Piedmont Seepage Wetlands
Seepage wetlands develop where water is slowly, sometimes imperceptably, moving downhill at or near the surface, causing saturated soil conditions. Seepage occurs at streamheads, in channels within floodplains, on stream edges, at the base of slopes, and in rocky areas where joints in the rock channel water to the surface.
Common indicators of seepage include orange jewelweed, cinnamon fern, royal fern, cut-leaf coneflower, sensitive fern, and bead fern. Herbaceous (non-woody) plants dominate, with a few shrubs. Trees tend to root around, rather than in, the seepage.
What's special: seepage wetlands add diversity to the landscape by encouraging a new suite of plant species in the landscape, which in turn attract a biodiversity of fauna. They are also important amphibian habitat.
Related communities: Seepages are often embedded within and intergrade with several other communities, including bottomlands, floodplains, cliff faces, rock outcrops, and beaver ponds. Photo by Jay Pakchar.
Photos by Jay Pakchar or Hugh & Carol Nourse. Click to expand images
Common indicators of seepage include orange jewelweed, cinnamon fern, royal fern, cut-leaf coneflower, sensitive fern, and bead fern. Herbaceous (non-woody) plants dominate, with a few shrubs. Trees tend to root around, rather than in, the seepage.
What's special: seepage wetlands add diversity to the landscape by encouraging a new suite of plant species in the landscape, which in turn attract a biodiversity of fauna. They are also important amphibian habitat.
Related communities: Seepages are often embedded within and intergrade with several other communities, including bottomlands, floodplains, cliff faces, rock outcrops, and beaver ponds. Photo by Jay Pakchar.
Photos by Jay Pakchar 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. The plant names are in alphabetical order by scientific name.
Trees Red Maple Acer rubrum Sweet gum Liquidambar styraciflua Tulip-tree/Tulip poplar Liriodendron tulipifera Shrubs and Woody Vines Tag alder Alnus serrulata Silky dogwood/Swamp dogwood Cornus amomum Possum-haw Ilex decidua Winterberry Ilex verticillata Virginia willow Itea virginica Common elderberry Sambucus canadensis American snowbell Styrax americanus Southern wild raisin Viburnum nudum Ground Layer Wildflowers Common groundnut Apios americana False-nettle Boehmeria cylindrica White turtlehead Chelone glabra Water hemlock Cicuta maculata Roundleaf sundew Drosera rotundifolia Hollow-stem Joe-pye-weed Eutrochium fistulosum Soapwort gentian Gentiana saponaria Orange jewelweed Impatiens capensis Cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis Virginia bugleweed Lycopus virginicus Cowbane Oxypolis rigidior Golden ragwort Packera aurea Kidney-leaved grass-of-Parnassus Parnassia asarifolia Small green woodland orchid Platanthera clavellata Cutleaf coneflower Rudbeckia laciniata Lizard's-tail Saururus cernuus Purple swamp aster Symphyotrichum puniceum Foamflower Tiarella cordifolia Tassel-rue Trautvetteria caroliniensis Blue marsh violet Viola cucullata Ferns Sensitive fern/Bead fern Onoclea sensibilis Royal fern Osmunda spectabilis Cinnamon fern Osmundastrum cinnamomeum New York fern Thelypteris noveboracensis Netted chain fern Lorinseria areolata/Woodwardia areolata |
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