Natural Communities of Georgia
  • Home
  • Piedmont
    • Piedmont Overview
    • Mesic (Moist) Forests
    • Oak-Pine-Hickory Forests
    • Bottomland/Floodplain Forest
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands and Edges
    • Montane Longleaf
    • Prairies and Savannas (Upland)
    • Wet Meadows and Thickets, Marshes, Seepage
    • Granite Outcrops
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Cliffs and Bluffs
    • Glades, Barrens, and Woodlands
  • Blue Ridge
    • Blue Ridge Overview
    • Northern Hardwoods
    • Montane Oak Forests
    • Mesic (Cove) Forests
    • Oak Forests
    • Montane Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • High Elevation Outcrops
    • Mafic domes
    • Acidic lower elevation cliffs and outcops
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Mountain Bogs
    • Seepage Wetlands
    • Spray Cliffs
    • Montane Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Cumberland /Ridge & Valley
    • Overview of Cumberland /Ridge & Valley
    • 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
    • Acidic Seepage Wetlands
    • Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Plant Adaptations to Deciduous Forests
  • Plant Adaptations to Rock Outcrops
  • Common Rocks of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge

Blue Ridge Mid to Lower Slope Oak (Hardwood) Forests grow on a range of sites below 3,500 feet, from very dry  to nearly mesic.  Oaks, such as rock chestnut oak, white oak, southern red oak, northern red oak, and scarlet oak, are usually important, so these forests are known as oak forests, but on some sites white pine, hickories, red maple, tulip-tree, sourwood and black gum may as or more abundant than the oaks.  

What's special:  These are the "matrix" forests of the ecoregion: they blanket large areas of land, 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: Grades into mesic forests as sites get drier. Grades into Montane Oak at higher elevations.
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Plants
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Click on a plant name to see  images.  Plants are listed in order by scientific name.
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Trees
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
Whorled wild yam  Dioscorea quaternata 
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 

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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
Trailing arbutus  Epigaea repens (a sub-shrub) 
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
Solomon's plume  Maianthemum racemosum
Indian cucumber root  Medeola virginiana 

Indian pipes  Monotropa uniflora
Carolina phlox Phlox carolina
Solomon's seal  Polygonatum biflorum 

Catesby's trillium  Trillium catesbaei  
Perfoliate bellwort  Uvularia perfoliata

Ferns
Hay-scented fern  Dennstaedtia punctilobula
Christmas fern  Polystichum acrosticoides 
New York fern  Thelypteris noveboracensis  

Representative Trees, in order by scientific name.

Representative Shrubs in order by scientific name.

Representative Wildflowers 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.
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This site is a work in progress: comments and suggestions for useful information you'd like to see included are welcome.  Email: naturalcommsga@gmail.com

  • Home
  • Piedmont
    • Piedmont Overview
    • Mesic (Moist) Forests
    • Oak-Pine-Hickory Forests
    • Bottomland/Floodplain Forest
    • Pine-Oak Woodlands and Edges
    • Montane Longleaf
    • Prairies and Savannas (Upland)
    • Wet Meadows and Thickets, Marshes, Seepage
    • Granite Outcrops
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Cliffs and Bluffs
    • Glades, Barrens, and Woodlands
  • Blue Ridge
    • Blue Ridge Overview
    • Northern Hardwoods
    • Montane Oak Forests
    • Mesic (Cove) Forests
    • Oak Forests
    • Montane Pine-Oak Woodlands
    • High Elevation Outcrops
    • Mafic domes
    • Acidic lower elevation cliffs and outcops
    • Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
    • Mountain Bogs
    • Seepage Wetlands
    • Spray Cliffs
    • Montane Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Cumberland /Ridge & Valley
    • Overview of Cumberland /Ridge & Valley
    • 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
    • Acidic Seepage Wetlands
    • Bottomlands and Flooplains
  • Plant Adaptations to Deciduous Forests
  • Plant Adaptations to Rock Outcrops
  • Common Rocks of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge