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dry basic oak-Hickory forest

Sites

Slopes, ridges, upland flats, and other dry sites with less acidic and more fertile soils than typical, associated with mafic or intermediate crystalline rocks or occasionally calcareous sedimentary rocks.

Soils

Developed from rocks such as diabase, gabbro, or mafic metamorphics. Series include Enon, Helena-Sedgefield, Iredell, Orange, White Store, Wilkes, and Vance.

Hydrology

Terrestrial, dry.

Vegetation

Canopy

Canopy with substantial amounts of Quercus stellata (Post Oak) or Q. falcata (Southern Red Oak) and abundant Q. alba (White Oak), dominated by mixtures of oaks and hickories including Q. velutina (Black Oak), Q. muehlenbergii (Yellow Oak), various other oaks, Carya glabra (Pignut Hickory), C. tomentosa (Mockernut Hickory), C. carolinae-septentrionalis (Carolina Shagbark Hickory) and C. ovata (Common Shagbark Hickory). Other trees include Fraxinus americana (White Ash), Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip-tree) and Pinus spp. (Pine).

Understory

Understory includes species such as Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar), Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud), Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood), Chionanthus virginicus (Fringe-tree) and Acer leucoderme (Chalk Maple). Shrubs may include Aesculus sylvatica (Painted Buckeye), Viburnum prunifolium (Black Haw), V. rufidulum (Southern Black Haw), V. acerifolium (Mapleleaf viburnum), V. rafinesquianum (Downy Arrow-wood), Frangula caroliniana (Carolina Buckthorn), Rhus aromatica (Fragrant Sumac) and Symphoricarpos orbiculatus (Coralberry).

Herb Layer

The herb layer may include Carex spp. (Sedge), Galium circaezans (Southern Forest Bedstraw), Danthonia spicata (Poverty Oat-grass), Endodeca serpentaria (Turpentine-root), Uvularia perfoliata (Perfoliate Bellwort), Piptochaetium avenaceum (Eastern Needlegrass), Scleria oligantha (Few-flowered Nutrush) and Maiathemum racemosum (Eastern Solomon’s-plume).

Dynamics

Disturbed areas have increased amounts of pines and weedy hardwoods such as Acer rubrum (Eastern Red Maple) and Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweet Gum). Areas that were cultivated are generally dominated by even-aged pine stands. Logged areas may have a mixture of hardwoods and pines. Under natural conditions these forests are uneven-aged, with old trees present. Reproduction occurs primarily in canopy gaps. The natural fire regime of the Piedmont is not known, but fires certainly occurred periodically. Most of the component trees are able to tolerate light surface fires with little effect. Regular fire may have created a more open forest, with gaps persisting longer than at present and perhaps forming more frequently.

Associations

Often associated with Xeric Hardpan Forest and Upland Depression Swamp Forest. Grades into Dry-Mesic Basic Oak-Hickory Forest downslope or acidic upland forest communities at geologic contacts.

Comments

Although this type is called basic, soil data from Virginia show that many examples do not have basic or even circumneutral pH. However, soils have higher pH, higher base saturation, and higher levels of ‘base’ cations than the more acidic Dry Oak-Hickory Forest. It is somewhat more difficult to tell moisture levels by the vegetation in these communities. As in the dry-mesic forests, species more typical of floodplains or mesic sites may occur in the basic type, but these are less common.