Blue Ridge Spray Cliffs
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Spray cliffs are wetlands that occur behind and next to waterfalls, on cliffs and rocks kept moist by the spray.
What's special: Waterfall habitats are beautiful, due to the sights, sounds, and feel of the flowing, crashing waters and their spray. In addition, some waterfall habitats harbor rare bryphytes that remain here, protected by the humid conditions, dating from times when the climate was both warmer and cooler, and provide habitat for amphibians. In the past, overhanging hemlocks added a soft, evergreen element, but the trees are declining due to the non-native woolly adelgid. Related communities: Usually acidic cove forests will border waterfalls and will interfinger with this community. Many of the plants in spray cliffs are also found in Seepage Wetlands due to the seepage here. |
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Click on the highlighted plant names below for detailed images from regional websites. Click on the thumbnails on the right to scroll through photos of representative plants.
Trees Red maple Acer rubrum Black birch Betula lenta Eastern hemlock Tsuga canadensis Shrubs and Woody Vines Tag alder Alnus serrulata Mountain sweet pepper-bush Clethra acuminata Climbing hydrangea Decumaria barbara Witch-hazel Hamamelis virginiana Smooth hydrangea Hydrangea arborescens Mountain doghobble Leucothoe fontanesiana Great laurel/lRosebay rhododendron Rhododendron maximum Ground layer Wildflowers Jack-in-the-pulpit Arisaema triphyllum Brook saxifrage Boykinia aconitifolia White turtlehead Chelone glabra Umbrella leaf Diphylleia cymosa Hollow-stem Joe-pye-weed Eutrochium fistulosum Galax Galax urceolata Small-flower alumroot Heuchera parviflora Hairy alumroot Heuchera villosa Thyme-leaf bluet Houstonia serpyllifolia Cliff saxifrage Hydatica petiolaris Orange jewelweed Impatiens capensis Great blue lobelia Lobelia siphilitica Virginia bugleweed Lycopus virginicus Micranthes virginiensis Early saxifrage Cowbane Oxypolis rigidior Kidney-leaved grass-of-Parnassus Parnassus asarifolia Lady-rue Thalictrum clavatum Foamflower Tiarella cordifolia Tassel-rue Trautvetteria caroliniensis Sweet white violet Viola blanda Yellowroot Xanthorhiza simplicissima (sub-shrub) Ferns and Fern Alllies New York fern Parathelypteris novaboracensis Meadow spikemoss Lycopodiodes apodum Mosses Delicate fern moss Thuidium delicatulum |
Representative shrubs
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