ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


 NO. 3 SAND PINE SCRUB


OCCURRENCE

The Sand Pine Scrub ecological community occurs throughout Florida. It is
most commonly found inland from the coast and in the central portion of the
state in and around Marion County. Individual communities are generally
small in size, i.e., several hundred acres. A large community, several
thousands of acres in size, occurs just east of Ocala in the Ocala National
Forest. It typically has a few smaller communities of wetland types
interspersed throughout.

DESCRIPTION

This community occurs on nearly level to strongly sloping land. Water
movement is rapid through the soil. It is easily identified by the even-aged
stands of sand pine or by the thick scrubby oak growth.

1. Soil

 The soils are nearly level to strongly sloping, deep, acid, somewhat
 poorly to excessively drained and coarse textured throughout.
 Representative soils includes: Archbold, Daytona, Duette, Hobe, Paola,
 Pomello, Resota, St. Lucie, Satellite and Welaka. Appendix A contains
 information on correlation of soil series with the appropriate ecological
 community.

2. Vegetation

 The natural vegetation of this community may be typically even-aged sand
 pine trees with a dense understory of oaks, sawpalmetto, and other shrubs.
 Ground cover under the trees and shrubs is scattered and large areas of
 light colored sand are often noticeable. In other cases, the sand pine
 are scattered or absent, with oaks being the dominant vegetation.
 Satellite soils, which have a high water table for part of the year,
 support a scrubby growth also, but the myrtle oak, Chapman oak, and sand
 pine become infrequent and gallberry becomes prominent. Plants which
 characterize this community are:

 TREES Bluejack oak, Quercus incana; Chapman oak, Quercus chapmannii;
 Myrtle oak, Quercus myrtifolia; Sand live oak, Quercus
 virginiana var. geminata; Sand pine, Pinus clausa

 SHRUBS Dwarf huckleberry, Gaylussacia dumosa; Gopher apple,
 Chrysobalanus oblongifolius; Prickly pear, Opuntia spp.;
 Sawplametto, Serenoa repens

 HERBACEOUS PLANTS AND VINES Grassleaf goldenaster, Heterotheca
 graminifolia; Deermoss, Cladonia spp.; Cat greenbriar, Smilax
 glauca