border is along the Outfall Canal (SR 1164) and the western 

 border grades into the Gull Rock Low Pocosin described later 

 in this report. The southern border grades into shrub marsh 

 near Pamlico Sound. 



Otte (1981) proposes a basic pocosin classification 

 which relates vegetation to combined factors of peat depth, 

 seasonal wetness, and nutrient availability from underlying 

 mineral strata or elsewhere (See Table) . His system is em- 

 ployed in the following description of the plant communities 

 present in the Gull Rock Pond Pine Pocosin and the Low Poco- 

 sin. 



The most extensive natural community within this area 

 is Otte's pond pine forest type. The essential criteria 

 for this pocosin type are: sandy peats less than two feet 

 in depth, water table which drops down into the underlying 

 mineral sediments during dry seasons , rare to absent standing 

 water, and site dominated by 10-20 feet tall "bay" shrubs with 

 dense canopy layer of pond pines usually less than 50 feet 

 tall. 



A representative example of this pond pine forest type 

 observed in the field is located along the Outfall Canal 

 (SR 1164) about 3.2 miles south of New Holland. The com- 

 munity type is classified as Pinus serotina/Persea borbonia/ 

 mixed pocosin shrubs// Smi lax laurifolia (pond pine/red bay/ 

 mixed pocosin shrubs//laurel-leaved greenbriar; CT 2) . The 

 closed canopy is 40-50 feet tall and dominated exclusively 

 by pond pine; dbh's are less than 12 inches. A dense tall 

 shrub layer of red bay is located underneath with an under- 

 lying dense low shrub layer composed of several pocosin 

 shrubs such as bitter gallberry ( Ilex glabra ) , fetterbush 

 ( Lyonia lucida ) , and chokecherry ( Sorbus arbutifolia ) . 

 There is essentially no ground layer. The intertwining 

 vine, laurel-leaved greenbriar, is ubiquitous and forms 

 an almost inpenetrable tangle in the shrub layers. Other 

 "bay" shrubs are scattered within this community. Sweet 

 bay ( Magnolia virginiana ) and loblolly bay ( Gordonia 

 lasianthus ) occur but are not common enough to be con- 

 sidered co-dominant components of the tall shrub layer. 



This community occupies much of the natural area be- 

 tween the hardwood stands located on mineral soils to the 

 north and the low pocosin area located on deep peat to the 

 southwest. 



The dense pond pine-redbay pocosin community is situated 

 on sandy peats and shallow peats around the outer margin of a 

 deeper peat deposit near the headwaters of the Juniper Bay 



121 



