Department of Conservation and Recreation
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Department of Conservation and Recreation
Table of ContentsMaritime Dune Woodlands
These deciduous, coniferous, and broadleaf evergreen woodlands occur on back dunes protected from regular salt spray. Similar communities occur along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from New Jersey to Texas. Compared to maritime upland forests, these woodlands have a much more open canopy and are more localized and restricted to xeric dune systems. Habitats are commonly on convex, rapidly drained dunes and less frequently on xeric sand flats. Floristic composition of communities in this group varies considerably with geography. Along the southeastern Virginia coast (City of Virginia Beach), live oak (Quercus virginiana), bluejack oak (Quercus incana), and sassafras (Sassafras albidum) dominate stands, with loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), black cherry (Prunus serotina var. serotina) and hercules'-club (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) as less abundant associates. In the same area, and northward on the Eastern Shore (Accomack and Northampton Counties), a community type of widely spaced loblolly pine with scattered, scrubby oaks (e.g ., (Quercus nigra and Quercus falcata), dwarf-shrub patches of sand heather (Hudsonia tomentosa), and large areas of exposed sand occurs on the highest back-dune systems (the so-called "Great Dunes"). Another xeric back-dune community dominated by black cherry, prickly-pear (Opuntia humifusa), and seaside little bluestem (Schizachyrium littorale) has been documented at two Eastern Shore locations. Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) dominates a few dune woodlands on the maritime barrier islands of the Eastern Shore. Scattered herbaceous plants that occur in these woodlands include sea-beach needlegrass (Aristida tuberculosa), cottony golden-aster (Chrysopsis gossypina), yellow thistle (Cirsium horridulum var. horridulum), oval flowered panic grass (Dichanthelium ovale var. ovale), coastal bedstraw (Galium bermudense), Canada frostweed (Crocanthemum canadense), woolly ragwort (Packera tomentosa), dune ground-cherry (Physalis walteri), coastal jointweed (Polygonella articulata), and grass-leaved golden-aster (Pityopsis nervosa). All communities in this group are considered globally and state rare.
References: Clampitt (1991), The Nature Conservancy (1997).
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© DCR-DNH, Gary P. Fleming.
Download a spreadsheet of compositional summary statistics for each of the community types listed below. 
