Figure 28 — Vegetation types in North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains are (A) Amphicarpa, 

 (B) Potentilla, (C) Carex, and (D) Dryopteris. 



were forbs — Amphicarpa bracteata (hog-peanut), 

 Phlox stolonifera (creeping phlox), and Thaspium 

 trifoliata (meadow parsnip). 



The other low-elevation site was along the Bradley 

 Fork of the Oconoluftee River in an area that was 

 recovering from farming. Tree species were slowly 

 filling in the old field. Canopy coverage was typically 

 about 25 percent. Liriodendron tulipifera was the 

 most abundant of the six tree species. The ground 

 cover was relatively tall, dense, and diverse; intro- 

 duced species were common (fig. 28B). The most 

 abundant species were Potentilla simplex (old-field 

 cinquefoil), Panicum boscii (panicum grass), and 

 Holcus lanatus (velvet grass). 



The third site was at Bearpen Gap, elevation 1,375 m. 

 Overstory cover was dense (95 percent) with high di- 

 versity of tree species. Deciduous species were domi- 

 nant, particularly Acer saccharum (sugar maple), Quer- 

 cus rubra (northern red oak), and Fagus grandifolia 

 (beech), although there were a few scattered Tsuga 

 canadensis as well. This overstory has affinities with 

 both cove hardwood and gray beech forest (Whittaker 

 1956), which intergrade at elevations between 1,350 



and 1,400 m. The ground cover was of moderate 

 height, but sparse and low in diversity (fig. 28C). 

 A sedge, Carex pensylvanica, was the only abundant 

 species. This groimd cover appears representative of 

 the gray beech forest-Carex site type described by 

 Whittaker (1956) and Crandall (1958). 



The final site was along the crest of the mountains, 

 near Clingman's Dome, at an elevation of 1,800 m. 

 The overstory was a spruce-fir {Abies fraseri-Picea 

 rubens) forest, but about 80 percent of the trees were 

 dead. Most of the surviving trees were Betula lutea 

 (yellow birch), providing about 30 percent coverage. 

 The ground cover was tall and dense, but diversity 

 was only moderate (fig. 28D). The most abundant 

 species were Dryopteris campyloptera (mountain wood 

 fern), Athyrium asplenioides (lady fern), and Clintonia 

 borealis (bluebead lily). This composition fits the de- 

 scription of a moist phase of the spruce-firA^j6urraum- 

 Vaccinium-Dryopteris site type described by Crandall 

 (1958). 



In sum, the vegetation types in the Smokies in- 

 cluded one type dominated by graminoids (Carex), 

 one type dominated by forbs (Amphicarpa), one type 



37 



