Blue Ridge Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands
This natural community is a mosaic of barrens, glades, and woodlands that is identified by outcroppings of dark, heavy, ultramafic rock, such as dunite, soapstone and serpentine. These rocks are very high in iron and magnesium, which inhibits the growth of some plants, and also may contain levels of copper and nickle that are toxic to some plants. Soils are shallow, and very quick draining, leading to droughty conditions.
Indicator species: pitch pine, ninebark, whorled milkweed, teaberry, nettle leaf sage.
What's special: These difficult conditions result in a unique assemblage of plants that can tolerate the habitat. As a result, many rare species grow here that occur nowhere else, because they cannot compete with plants in more common conditions.
Related communities: This community can grade into nearly Pine-Oak Woodlands or Oak forest. It shares many species in common with Mafic Domes and Acidic Cliffs.
Photo by Hugh and Carol Nourse
Photos by Richard and Teresa Ware. Click to expand images
Indicator species: pitch pine, ninebark, whorled milkweed, teaberry, nettle leaf sage.
What's special: These difficult conditions result in a unique assemblage of plants that can tolerate the habitat. As a result, many rare species grow here that occur nowhere else, because they cannot compete with plants in more common conditions.
Related communities: This community can grade into nearly Pine-Oak Woodlands or Oak forest. It shares many species in common with Mafic Domes and Acidic Cliffs.
Photo by Hugh and Carol Nourse
Photos by Richard and Teresa Ware. Click to expand images
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Click on a plant name to see many detailed images from comprehensive regional websites. Plant names are in alphabetical order by scientific name.
Trees Red maple Acer rubrum Black birch Betula lenta Mockernut hickory Carya tomentosa Black gum Nyssa sylvatica Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata Pitch pine Pinus rigida White pine Pinus strobus Virginia pine Pinus virginiana Post oak Quercus stellata Scarlet oak Quercus coccinea Southern red oak Quercus falcata Shrubs and Woody Vines Common New Jersey tea Ceanothus americanus Eastern ninebark Physocarpus opulifolius Hillside blueberry Vaccinium pallidum Deerberry Vaccinium stamineum Ground Layer Wildflowers Nodding onion Allium cernuum Whorled milkweed Asclepias verticillata Southern harebell Campanula divaricata Woodland coreopsis Coreopsis major Common rough fleabane Erigeron strigosus Rattlesnake-master Eryngium yuccifolium Teaberry Gaultheria procumbens Small-headed sunflower Helianthus microcephalus Veiny hawkweed Hieracium venosum Yellow stargrass Hypoxis hirsuta Blazing star Liatris spicata Blazing star Liatris squarrulosa Common wild quinine Parthenium integrifolium Nettle-leaf sage Salvia urticifolia Licorice goldenrod Solidago odora Skunk meadow-rue Thalictrum revolutum Graminoids Big bluestem Andropogon gerardii Poverty oat-grass Danthonia spicata Common little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Yellow Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans Ferns and Fern Allies Royal fern Osmunda spectabilis Eastern bracken fern Pteridium aquilinum |
Ground layer in order by color |
