Blue Ridge Seepage Wetlands
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Seepage wetlands develop where water is slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, moving downhill at or near the surface, causing saturated soils. 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. Herbaceous (non-woody) plants dominate, with a few shrubs. Trees tend to root around, rather than in, the seepage.
Indicator species: jewelweed, cinnamon fern, royal fern, cut-leaf coneflower, sensitive fern, and bead fern. What's special: add diversity to the landscape by encouraging a new suite of plant species, which in turn attract a diversity of fauna. Seepages are important amphibian habitat. Related communities: Often embedded within and intergrade with bottomlands and cliffs and rock outcrops. |
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Click on a plant name to see many images of each plant from comprehensive regional websites. The plant names are in alphabetical order by scientific name.
Shrubs Tag alder Alnus serrulata Silky dogwood/Swamp dogwood Cornus amomum Virginia willow Itea virginica Common elderberry Sambucus canadensis American snowbell Styrax americanus Southern wild raisin Viburnum nudum Ground Layer Wildflowers Eastern blue monkshead Aconitum uncinatum Common groundnut Apios americana False-nettle Boehmeria cylindrica Roundleaf sundew Drosera rotundifolia Eastern blue monkshead Aconitum uncinatum Jack-in-the-pulpit Arisaema triphyllum White turtlehead Chelone glabra Water hemlock Cicuta maculata Umbrella-leaf Diphylleia cymosa Roundleaf sundew Drosera rotundifolia Hollow-stem Joe-pye-weed Eutrochium fistulosum Soapwort gentian Gentiana saponaria Thyme-leaf bluet Houstonia serpyllifolia Orange jewelweed Impatiens capensis Yellow jewelweed Impatiens pallida Turk's-cap lily Lilium superbum Cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis Virginia bugleweed Lycopus virginicus Branch lettuce Micranthes micranthidifolia Winged monkeyflower Mimulus alatus Allegheny monkeyflower Mimulus ringens Bee-balm Monarda didyma Cowbane Oxypolis rigidior Golden ragwort Packera aurea Kidney-leaved grass-of-Parnassus Parnassia asarifolia Cutleaf coneflower Rudbeckia laciniata Small green woodland orchid Platanthera clavellata Lizard's-tail Saururus cernuus Roughleaf goldenrod Solidago patula Oval ladies'-tresses Spiranthes ovalis Purple swamp aster Symphyotrichum puniceum Lady-rue Thalictrum clavatum Foamflower Tiarella cordifolia Tassel-rue Trautvetteria caroliniensis White-hellebore Veratrum viride 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 |
Representative ShrubsRepresentative Ground Layer |
