FNAI COMMUNITY:

No FNAI entry

STAGE DESCRIPTION

• Overstory: Very open to no overstory.  Few sand pines scattered about.  Most pines are in sapling stage, around 1 foot in height.
• Mid Story: VA dense layer of oaks and other evergreen shrubs dominate the mid story.  Most common oaks include myrtle oak, sand live oak, and Chapman's oak. Other shrubs include saw palmetto, rusty staggerbush, Florida rosemary, blue huckleberry, fetterbush, wild olive, blueberry, deerberry, and muscadine grape (Stout and Marion, 1993).
• Ground Cover: Ground layer vegetation is sparse and species poor with many bare sandy patches alternating with dense stands of lichens and sand spike-moss (Stout and Marion, 1993).  Other herbaceous species include wiregrass, alicia, and sandyfield beaksedge (Abrahamson et al., 1984).
• Duff/Litter Layer: Litter composed of mostly oak and other evergreen debris scattered between broad patches of bare sand. Little to no duff.
• Soils: Sandy, acidic, very well drained, nutrient-deficient soils occur (Stout and Marion, 1993).