Cumberland Plateau/Ridge & Valley Calcareous Glades & Barrens (Cedar Glades)
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Calcareous Glades and Barrens are rocky areas over exposed limestone.The shallow, calcium-rich soils create harsh, unusual conditions that foster rare plant assemblages. The vegetation is in a mosaic of four types: 1) gravel glades where soil is less than 1/4 inch deep and many lichens, mosses and annual plants; 2) grassy glades, with deeper soils and many grasses and perennial wildflowers; fire is needed to keep many of these open) 3) shrub thickets with calcium loving shrubs and tree seedlings and 4) glade woodlands with stunted, calcium-loving trees, especially eastern red cedar.
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Indicator and representative species: eastern red cedar in the midst of flat outcroppings of limestone, as well as other calcium-loving species as indicated in the plant list below.
What's special: Expanses of exposed limestone are rare in Georgia and so this community contains 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.
Related to: 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 limestone outcroppings.
Learn MORE HERE about plant adaptations to rocky places.
What's special: Expanses of exposed limestone are rare in Georgia and so this community contains 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.
Related to: 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 limestone outcroppings.
Learn MORE HERE about plant adaptations to rocky places.
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Plants Click on a plant name to see images. Plant lists in order of scientific name. Terms such as "rich", "calcareous" and "mafic" are from The Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, here. Trees Common hackberry Celtis occidentalis (usually over calcareous) Dwarf hackberry/Georgia hackberry Celtis tenuifolia (often over calcareous) Redbud Cercis canadensis (esp. over calcareous or mafic) White ash Fraxinus americana (calcareous or mafic in drier soils) Eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana (most abundant over calcareous or mafic) Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata Virginia pine Pinus virginiana Chinquapin oak Quercus muehlenbergii (calcareous or mafic) Post oak Quercus stellata Winged elm Ulmus alata Shrubs and Woody Vines American rattan Berchemia scandens (calcareous) Southern-privet Forestiera ligustrina (calcareous) Carolina buckthorn Frangula caroliniana (esp. over mafic or calcareous) Fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica (usually over mafic or calcareous) Coralberry Symphiocarpos orbiculatus (esp. over mafic or calcareous) Ground Layer Wildflowers Thimbleweed Anemone virginiana (prevalent on circumneutral) Tall coreopsis Coreopsis tripteris (primarily over calcareous or mafic) Purple tassels Dalea gattingeri (limestone) Daisy fleabane Erigeron strigosus Glade St. John's-wort Hypericum dolabriforme (limestone) Least glade cress Leavenworthia exigua (limestone, calcareous) Hoary puccoon Lithospermum canescens (calcareous or mafic) Rattlesnake-master Manfreda virginica (mafic or calcareous) Lime-barren sandwort Minuartia patula (calcareous or mafic) Sundrops Oenothera fruticosa Eastern prickly pear Opuntia humifusa Appalachian ragwort Packera anonyma Nashville breadroot Pediomelum subacaule (limestone) Hairy phlox Phlox amoena Prairie coneflower Ratibita pinnata (mafic/gabbro and calcareous) Lyreleaf sage Salvia lyrata Nettle-leaf sage Salvia urticifolia Great Plains ladies'-tresses Spiranthes magnicamporum (limestone) Eggleston's violet Viola egglestonii (calcareous) 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 |
Representative Trees in order by scientific nameRepresentative shrubsRepresentative wildlflowers in order by scientific name |
