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FNAI COMMUNITY: Coastal Strand
STAGE DESCRIPTION
- Overstory: Very little to no overstory. Where they exist, red bay and cabbage palm appear in stunted of dwarfed forms due to salt spray (Taylor, 1998).
- Mid Story: Consists of dense, low thickets of saw palmetto, sea grapes, nakedwood, necklace pod, Spanish bayonet, prickly-pear cactus, and other woody species. In some areas these dense woody thickets form a mosaic, mixed with open patches of sea oats, dune sunflower, and other grasses or herbaceous species (Johnson and Barbour, 1990).
- Ground Cover: Dominated by grasses with short woody species such as gopher apple (Johnson and Barbour, 1990).
- Duff/Litter Layer: Little to no duff. Litter consists of woody debris (Taylor, 1998).
- Soils: Deep, wind-deposited sands (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, 1990). Typical soil types include Canaveral, Corolla, Fripp, Newhan, and Palm Beach (Soil Conservation Society of America, 1987).
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