ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY


 NO. 5 MIXED HARDWOOD AND PINE


 OCCURRENCE

 The Mixed Hardwood and Pine ecological community is an extension of the middle
 coastal plains hardwoods forest. It occurs only in west and north Florida.
 Individual communities vary in size and are interspersed with other
 communities and natural drainageways.

 DESCRIPTION

 This community occurs on rolling uplands. Water movement is gradual to the
 natural drainageways. It can be easily identified by the mixed hardwood and
 pine vegetation occurring in a predominately well drained area.

 1. Soil

 The soils are nearly level to strongly sloping, deep to moderately deep,
 acid, moderately well to well drained, with loamy to sandy surfaces, and
 are underlain with fine textured materials. Representative soils include:
 Benndale, Binnsville, Blakley, Boswell, Bowie, Carnegie, Chipola,
 Clarendon, Compass, Cuthbert, Dothan, Esto, Faceville, Fuquay, Greenville,
 Gritney, Kalmia, Magnolia, Marlboro, Maxton, Norfolk, Oktibbeha,
 Orangeburg, Red Bay, Ruston, Shubuta, Sunsweet, Susquehanna, and Tifton.
 Appendix A contains information on correlation of soil series with the
 appropriate ecological community.

2. Vegetation

 There is a variation in the type and amount of vegetation depending on the
 successional stage. In the early successional stages of this community,
 pine is present with shortleaf and loblolly predominating. As the system
 matures, hardwoods replace pines. The natural climax- vegetation is
 thought to be a beach-magnolia-maple association. Plants which
 characterize this community are:

 TREES American beech, Fagus grandiflora; American holly, Ilex opaca;
 Eastern hophornbean, Ostrya virginiana; Flowering dogwood,
 Cornus florida; Hawthorns, Crataegus spp.; Loblolly pine,
 Pinus taeda; Mockernut hickory, Carya tomentosa; Pignut
 hickory, Carya glabra; Southern red oak, Quercus falcata;
 Southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora; White oak, uercus
 alba; Water oak, Quercus nigra

 SHRUBS Shining sumac, Rhus copallina; Sparkleberry, Vaccinium arboreum

 GRASSES Broomsedge bluestem, Andropogon virginicus; Longleaf uniola,
 Chasmanthium sessiliflorium; Low panicum, Panicum spp.; Spike
 uniola, Chasmanthium laxium