Piedmont Ultramafic Barrens and Woodlands:
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Ultramafic woodlands and barrens are extremely rare natural communities in Georgia. Also known as Serpentine Woodlands, these communities are a mosaic of barrens, glades, and woodlands that grow over ultramafic rocks, such as dunite, soapstone and serpentine. These rocks are very high in iron and magnesium, which inhibit the growth of some plants, and may also contain levels of chromium and nickle that are toxic to some plants. The rocks weather to shallow soils that erode easily, and drain quickly, creating dry conditions.
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What's special: The highly unusual environmental conditions caused by ultramafic rocks result in a unique assemblage of plants that can tolerate the challenging habitat. Rare species grow here because they cannot compete with plants in more common conditions, but can tolerate these difficult ones. This habitat is known to be very well developed in one site in the Georgia Piedmont, Burke's Mountain, which is not open to the public. However, other outcroppings, such as Soapstone Mountain, while not having well developed, classic serpentine communities, have similar thin soils and base-loving plants.
Related communities: This natural community is similar to the Glades, Barrens, and Woodlands natural community, and shares a number of plants in common with mafic versions of that community.
Learn MORE HERE about plant adaptations to rocky places.
Learn MORE HERE about Piedmont rock types and their affect on plants.
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Plants Click on the plant names to see images. Plants are in order by scientific name. Trees Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata Longleaf pine Pinus palustris Loblolly pine Pinus taeda Prunus serotina Black cherry Blackjack oak Quercus marilandica Post oak Quercus stellata Shrubs and Woody Vines American beautyberry Callicarpa americana Georgia calamint Clinopdium georgiana Carolina jessamine Gelsemium sempervirens Wax myrtle Morella cerifera Fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica Winged sumac Rhus copallinum Carolina rose Rosa carolina Sand blackberry Rubus cuneifolius Ground Layer Wildflowers Cuthbert's onion Allium cuthbertii Asclepias viridiflora Green milkweed Thick-pod white wild indigo Baptisia alba Creamy wild indigo Baptisia bracteata Spurred butterfly pea Centrosema virginianum Curlyheads Clematis ochroleuca Butterfly pea Clitoria mariana Common rough fleabane Erigeron strigosus Pineweed Hypericum gentianoides Velvety lespedeza Lespedeza stuevei Dense blazing star Liatris spicata Blazing-star Liatris virgata Pineland Barbara's-buttons Marshallia racemosa False garlic Nothoscordum bivalve Yellow whitlow-wort Paronychia virginica Dixie Mountain breadroot Pediomelum piedmontanum Appalachian rock-pink Phemeranthus teretifolius Silkgrass Pityopsis aspera var. adenolepis Licorice goldenrod/Fragrant goldenrod Solidago odora Pencil-flower Stylosanthes biflora Stemless ironweed Vernonia acaulis Grasses Splitbeard bluestem Andropogon ternarius Big bluestem Andropogon gerardii Side-oats grama Bouteloua curtipendula Bigtop lovegrass Eragrostis hirsuta Little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Yellow Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans Rough dropseed Sporobolus clandestinus Sandhills/Piney woods dropseed Sporobolus junceus Purpletop/Greasy grass Tridens flavus Ferns Bracken fern Pteridium latiusculum |
Representative Trees in order by scientific name Representative Shrubs and Vines in order by scientific nameRepresentative Wildflowers and Ferns in order by scientific nameGrasses in order by scientific name
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