Natural Communities of North Georgia
  • Home
  • Piedmont
    • Piedmont Overview
    • Mesic (Moist) Forests
    • Oak-Pine-Hickory Forests
    • Bottomland/Floodplain Forest
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • Montane Longleaf
    • Prairies and Savannas (Upland)
    • Wet Meadows and Marshes
    • Granite Outcrops
    • Glades, Barrens, and Woodlands
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Cliffs and Bluffs
    • Flatwoods (Upland Depression Swamps)
  • Blue Ridge
    • Blue Ridge Overview
    • Northern Hardwoods
    • Montane Oak Forests
    • Fertile Cove Forests
    • Acidic Cove Forests
    • Oak Forests
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • High Elevation Outcrops
    • Mafic Dome Rock Outcrops
    • Rock Outcrops, Cliffs and Bluffs
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Mountain Bogs
    • Seepage Wetlands
    • Spray Cliffs
    • Montane Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Cumberland Ridge & Valley
    • Cumberland Ridge & Valley Overview
    • Mesic Forests
    • Dry Calcareous Forests
    • Acidic Oak-Pine Forests
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • Montane Longleaf
    • Calcareous (Cedar) Glades
    • Calcareous Cliffs
    • Calcareous Prairies and Barrens
    • Acidic Glades and Barrens
    • Acidic Cliffs and Outcrops
    • Flatwoods
    • Acidic Seepage Wetlands
    • Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Plant Adaptations to Rock Outcrops
  • Plant Adaptations to Deciduous Forests

Piedmont Flatwoods (Upland Depression Swamps)

These flatwoods, often called Iredell flatwoods (based on the soils they form upon), Gabbro glades,  upland depression swamps, and Monticello glades (due to their location near Monticello, GA), form on flat to gently sloping land over gabbro mafic rocks (and perhaps on some shales).  In winter and spring, when rainfall is high, the soils swell to form an impermeable surface, creating a perched wetland.  In summer and fall, the soils shrink and become almost pavement-like.  These extremes of water levels, along with the nutrients and high pH of the mafic soil, support unique plant assemblages of forests interspersed with small openings that support  a variety of wetland and mesophytic plant species. 

Indicator species: Carolina shagbark hickory, red hickory, eastern redbud, green ash, Shumard oak, Oglethorpe oak, saw palmetto, Atamasco lily

What's special:  In the spring,  these sites are beautiful when swathes of Atamasco lilies bloom along with eastern redbud, and flowering dogwood.  Saw palmetto, parsley haw and buckthorn bumelia add Coastal Plain elements, and the rare Oglethorpe oak grows in the flatwoods.

Conservation:  Upland depression wetlands are very rare in the Georgia Piedmont; gabbro is an unusual surface rock.  The unique variety of plant species they support justifies conserving all examples that can be found.  Some ecologists recommend prescribed fire to create more prairies over gabbro rock, which would support further rare species.


​Related communities: Intergrades with Mesic Forests and Bottomland Forests ​

Landscapes
Birds
Plants  
 Click on a plant name to see images. 
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Trees
Red maple Acer rubrum
Musclewood Carpinus caroliniana
Eastern redbud/American hornbeam Cercis canadensis
Carolina shagbark hickory Carya carolinae-septentrionalis
Red hickory Carya ovalis
Flowering dogwood Cornus florida 
White ash  Fraxinus americana
Green ash  Fraxinus pennsylvanica
Eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana
Sweetgum Liquidambar styraciflua
Black gum Nyssa biflora
Overcup  oak Quercus lyrata
Swamp chestnut oak  Quercus michauxii
Water oak Quercus nigra
Oglethorpe oak Quercus oglethorpensis
Cherrybark oak Quercus pagoda
Willow oak Quercus phellos
Shumard oak Quercus shumardii
Winged elm Ulmus alata
Slippery elm Ulmus rubra
   ​
Shrubs
Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis
Fringetree Chionanthus virginicus
Parsley haw Crataegus marshallii
Possumhaw Ilex decidua
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Winterberry Ilex verticillata
Saw palmetto Serenoa repens
Buckthorn bumelia Sideroxylon lycioides

Vines
American rattan Berchemia scandens
Crossvine  Bignonia capreolata
Trumpet creeper Campsis radicans
Carolina jessamine Gelsemium sempervirens
Whiteleaf greenbrier  Smilax glauca
Common greenbrier Smilax rotundifolia
Poison ivy  Toxicodendron radicans

​Ground Layer Forbs
Carolina windflower Anemone caroliniana
Spring beauty Claytonia virginica
Partridgeberry Mitchella repens
False garlic Nothoscordum bivalve
Kidney-leaved grass-of-Parnassus  Parnassia asarifolia
Early meadowrue Thalictrum dioicum
Atamasco lily  Zephyranthes atamasco

Ferns
Christmas fern Polystichum acrostichoides

Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes
River cane  Arundinaria gigantea
Witchgrasses Dichanthelium spp
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Cutgrasses Leersia spp.
Sedges Carex spp.


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​Representative Trees in order by scientific name
Representative Shrubs in order by scientific name.
Representative vines. in order by scientific name.  
Representative wildflowers in order by scientific name,
Representative Ferns, in order by scientific name
Representative Graminoids, in order by scientific name
Picture

​Contents of this site are based on the book The Natural Communities of Georgia, which can be purchased from the University of Georgia Press, Amazon, and other vendors.
​



This site is a work in progress: comments and suggestions are welcome.  Email: ​naturalcommsga@gmail.com

  • Home
  • Piedmont
    • Piedmont Overview
    • Mesic (Moist) Forests
    • Oak-Pine-Hickory Forests
    • Bottomland/Floodplain Forest
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • Montane Longleaf
    • Prairies and Savannas (Upland)
    • Wet Meadows and Marshes
    • Granite Outcrops
    • Glades, Barrens, and Woodlands
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Cliffs and Bluffs
    • Flatwoods (Upland Depression Swamps)
  • Blue Ridge
    • Blue Ridge Overview
    • Northern Hardwoods
    • Montane Oak Forests
    • Fertile Cove Forests
    • Acidic Cove Forests
    • Oak Forests
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • High Elevation Outcrops
    • Mafic Dome Rock Outcrops
    • Rock Outcrops, Cliffs and Bluffs
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Mountain Bogs
    • Seepage Wetlands
    • Spray Cliffs
    • Montane Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Cumberland Ridge & Valley
    • Cumberland Ridge & Valley Overview
    • Mesic Forests
    • Dry Calcareous Forests
    • Acidic Oak-Pine Forests
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • Montane Longleaf
    • Calcareous (Cedar) Glades
    • Calcareous Cliffs
    • Calcareous Prairies and Barrens
    • Acidic Glades and Barrens
    • Acidic Cliffs and Outcrops
    • Flatwoods
    • Acidic Seepage Wetlands
    • Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Plant Adaptations to Rock Outcrops
  • Plant Adaptations to Deciduous Forests