Blue Ridge Pine-Oak Woodlands
Woodlands are sunnier than forests: gaps in the canopy that let roughly 20- 80% of all sunlight in to the forest floor. Pines and dry-site oaks dominate. Usually the shrub layer is sparse, allowing a lush ground cover to develop. Woodlands often grow on sites that are too dry to support a closed canopy, such as on sharp ridges or south-facing slopes with stony, thin soils. They also grow on moister sites where fire keeps the site open and as a mid successional phase as vegetation begins growing back after a site was cleared.
Indicator species: Virginia pine, Table Mountain pine, shortleaf pine, rock chestnut oak
What's special: The combination of trees and, often, the lush ground cover allowed by the sunlight reaching the forest floor creates many different habitats for wildlife, adding plant and animal diversity to the landscape.
Related Communities: As the tree cover gets more dense, this community grades into Oak Forest. An abundance of white ash, eastern red cedar, and hickories would indicate that there is mafic rock present, and the community is most likely the "Mafic Dome and Woodlands" community.
photo by Hugh and Carol Nourse
All photos below by Richard & Teresa Ware or Jay Pakchar. Click to expand images
Indicator species: Virginia pine, Table Mountain pine, shortleaf pine, rock chestnut oak
What's special: The combination of trees and, often, the lush ground cover allowed by the sunlight reaching the forest floor creates many different habitats for wildlife, adding plant and animal diversity to the landscape.
Related Communities: As the tree cover gets more dense, this community grades into Oak Forest. An abundance of white ash, eastern red cedar, and hickories would indicate that there is mafic rock present, and the community is most likely the "Mafic Dome and Woodlands" community.
photo by Hugh and Carol Nourse
All photos below by Richard & Teresa Ware or Jay Pakchar. Click to expand images
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Click on a plant name to see many detailed plant images from comprehensive regional websites. Plant names are in alphabetical order by scientific name.
Trees Pale hickory Carya pallida Sourwood Oxydendron arboreum Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata Table Mountain pine Pinus pungens Pitch pine Pinus rigida White pine Pinus strobus Virginia pine Pinus virginiana Scarlet oak Quercus coccinea Southern red oak Quercus falcata Blackjack oak Quercus marilandica Rock chestnut oak Quercus montana Post oak Quercus stellata Black oak Quercus velutina Shrubs and Woody Vines Common New Jersey tea Ceanothus americanus Black huckleberry Gaylussacia baccata Mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia Gorge rhododendron Rhododendron minus Great rhododendron Rhododendron maximum Winged sumac Rhus copallinum Horse sugar Symplocos tinctoria Sparkleberry Vaccinium arboreum (unlike most Vaccinium, often on mafic, ultramafic, or calcareous rocks) Hillside blueberry Vaccinium pallidum Deerberry Vaccinium stamineum (unlike most Vaccinium, often on mafic, ultramafic, or calcareous rocks) Ground Layer Wildflowers Purple gerardia Agalinis purpurea Slender gerardia Agalinis tenuifolia Hemp dogbane Apocynum cannabinum Butterfly weed Asclepias tuberosa White milkweed Asclepias variegata Honesty weed Baptisia tinctoria Spurred butterfly pea Centrosema virginianum Maryland golden-aster Chrysopsis mariana Butterfly pea Clitoria mariana Erect dayflower Commelina erecta Woodland coreopsis Coreopsis major Trailing arbutus Epigaea repens (a sub-shrub) Hyssopleaf eupatorium Eupatorium hyssopifolium Late flowering boneset/thoroughwort Eupatorium serotinum Eastern flowering spurge Euphorbia corollata Appalachian sunflower Helianthus atrorubens Small-headed sunflower Helianthus microcephalus Quaker ladies Houstonia caerulea Veiny hawkweed Hieracium venosum Yellow stargrass Hypoxis hirsuta Upland dwarf iris Iris verna Hairy lespedeza Lespedeza hirta Downy trailing lespedeza Lespedeza procumbens Smooth trailing lespedeza Lespedeza repens Dense blazing star Liatris spicata Blazing star Liatris squarrosa Carolina lily Lilium michauxii Downy lobelia Lobelia puberula Eastern sensitive briar Mimosa microphylla Common wild quinine Parthenium integrifolium Maypop Passiflora incarnata Silkgrass Pityopsis graminifolia Fragrant rabbit tobacco Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta Fire pink Silene virginica Rosinweed Silphium compositum Hedge nettle Solanum carolinense Tall goldenrod Solidago altissima Eastern gray goldenrod Solidago nemoralus Licorice goldenrod/Fragrant goldenrod Solidago odora Eastern silvery aster Symphyotrichum concolor Common clasping aster Symphyotrichum patens Frost aster Symphiotrichum pilosum Pencil-flower Stylosanthes biflora Virginia goat's-rue Tephrosia virginiana Hairy spiderwort Tradescantia hirsuticaulis Blue curls Trichostema dichotomum Bird's-foot violet Viola pedata Grasses Splitbeard bluestem Andropogon ternarius Bushy bluestem Andropogon gerardii Poverty oat-grass Danthonia spicata Silky oat-grass Danthonia sericea Bigtop lovegrass Eragrostis hirsuta Eastern beard grass Gymnopogon ambifuus Eastern needlegrass Piptochaetium avenaceum Little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Yellow Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans Purpletop/Greasy grass Tridens flavus Ferns Bracken fern Pteridium latiusculum |
Ground layer (by color) |
