ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


NO. 4 LONGLEAF PINE-TURKEY OAK HILLS


OCCURRENCE


The Longleaf Pine-Turkey Oak Hills ecological community
Florida. It is most commonly found in the central part of
Lake Placid and in the Florida panhandle inland from the
Individual communities vary widely in size and limited
communities may occur within it.


occurs throughout
the state north of
Gulf of Mexicd.
numbers of other


DESCRIPTION

This community occurs on rolling land with nearly level to strong slopes.
Water movement is rapid through the soil. It is easily identified by the land
form and dominant vegetation of longleaf pine and turkey oak.

1. Soil

 The soils are nearly level to strongly sloping, deep, acid, moderately
 well to excessively drained, and mostly coarse textured throughout or
 mostly coarsely textured in the upper part and moderately fine textured or
 moderately coarse textured in the lower part. Representative soils are
 Alpin, Bonifay, Candler, Chiefland, Cocoa, Deland, Eustis, Hurricane,
 Kershaw, Lake, Lakeland, Orlando, Tavares, and Troup. Appendix A contains
 information on correlation of soil series with the appropriate ecological
 community.

2. Vegetation

 There are several variations of this community. Mature, natural stands of
 trees which have not been logged have scattered longleaf pine as an
 overstory. Areas on which pines have been removed are predominantly oaks.
 Ground cover under the trees and shrubs is scattered and numerous bare
 areas are noticeable. Plants which characterize this community are:

 TREES Longleaf pine, Pinus palustris; Turkey oak, Quercus laevis


HERBACEOUS


PLANTS AND VINES Aster, Aster spp.; Blazing star, Liatris
tenuifolia; Bracken fern, Pteridum aquilinum; Butterfly pea,
Centrosema virginianum; Butterfly pea, Clitoria mariana;
Elephant's foot, Elephantopus spp.; Grassleaf goldenaster,
Heterotheca graminifolia, Partridge pea, Cassia spp.; Pineland
beggarweed, Desmodium strictum; Sandhill milkweed, Asclepias
humistrata; Showy crotalaria, Crotalaria spectabilis; Wild
indigo, Baptista spp.


GRASSES AND GRASSLIKE PLANTS Curtiss dropseed, Sporobolus curtissii;
 Hairy panicum, Panicum anceps; Yellow indiangrass, Sorghastrum
 nutans; low panicum, Panicum spp.; Pinewoods dropseed,
 Sporobolus iunceus

Other plants that occur in this community are found in Appendix B.