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.