Sandy Upland Mixed Forests on Steep Slopes

Description

Upland Mixed Woodland is upland with loamy soils; mesic-xeric; central Panhandle to extreme northern central peninsula; occasional fire (variable but as little as two up to 20 year interval); open to partially closed canopy over an open understory of mixed herbs and scattered shrubs; mixture of southern red oak, mockernut hickory, and longleaf or shortleaf pine with other mixed hardwoods; wiregrass infrequent. (FNAI, 2010).

Upland mixed woodland has an open to partially closed canopy of southern red oak (Quercus falcata), mockernut hickory (Carya alba), post oak (Quercus stellata), blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), and, black oak (Quercus velutina), mixed with shortleaf and/or longleaf pines (Pinus echinata, P. palustris). Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) and white oak (Quercus alba) may also be present. The subcanopy includes widely spaced shrubs or small trees of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), rusty blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), and hawthorns (Crataegus michauxii, C. pulcherrima). There is a dense ground layer of many species of grasses, forbs, and coppicing hardwoods. Typical ground layer species include New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus), eastern poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), eastern poison oak (Toxicodendron pubescens), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), slender bluestem (Schizachyrium tenerum), yellow indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), silver plumegrass (Saccharum alopecuroides), variable witchgrass (Dichanthelium commutatum), dogtongue wild buckwheat (Eriogonum tomentosum), and oblongleaf twinflower (Dyschoriste oblongifolia), as well as many legumes (Lespedeza spp, Desmodium spp., Tephrosia virginiana) and composites (Ageratina jucunda, Liatris graminifolia, Solidago spp.).

Upland mixed woodland occurs on loamy soils on drier sites than upland hardwood forest and is often found in the ecotone between upland hardwood forest and frequently burned sandhill or upland pine where fires burn into the hardwood forest edge. Its dominant hardwood species are more resistant to fire than are those in the upland hardwood forest and less resistant than those of the sandhills. (FNAI, 2010).

Submodel

Description

Managed grassland represents both improved and unimproved pasture including wooded pasture.

Submodel

Description

Pine plantations in Florida are often dominated by evenaged loblolly, sand, or slash pine (Pinus taeda, P. clausa, or P. elliottii, respectively). Dense pine plantations typically have sparse to absent herbaceous vegetation as a result of shading or a cover of deep pine needle duff. These plantations may be very shrubby or vine-dominated or open at ground level. The groundcover in most cases has been severely impacted by mechanical site preparation, such as roller chopping and bedding. However, while perennial grasses such as wiregrass (Aristida stricta var. beyrichiana) may be greatly reduced, many components of the native groundcover persist even though the relative abundance is altered. Groundcover can be partially restored by thinning and/or frequent burning, although some planting of perennial grasses such as wiregrass may be required. (FNAI, 2010)

Description

The degraded State represents vegetation conditions that have been degraded by the introduction and spread of non-native species.