West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland

Geology

Generally associated with Eocene sand formations such as Carrizo, Sparta, and Queen City sands. Also found on sands derived from the Pliocene Willis formation.

Landform

Generally found on high, convex landscape positions, such as hilltops and ridgetops.

Soils

Deep sands of soils such as the Betis, Darco, Letney, Tehran, Tonkawa, and other grossarenic or psammentic soils.

Parent Description

This system occupies deep sands on generally high, convex landforms, and often displays a relatively open overstory canopy. It may occur as pine dominated woodlands, with Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) dominating some sites within the range of this species, and Pinus echinata (shortleaf pine) dominating areas where Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) is absent. In the current landscape, Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) is a common and sometimes dominant pine species. Pines may co-dominate along with deciduous species, or the canopy may be dominated by oak and other deciduous species such as Quercus stellata (post oak), Quercus marilandica (blackjack oak), Quercus incana (bluejack oak), Quercus falcata (southern red oak), Quercus margarettae (sand post oak), and Carya texana (black hickory). Other deciduous trees present may include Sassafras albidum (sassafras), Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum), and Quercus nigra (water oak). The shrub stratum can be fairly well-developed, and includes shorter individuals of canopy species in addition to such species as Callicarpa americana (American beautyberry), Ilex vomitoria (yaupon), Vaccinium arboreum (farkleberry), Rhus aromatica (fragrant sumac), Asimina parviflora (dwarf pawpaw), Cornus florida (flowering dogwood), and Smilax bona-nox (saw greenbrier). The herbaceous layer may be quite well-developed or relatively patchy (with areas of bare sandy soil exposed). Commonly encountered species include Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Pteridium aquilinum (brackenfern), Aristida desmantha (curly threeawn), Ambrosia psilostachya (western ragweed), Cnidoscolus texanus (Texas bull-nettle), Rudbeckia hirta (blackeyed susan), Dichanthelium dichotomum (cypress panicgrass), Pityopsis graminifolia (narrowleaf silkgrass), Croton argyranthemus (silverleaf croton), Tragia urticifolia (nettleleaf noseburn), Froelichia floridana (Florida snake-cotton), Matelea cynanchoides (creeping milkvine), Opuntia humifusa (eastern pricklypear), Sporobolus junceus (pineywoods dropseed), Triplasis purpurea (purple sandgrass), Bulbostylis ciliatifolia (capillary hairsedge), Chamaecrista fasciculata (partridge pea), Berlandiera pumila (soft greeneyes), Commelina erecta var. angustifolia (narrowleaf dayflower), Stylisma pickeringii (bigpod bonamia), Tradescantia reverchonii (Reverchon spiderwort), Rhynchosia spp. (snoutbeans), Tephrosia spp. (tephrosia), and Yucca louisianensis (Gulf Coast yucca). Accurate mapping of this system proved problematic, because this system does not occur on all areas where the typical deep sands are mapped. Mapping only areas of high landscape position (the method used in this effort) tended to under-represent the system as it occurs on the landscape.