Cumberland Plateau/Ridge & Valley Calcareous Glades & Barrens (Cedar Glades)
These are rocky, non-forested areas that have many limestone outcroppings and expanses of shallow, gravelly soils. The vegetation is usually a mosaic of herbaceous areas, shrubs, bare rock, and widely spaced, stunted trees. Eastern red cedar is very common, so these communities are often called Cedar Glades.
Indicator species: eastern red cedar in the midst of flat outcroppings of limestone.
What's special: Expanses of exposed limestone are rare in Georgia and so the environments hosts a number of rare, endemic species, including least glade cress, purple tassels, Nashville breadroot, and Eggleston's violet, as well as species that are more common farther west. These glades and barrens thus contribute to the biological diversity of the ecoregion.
Related to: This natural community grades into dry calcareous forest as soil deepens over the limestone substrate and if fire becomes less common. This community also overlaps strongly with the Calcareous Prairies natural community; however, the prairies will have more extensive areas of deeper soil, and fewer exposed limestone outcroppings.
Photo by Hugh and Carol Nourse
Photos by Jay Pakchar, Richard & Teresa Ware, or Hugh & Carol Nourse. Click to expand images
Indicator species: eastern red cedar in the midst of flat outcroppings of limestone.
What's special: Expanses of exposed limestone are rare in Georgia and so the environments hosts a number of rare, endemic species, including least glade cress, purple tassels, Nashville breadroot, and Eggleston's violet, as well as species that are more common farther west. These glades and barrens thus contribute to the biological diversity of the ecoregion.
Related to: This natural community grades into dry calcareous forest as soil deepens over the limestone substrate and if fire becomes less common. This community also overlaps strongly with the Calcareous Prairies natural community; however, the prairies will have more extensive areas of deeper soil, and fewer exposed limestone outcroppings.
Photo by Hugh and Carol Nourse
Photos by Jay Pakchar, Richard & Teresa Ware, or Hugh & Carol Nourse. Click to expand images
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Click on a plant name to see many detailed images from comprehensive regional websites. Plant names are in alphabetical order by scientific name.
Trees Common hackberry Celtis occidentalis Dwarf hackberry/Georgia hackberry Celtis tenuifolia Redbud Cercis canadensis* White ash Fraxinus americana Eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata Virginia pine Pinus virginiana Chinkapin oak Quercus muehlenbergii Post oak Quercus stellata Winged elm Ulmus alata Shrubs and Woody Vines American rattan Berchemia scandens Southern-privet Forestiera ligustrina Carolina buckthorn Frangula caroliniana Fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica Coralberry Symphiocarpos orbiculatus Ground Layer Wildflowers Thimbleweed Anemone virginiana Tall coreopsis Coreopsis tripteris Purple tassels Dalea gattingeri Daisy fleabane Erigeron strigosus Glade St. John's-wort Hypericum dolabriforme Least glade cress Leavenworthia exigua Hoary puccoon Lithospermum canescens Rattlesnake-master Manfreda virginica Lime-barren sandwort Minuartia patula Sundrops Oenothera fruticosa Eastern prickly pear Opuntia humifusa Appalachian ragwort Packera anonyma Nashville breadroot Pediomelum subacaule Hairy phlox Phlox amoena Nettle-leaf sage Salvia urticifolia Eggleston's violet Viola egglestonii Grasses and Sedges Splitbeard bluestem Andropogon ternarius Silky/Downy oat-grass Danthonia sericea Poverty oat grass Danthonia spicata Little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Bryophytes Reindeer lichen Cladina, Cladonia Lime stonecrop Sedum pulchellum |
Ground layer in order by color |
