Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Report - USGS

USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program
Colonial National Historical Park
Plots: COLO.23.
Colonial National Historical Park Inventory Notes: Information not available.
GLOBAL INFORMATION
USNVC CLASSIFICATION
Physiognomic Class Forest (I)
Physiognomic Subclass Deciduous forest (I.B.)
Physiognomic Group Cold-deciduous forest (I.B.2.)
Physiognomic Subgroup Natural/Semi-natural cold-deciduous forest (I.B.2.N.)
Formation Lowland or submontane cold-deciduous forest (I.B.2.N.a.)
Alliance Quercus velutina - Quercus alba - (Quercus coccinea) Forest Alliance (A.1911)
Alliance (English name) Black Oak - White Oak - (Scarlet Oak) Forest Alliance
Association Quercus alba - Quercus (coccinea, velutina, prinus) / Gaylussacia baccata
Forest
Association (English name) White Oak - (Scarlet Oak, Black Oak, Chestnut Oak) / Black Huckleberry Forest
Ecological System(s): Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Hardwood Forest (CES203.475).
Central Appalachian Dry Oak-Pine Forest (CES202.591).
Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland (CES202.359).
GLOBAL DESCRIPTION
Concept Summary: This community is a matrix forest of dry, nutrient-poor uplands of the
Mid-Atlantic Piedmont Plateau, occurring locally in similar low-elevation landscapes of the
northern Blue Ridge and Ridge and Valley, Cumberland Plateau and Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain
provinces. The type is well-documented across Virginia, and to a lesser extent in Tennessee and
Maryland, but probably also occurs at similar sites in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Stands
are located between 30 and 700 m (100-2300 feet) elevation on rolling to sublevel sites of
Piedmont and inner Coastal Plain uplands, mountain valleys and lower mountain slope benches.
In the mountains, many documented occurrences are located on ancient alluvial fan deposits,
which are especially extensive along the western foot of the Blue Ridge. The vegetation is a
closed to very open oak forest with mixed and variable canopy dominance by Quercus alba
(white oak), Quercus velutina (black oak), Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak), and Quercus prinus
(chestnut oak). Various Pinus spp. (pines), including Pinus virginiana (Virginia pine), Pinus
echinata (shortleaf pine), Pinus strobus (eastern white pine), and Pinus rigida (pitch pine), are
frequent overstory associates, particularly following fire or logging disturbances. Quercus
falcata (southern red oak), Quercus stellata (post oak), Carya glabra (pignut hickory), and
Carya alba (mockernut hickory) are infrequent canopy trees. Nyssa sylvatica (blackgum),
Amelanchier arborea (common serviceberry) and, in the southern part of the range, Oxydendrum
arboreum (sourwood) attain exceptional abundance and stature in these forests, dominating the
subcanopy layers and occasionally reaching the overstory. Acer rubrum (red maple) and
Sassafras albidum (sassafras) are other common understory trees. In typical stands, the shrub
layer is dominated by deciduous ericaceous species, herbaceous species are sparse, and speciesrichness
is moderate to very low.
Environmental Description: Stands are located between 30 and 700 m (100-2300 feet)
elevation on rolling to sublevel sites of Piedmont and inner Coastal Plain uplands, mountain
valleys and lower mountain slope benches. The type is generally distributed in nutrient-poor soils
of the Piedmont uplands. In the mountains, many documented occurrences are located on ancient
alluvial fan deposits, which are especially extensive along the western foot of the Blue Ridge
from Page County south to Rockbridge County, Virginia. Similar but smaller fans are common
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