West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods (not mapped)

Geology

This system is associated with Lissie and upper Beaumont Formations (including the Montgomery, Irene, and Bentley terraces).

Landform

Mesic to seasonally saturated low areas and flats, on level to gently rolling uplands. Microtopographic variation is provided by the presence of swales and pimple mounds.

Soils

Sandy loams to silty loams that are strongly acid, nutrient poor, and low in organic constituents. Typically these soils are hydric, with seasonal fluctuations between saturation and droughtiness.

Parent Description

This system may be characterized as having a sparse canopy (under natural fire cycles) dominated by Pinus palustris (longleaf pine). Other species in the canopy include Quercus stellata (post oak), Quercus marilandica (blackjack oak), Nyssa sylvatica (blackgum), Quercus laurifolia (laurel oak), Quercus falcata (southern red oak), and Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum). Shrubs are typically limited in distribution within the system to local topographic highs and include species such as Morella cerifera (wax-myrtle), Ilex vomitoria (yaupon), Symplocos tinctoria (common sweetleaf), Cyrilla racemiflora (leatherwood), and others. The herbaceous layer may be highly diverse. Drier sites may be dominated by Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Schizachyrium tenerum (slender bluestem), Eupatorium rotundifolium (roundleaf eupatorium), and others. Wetter sites may not have species showing a clear dominance. Species such as Liatris spp. (gay-feathers), Xyris spp. (yellow-eyed grasses), Rhexia spp. (meadowbeauties), Rhynchospora spp. (beaksedges), Fuirena spp. (umbrellasedges), Marshallia graminifolia (grassleaf Barbara's buttons), Aletris aurea (golden colicroot), and many other species may share dominance in this system. Suppression of fire in this system has lead to increased woody dominance. Pinus taeda (loblolly pine), Pinus elliottii (slash pine), Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum), Nyssa sylvatica (blackgum), and Acer rubrum (red maple) may now dominate the canopy of these sites, with a thick understory dominated by Ilex vomitoria (yaupon) and Morella cerifera (wax-myrtle). Due in part to the difficulty in distinguishing Pinus palustris (longleaf pine) dominated sites from sites dominated by other pines, occurrences of this system may be mapped within the system West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine - Hardwood Flatwoods.