9. Site Description: 



Greenbank Bluff is the highest and steepest north-'-facing slope 

 within Brunswick County (see Acme, 1:62500, topographic quad sheet). 

 It is composed primarily of "greenish-black" clay, an outcropping of 

 the underlying Pee dee Formation exposed by riverine downcutting, and 

 has an associated marl phase (Richards (1950)* notes that the Peedee 

 Formation is composed mostly of sands, but that "calcareous or impure 

 limestone" and shell fragments are frequent (p.lO)), 



The dominant community type immediately above the bluff is Mixed 

 hardwoods— including southern sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ssp. 

 f loridanum ) and beech ( Fagus grandi folia ) most prominently— /Mixed 

 transgressive hardwoods and shrubs/Christmas fern ( Polystichum 

 acrostichoides ) or partridge berry ( Mitchella repens )« Moving 

 northward or southward along the bluff (away from the exposed marl 

 outcrop), beech and sugax maple largely give way to pines (Pinus 

 spp.) and mixed oaks ( Quercus spp.) in the canopy over mixed heaths 

 ( Vaccinium spp. and others) in the shrub layer. One notable area 

 in the northwesternmost portion of the bluff site exhibits a dense 

 groundcover of galax ( Galax aphylla ) and trailing arbutus ( Epigaea 

 repens ) under the Mixed oaks-- pines/Mixed heaths. 



The crest of the bluff itself is covered with very lairge (to 

 an estimated 25 cm DBH) wax myrtles ( Myrica cerifera ) , most of which 

 are rooted at the slope crest and "recumbent" down the slope due to 

 erosion and slumping of the substrate material. Although piles of 

 slumped material at the base of the bluff and freshly exposed faces 

 on the "cliff" indicate that the site is not completely stabilized, 

 it nevertheless appears to exist in a relative state of equilibrium. 



Wild hydrangea ( Hydrangea arborescens ) in dense stand covers most 

 of the bluff face. The very notable exception is a population of 

 grass-of-Parnassus ( Parnassia grandifolia ) which carpets the slope 

 in an expanse estimated at 2 m by ^ m in size. In addition, several 

 large patches of scouring rush ( Equisetum hyemale ) cover portions 

 of the toe area of the bluff. 



Richards, H, G, 1950. Geology of the coastal plain of North 

 Carolina. Trans, Amer, Philos. Soc, Philadelphia, ^0: 1-85. 



