Environmental Description:  In Kentucky, stands occur on broad flats underlain by fragipans that impede drainage. Although these sites are wet, they are perhaps only considered as marginal wetlands by many definitions. Examples in the West Gulf Coastal Plain dominated by Quercus stellata and Pinus taeda occur in slight topographic depressions or shallow ponds on Pleistocene high terraces. Soil moisture fluctuates widely throughout the growing season depending largely upon rain events which are well-distributed throughout the year. Surface soils in these depressions appear to be finer-textured than adjacent areas which may slow drainage of these areas. In addition, soils may have a hardpan which impedes the downward migration of water into the subsoil, causing a shallowly perched water table. The hardpan may also impeded movement of water up to the dry surface soil from deeper, more moist soil in the summer and restrict the potential rooting depth of vegetation within these depressions. These depressions have been documented on soils mapped as Keithville-Sawtown on the Angelina and Sabine national forests. Some other examples dominated by Quercus falcata are found on sites with unusual soil conditions, such as hardpans with retarded drainage. These typically occur in upland flats and have been called xerohydric because they occasionally will have standing water in the winter due to a perched water table, but are droughty by the end of the growing season.