced by seasonal flooding in low-energy waterbodies. As the water levels recedes later in the growing season, the mucky substrate is exposed and rapidly colonized by annuals.
Environmental Description: This group occupies the shores of slow-moving rivers, and on lakeshores and pondshores. It also occupies backwater depressions and oxbows of rivers, as well as beaver-influenced wetlands. The substrate is often mucky, or silty on riverbanks. These shores are seasonally flooded, and except for aquatic plants, vegetation may not be evident until late in the growing season when the water level has dropped sufficiently to expose the substrate.
Geographic Range: This group ranges broadly in the mid-Atlantic, southeastern and mid-western U.S. and adjacent Canada.
Nations: CA,US
States/Provinces: AL, FL?, GA, IN, KY, LA, MB, MI, MN, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OK, ON, PA, SC, TN, TX?, WI
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.887296
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.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass | S44 | 2.C |
| Formation | 2.C.4 Temperate to Polar Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Formation | F013 | 2.C.4 |
| Division | 2.C.4.Nd Eastern North American Temperate Freshwater Marsh, Wet Meadow & Shrubland Division | D323 | 2.C.4.Nd |
| Macrogroup | 2.C.4.Nd.3 Eastern North American Wet Shoreline Vegetation Macrogroup | M880 | 2.C.4.Nd.3 |
| Group | 2.C.4.Nd.3.b Eastern North American Wet Shoreline Vegetation Group | G756 | 2.C.4.Nd.3.b |
| Alliance | A1881 Knotweed species Shoreline Wet Meadow Alliance | A1881 | 2.C.4.Nd.3.b |
| Alliance | A3696 Inland Mud Lakeshore Alliance | A3696 | 2.C.4.Nd.3.b |
Concept Lineage: This group resulted from the split of former Northern & Central Riverscour Wetland Group (G194).
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: < Clay/Mud Shore (River) Type [RVx54b] (Minnesota DNR 2003)
< Sand and Mud Bar (Schafale and Weakley 1990)
< Sand and Mud Bar (Schafale and Weakley 1990)
- 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]
- Minnesota DNR [Minnesota Department of Natural Resources]. 2003. Field guide to the native plant communities of Minnesota: The Laurentian Mixed Forest Province. Ecological Land Classification Program, Minnesota County Biological Survey, and Natural Heritage and Nongame Research Program. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Paul.
- 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.