Blue Ridge Mid to Lower Slope Oak (Hardwood) Forests
These forests grow on a range of sites below 3,500 feet, from very dry to nearly mesic, in all places that are too dry for mesic forests.
Indicator species: Oaks, such as rock chestnut oak, white oak, southern red oak, northern red oak, and scarlet oak, are usually important, but on some sites but white pine, hickories, red maple, sourwood and black gum may may be as abundant.
What's special: These are the "matrix" forests of Georgia's Appalachian Mountains: they blanket large areas of land, as shown in the photo at left, and so harbor the classic plants and animals of the Georgia Blue Ridge. These are the forests we see the most, and get to know best, in the Georgia mountains.
Related communities: These communities grade into mesic forests as sites get drier, and many stands in Georgia straddle the two natural communities. This community grades into Montane Oak at higher elevations.
photo by Jay Pakchar
All photos by Richard & Teresa Ware or Jay Pakchar. Click to expand images
Indicator species: Oaks, such as rock chestnut oak, white oak, southern red oak, northern red oak, and scarlet oak, are usually important, but on some sites but white pine, hickories, red maple, sourwood and black gum may may be as abundant.
What's special: These are the "matrix" forests of Georgia's Appalachian Mountains: they blanket large areas of land, as shown in the photo at left, and so harbor the classic plants and animals of the Georgia Blue Ridge. These are the forests we see the most, and get to know best, in the Georgia mountains.
Related communities: These communities grade into mesic forests as sites get drier, and many stands in Georgia straddle the two natural communities. This community grades into Montane Oak at higher elevations.
photo by Jay Pakchar
All photos by Richard & Teresa Ware or Jay Pakchar. 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 Eastern red maple Acer rubrum Black (sweet) birch Betula lenta Mockernut hickory Carya tomentosa Pignut hickory Carya glabra American chestnut (sprouts) Castanea dentata Flowering dogwood Cornus florida Tulip-tree Liriodendron tulipifera Fraser magnolia Magnolia fraseri Black gum Nyssa sylvatica Sourwood Oxydendrum arboreum White pine Pinus strobus White oak Quercus alba Scarlet oak Quercus coccinea Rock chestnut oak Quercus montana Northern red oak Quercus rubra Black locust Robinia pseudoacacia Shrubs and Vines Sweet shrub Calycanthus floridus Strawberry-bush Euonymus americanus Black huckleberry Gaylussacia baccata Bear huckleberry Gaylussacia ursina Mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia Buffalo-nut Pyrularia pubera Flame azalea Rhododendron calendulaceum Great rhododendron Rhododendron maximum Gorge rhododendron Rhododendron minus Hillside blueberry Vaccinium pallidum Deerberry Vaccinium stamineum Ground Layer Wildflowers Southern harebell Campanula divaricata Pipsissewa Chimaphila maculata (a sub-shrub) Green-and-gold Chrysogonum virginianum Speckled wood-lily Clintonia umbellulata Pink lady's-slipper Cypripedium acaule Whorled wild yam Dioscorea quaternata Trailing arbutus Epigaea repens (a sub-shrub) Common white heart-leaved aster Eurybia divaricata Galax Galax urceolata Downy rattlesnake-orchid Goodyera pubescens Quaker ladies Houstonia caerulea Summer bluet Houstonia purpurea Naked tick trefoil Hylodesmum nudiflorum Whorled loosestrife Lysimachia quadrifolia Carolina phlox Phlox carolina Small Solomon's seal Polygonatum biflorum Eastern Solomon's plume Maianthemum racemosum Indian cucumber root Medeola virginiana Catesby's trillium Trillium catesbaei Perfoliate bellwort Uvularia perfoliata Ferns Hay-scented fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula Christmas fern Polystichum acrosticoides New York fern Thelypteris noveboracensis |
Ground layer (in order by color) |
