Natural Communities of Virginia - Terrestrial System - Low-Elevation Dry and Dry - Mesic Forests and Woodlands: Montane Dry Calcareous Forest and Woodlands

The Natural Communities of Virginia
Classification of Ecological Community Groups
SECOND APPROXIMATION (Version 2.2)

Montane Dry Calcareous Forest and Woodlands
These deciduous or occasionally mixed forests and woodlands occur on subxeric, fertile habitats over carbonate formations of limestone or dolomite. Habitats are steep, usually rocky, south- to west-facing slopes at elevations from < 300 to 900 m (< 1,000 to 2,900 ft). Soils vary from circumneutral to moderately alkaline and have high calcium levels. Confined in Virginia to the mountains, these communities are most frequent and extensive in the Ridge and Valley, but occur locally in both the Blue Ridge and Cumberland Mountains. Tree canopies vary from nearly closed to sparse and woodland-like. Overstory mixtures of chinkapin oak (Quercus muhlenbergii), sugar maple (Acer saccharum var. saccharum), black maple (Acer nigrum), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), white oak (Quercus alba), Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii), white ash (Fraxinus americana) and blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), extreme southwest Virginia only) are typical. These forests and woodlands share many understory and herbaceous plants with the Piedmont / Mountain Basic Woodlands group and are similarly species-rich. A few of the taxa that are confined to or most important in the limestone and dolomite communities include Carolina buckthorn (Frangula caroliniana), round-leaved ragwort (Packera obovata, = Senecio obovatus), robin's-plantain (Erigeron pulchellus var. pulchellus), American beakgrain (Diarrhena americana), slender muhly (Muhlenbergia tenuiflora), black-fruited mountain ricegrass (Piptatherum racemosum = Oryzopsis racemosa), purple sedge (Carex purpurifera , in extreme southwestern Virginia only), stiff-haired sunflower (Helianthus hirsutus), small-headed sunflower (Helianthus microcephalus), northern leatherflower (Clematis viorna), common eastern shooting-star (Dodecatheon meadia ssp. meadia), hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canescens), and mountain death-camas (Zigadenus elegans ssp. glaucus).

Considerable compositional variation is evident in these communities across western Virginia. A rare and distinctive community type in this group, confined to the largely dolomitic Elbrook formation in the southwestern Ridge and Valley, features an abundance of the magnesiophiles prairie ragwort (Packera plattensis = Senecio plattensis), glade wild quinine (Parthenium auriculatum), and tall larkspur (Delphinium exaltatum), as well as populations of the federally listed smooth coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) and the globally rare, Virginia endemic Addison's leatherflower (Clematis addisonii).

References: Fleming (1999), Fleming and Coulling (2001), Rawinski et al . (1996).

Click on the images below to open a larger image in a separate window.

	A dry, rocky, open forest of oaks (Quercus spp.), white ash (Fraxinus americana), and eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana) at the top of a limestone bluff along the Shenandoah River in Clarke County. Photo: Gary P. Fleming.
	A dry, forb-rich calcareous woodland of chinkapin oak (Quercus muhlenbergii), Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii), and eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana var. virginiana) in the northern Shenandoah Valley (Frederick County). Downy woodmint (Blephilia ciliata) and nettle-leaf sage (Salvia urticifolia) are blooming in foreground. Photo: Gary P. Fleming.
	Glade wild quinine (Parthenium auriculatum) and hoary puccoon (Lithospermum canescens , flowering) in the vernal herb layer of a Ridge and Valley dolomite woodland. Montgomery County. Photo: Irvine WIlson.
	Dry calcareous forest on a limestone slope above Cripple Creek, Wythe County (George Washington and Jefferson National Forests). Photo: Gary P. Fleming.

REPRESENTATIVE COMMUNITY TYPES:
Examples of this group occurring on Ridge and Valley limestone and dolomitic substrates have been widely sampled and robustly classified (USNVC CEGL006017 and CEGL006030). It is not clear, however, whether the full range of compositional variation in this group over the whole region has been sufficiently documented. Types classified from data collected in the Cumberland Mountains (CEGL008458) and extreme southwestern Virginia (CEGL007699) appear conceptually sound, but are represented by far fewer, geographically restricted plots. Future data collection and analysis will likely result in refinements to the nomenclature and description of these types, and possibly in the identification of one or more additional types.

Click on any highlighted CEGL code below to view the global USNVC description provided by NatureServe Explorer.

Fraxinus americana – Carya ovata / Frangula caroliniana / Helianthus hirsutus – Polymnia canadensis Forest
Cumberland Mountains Dry Calcareous Forest
USNVC: = CEGL008458
Global/State Ranks: G1?/S1
Quercus muhlenbergii – Acer ( nigrum , saccharum ) / Ostrya virginiana / Erigeron pulchellus – Packera obovata Forest
Appalachian Sugar Maple – Chinkapin Oak Calcareous Forest
USNVC: = CEGL006017
Global/State Ranks: G4?/S4
Quercus muhlenbergii – Juniperus virginiana / Packera plattensis – Parthenium auriculatum – Schizachyrium scoparium Woodland
Ridge and Valley Dolomite Woodland
USNVC: = CEGL006030
Global/State Ranks: G2/S2
Endemic
Quercus shumardii – Quercus muehlenbergii / Juniperus virginiana – Viburnum rufidulum / Sanicula odorata – Bignonia capreolata Forest
Interior Low Plateau / Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest
USNVC: = CEGL007699
Global/State Ranks: G3/S2?

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The Natural Communities of Virginia Classification of Ecological Community Groups SECOND APPROXIMATION (Version 2.2)

The Natural Communities of Virginia
Classification of Ecological Community Groups
SECOND APPROXIMATION (Version 2.2)