Cumberland/Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forests
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These forests grow over dry to somewhat dry soils, and include both calcareous and sub-calcareous conditions on valley floors or lower slopes. Rocky outcroppings appear occasionally.
Indicator species: calcium-loving species, such as Chinquapin oak, Shumard oak, chalk maple, eastern red cedar, redbud, Carolina buckthorn, coralberry, fragrant sumac, white ash, and redbud, What's special: In Georgia, these expanses of calcareous forests and the species that grow on them are unusual. The plant communities here are very different from the somewhat acidic oak-pine-hickory communities that are far more common in Georgia. Related communities: Can grade into calcareous (cedar glades) in rocky openings. |
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Plants
Click on the plant names below for images. Plants are listed in alphabetical order by scientific name. Trees Chalk maple Acer leucoderme Carolina shagbark hickory Carya carolinae-septrionalis Pignut hickory Carya glabra Mockernut hickory Carya tomentosa Dwarf hackberry/Georgia hackberry Celtis tenuifolia Redbud Cercis canadensis White ash Fraxinus americana (calcareous if dry site) Eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana White oak Quercus alba Blackjack oak Quercus marilandica Chinquapin oak Quercus muehlenbergii (calcareous or mafic rocks) Shumard oak Quercus shumardii (needs calcium for dry sites) Post oak Quercus stellata Winged elm Ulmus alata American elm Ulmus americana Slippery elm Ulmus rubra (calcareous and/or rich forests) Shrubs Supplejack/American rattan Berchemia scandens Southern privet Forestiera ligustrina Carolina buckthorn Frangula caroliniana Alabama snow-wreath Neviusia alabamensis Wafer-ash Ptelea trifoliata Fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica Buckthorn bumelia Sideroxylon lyciodes Coralberry Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Southern black haw Viburnum rufidulum Ground Layer Thimbleweed Anemone virginiana Common smooth rockcress Boechera laevigata Northern leatherflower Clematis viorna Dwarf larkspur Delphinium tricorne Crested iris Iris cristata Hoary puccoon Lithospermum canescens Solomon's plume Maianthemum racemosum Solomon's seal - Polygonatum biflorum Nettle-leaf sage - Salvia urticifolia Black snakeroot - Sanicula canadensis Indian pink Spigelia marilandica Nettleleaf noseburn Tragia urticifolia |
Representative TreesRepresentative ShrubsRepresentative ground layer |
