F—441806. 382631 
Figure 13.—Virgin timber stands are few, but occur sparingly, A, in the Coastal Plain loblolly type; and B, in the 
mountain hardwoods. 
hickory are the other important hardwood species. 
Commonly the natural forest stands of the Piedmont 
are mixed pine and hardwood; old-field stands are 
either pure pine or pine-hardwood, the latter generally 
inferior in both composition and quality. 
The mountain forests are predominantly hardwood, 
four-fifths of the total cubic-foot volume being in this 
species group. Chestnut oak is the predominant 
species, followed by “other red oaks” (scarlet, southern 
red, black, and pin oak), and white oak. The oaks as 
a group contain about one-half of the total cubic-foot 
FOREST TYPES 
UPLAND HARDWOODS 
AREA OF TYPE 
LOBLOLLY PINE 
VIRGINIA PINE 
SHORTLEAF PINE 
BOTTOM-LAND HARDWOODS 
COVE HARDWOODS 
WHITE PINE 
MILLION ACRES 
Figure 14.—Area of forest types, 1940. 
volume. Yellow-poplar and hickory are the other 
principal hardwood species, although a great many 
Of the softwoods, pitch and 
shortleaf pines are the most prevalent, followed by 
Virginia pine and white pine. Other less abundant 
softwoods are hemlock, redcedar, and a small amount 
of red spruce on the highest peaks. 
species are present. 
Forest Types 
Forest types were classified by the Forest Survey on 
the basis of species composition and the proportion of 
commercially important dominant trees. 
The upland hardwood type occupies nearly one-half 
of the forest land of Virginia (fig. 14). It is the 
principal forest cover of the Mountain province, but 
it occurs also in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain (fig. 
15). Of the total area in this type, 48 percent is in 
the mountains, 39 percent in the Piedmont, and only 
13 percent in the Coastal Plain. This type is com- — 
posed of a variety of species (table 3). The compo- 
sition varies widely with the physiographic province, 
and within each province with soil type, elevation, and 
-moisture conditions. In the Coastal Plain the princi- 
pal species are white oak, southern red oak, black oak, 
14 Miscellaneous Publication 681, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
