Piedmont Mesic Forests
Mesic forests are lush, moist forests that grow in cooler, shaded sites, such as low down on steep north facing slopes and on terraces by streams beyond the active floodplain. Most mesic forests are "rich" with organic material and soil nutrients because these forests develop in areas where they can collect. Forests with mafic bedrock can have very fertile soils that include a lot of calcium and magnesium.
What's special: These forests often have stunning wildflower displays in the springtime before the trees leaf out. The moisture and nutrients allow a wide diversity of plants to grow, and also foster a rich animal life on the forest floor.
How to recognize: usually these forests host a number of mature American beech trees, shown at left, which are easily recognized by their smooth white bark and, in winter, by the brown leaves that remain on their trees.
Indicator trees: American beech, tulip-tree, magnolias, northern red oak, basswood, silverbell, musclewood, and southern sugar maple.
Related Communities: These sites often grade into the Piedmont Bottomlands, Floodplains and Riparian Zones near streams and rivers. They will grade into Piedmont Oak-Pine-Hickory Forests as you move uphill into drier sites.
Photos by Jay Pakchar, Richard & Teresa Ware, or Hugh & Carol Nourse. Click to expand images
What's special: These forests often have stunning wildflower displays in the springtime before the trees leaf out. The moisture and nutrients allow a wide diversity of plants to grow, and also foster a rich animal life on the forest floor.
How to recognize: usually these forests host a number of mature American beech trees, shown at left, which are easily recognized by their smooth white bark and, in winter, by the brown leaves that remain on their trees.
Indicator trees: American beech, tulip-tree, magnolias, northern red oak, basswood, silverbell, musclewood, and southern sugar maple.
Related Communities: These sites often grade into the Piedmont Bottomlands, Floodplains and Riparian Zones near streams and rivers. They will grade into Piedmont Oak-Pine-Hickory Forests as you move uphill into drier sites.
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.
Soil/bedrock nutrient traits, such as "rich", "basic", "calcareous" and "mafic" are shown in parentheses for the species where that information is provided in The Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, here. Trees Southern sugar maple Acer floridanum (especially but not limited to calcareous and mafic soils) Musclewood/American hornbeam Carpinus caroliniana Bitternut hickory Carya cordiformis (especially in rich soils) American beech Fagus grandifolia var. carolina White ash Fraxinus americana (rich soils, and in calcareous or mafic soils on dry sites) Common silverbell Halesia tetraptera Tulip-tree Liriodendron tulipifera Cucumber magnolia Magnolia acuminata (especially but by no means strictly over mafic or calcareous rock Fraser magnolia Magnolia fraseri Bigleaf magnolia Magnolia macrophylla (especially over calcareous and mafic soils) Umbrella magnolia Magnolia tripetala Red mulberry Morus rubra Ironwood/ American hop-hornbeam Ostrya virginiana (especially over basic bedrock) Northern red oak Quercus rubra White basswood Tilia americana var. heterophylla (rich soils) Shrubs Painted buckeye Aesculus sylvatica (nutrient-rich forests) Common pawpaw Asimina triloba (nutrient-rich forests) Strawberry bush Euonymus americana Smooth hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens Mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia (Acidic forests) Doghobble Leucothoe fontanesiana Northern spicebush Lindera benzoin (slopes with circumneutral soils) Piedmont azalea Rhododendron canescens Ground Layer Wildflowers Dolls'-eyes Actaea pachypoda (rich forests) Black cohosh Actaea racemosa (rich to very fertile forests) Sharp lobed hepatica Anemone acutiloba Round lobed hepatica Anemone americana Jack-in-the-pulpit Arisaema triphyllum Common wild ginger Asarum canadense (rich, circumneutral soils) Cutleaf toothwort Cardamine concatenata (rich forests) Broadleaf toothwort Cardamine diphylla (rich forests) Blue cohosh Caulophyllum thalictroides (rich forests) Devil's-bit Chamaelirium luteum Northern horsebalm Collinsonia canadensis (rich forests, especially over mafic or calcareous bedrock) Yellow lady's-slipper Cypripedium parviflorum Harbinger-of-spring Erigenia bulbosa Dimpled trout lily Erythronium umbilicatum White avens Geum canadense Wild geranium Geranium maculatum Summer bluet Houstonia purpurea Goldenseal Hydrastis canadensis (very nutrient rich soils over mafic or calcareous rock) Crested iris - Iris cristata (rich forests) Hairy sweet cicely Osmorhiza claytonii (fertile forests) Smooth sweet cicely Osmorhiza longistylis (fertile forests) Ginseng Panax quinquefolius (nutrient rich forests though tending to avoid richest coves) Blue phlox Phlox divaricata (circumneutral soils) May-apple Podophyllum peltatum (rich forests) Bloodroot Sanguinaria canadensis (nutrient-rich forests) Axillary goldenrod Solidago caesia Star chickweed Stellaria pubera Rue anemone Thalictrum thalictroides Foamflower Tiarella wherryi Catesby's trillium Trillium catesbaei Sweet Betsy/Toadshade trillium Trillium cuneatum (rich forests, usually over mafic or calcareous rocks) Nodding trillium - Trillium rugelii (rich forests, usually over mafic or calcareous rocks) Halberd-leaf violet Viola hastata (often acidic coves) Ferns Northern maidenhair fern Adiantum pedatum (especially over mafic or calcareous rocks) Rattlesnake fern Botrypus virginianus (especially on nutrient-rich slopes) Silvery glade fern Homalosorus pycnocarpon (very nutrient-rich forests over mafic or calcareous rock) Broad beech fern Phegopteris hexagonoptera Southern lady fern Athyrium asplenioides |
Ground Layer (in order by color) |
