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FNAI
COMMUNITY: Sandhill
STAGE DESCRIPTION
- Overstory:
Open canopy
(less than 60% closure), mature forest of longleaf pine,
with pockets of younger age stands, seedling to sapling
size, in forest openings. Canopy height 35-60 feet.
- Mid
Story: Turkey
oak, 3 to 15 feet in height, intermittent and very sparse.
Clumps of dwarfed fire-pruned live oak less than 3 feet
in height. Few and widely spaced clumps of saw palmetto
less than 2 feet in height.
- Ground
Cover: Typically
pyric bunch grasses such as wiregrass or pinywoods dropseed
and several Andropogon
species dominate
65% or greater of the surface fuel cover together with
a broad diversity herbaceous plants. Typically short
sparse individual saw palmetto or in small short (less than
2 feet in height) clumps with sparse turkey oak. Short,
sparse turkey oak as well as other dwarf shrubs such as
runner oak, dwarf live oak and sand post oak also are commonly
found.
- Duff/Litter
Layer: Sparse
pine needle litter in general with intermittent exposures
of mineral soil. Thicker (less than 3 inch depth)
needle litter build under single clumps of mature pine.
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