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East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest
The east Gulf coastal plain large river floodplain forest is a type of forested wetland found in the eastern and upper Gulf coastal plain, in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. In particular, these forests can be found along the Apalachicola, Alabama, Tombigbee, Pascagoula, and Pearl rivers. Natural features along these large rivers, such as levees, point bars, meanders, oxbow lakes, and sloughs, result in wide variety of plant communities, ranging from bottomland forests to shrublands to prairies. Common trees include bald cypress ('' Taxodium distichum''), green ash (''Fraxinus pennsylvanica''), sweetgum ('' Liquidambar styraciflua''), water tupelo (''Nyssa aquatica''), swamp chestnut oak (''Quercus michauxii ''Quercus michauxii'', the swamp chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section ''Quercus'' section ''Quercus'' in the beech family. It is native to bottomlands and wetlands in the southeastern and midwes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from terrestrial land forms or Body of water, water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique anoxic hydric soils. Wetlands are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal species. Methods for assessing wetland functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed for many regions of the world. These methods have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions some wetlands provide. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent. The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or seawater, saltwater. The main w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Point Bar
A point bar is a depositional feature made of alluvium that accumulates on the inside bend of streams and rivers below the slip-off slope. Point bars are found in abundance in mature or meandering streams. They are crescent-shaped and located on the inside of a stream bend, being very similar to, though often smaller than, towheads, or river islands. Point bars are composed of sediment that is well sorted and typically reflects the overall capacity of the stream. They also have a very gentle ''slope'' and an elevation very close to water level. Since they are low-lying, they are often overtaken by floods and can accumulate driftwood and other debris during times of high water levels. Due to their near flat topography and the fact that the water speed is slow in the shallows of the point bar they are popular rest stops for boaters and rafters. However, camping on a point bar can be dangerous as a flash flood that raises the stream level by as little as a few inches (centimetre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floodplains Of The United States
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudie, A. S., 2004, ''Encyclopedia of Geomorphology'', vol. 1. Routledge, New York. The soils usually consist of clays, silts, sands, and gravels deposited during floods. Because the regular flooding of floodplains can deposit nutrients and water, floodplains frequently have high soil fertility; some important agricultural regions, such as the Mississippi river basin and the Nile, rely heavily on the flood plains. Agricultural regions as well as urban areas have developed near or on floodplains to take advantage of the rich soil and fresh water. However, the risk of flooding has led to increasing efforts to control flooding. Formation Most floodplains are formed by deposition on the inside of river meanders and by overbank flow. Wherever ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carpinus Caroliniana
''Carpinus caroliniana'', the American hornbeam, is a small hardwood tree in the genus ''Carpinus''. American hornbeam is also known as blue-beech, ironwood, musclewood and muscle beech. It is native to eastern North America, from Minnesota and southern Ontario east to Maine, and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida. It also grows in Canada (southwest Quebec and southeast Ontario). It occurs naturally in shaded areas with moist soil, particularly near the banks of streams or rivers, and is often a natural constituent understory species of the riverine and maritime forests of eastern temperate North America. Description American hornbeam is a small tree reaching heights of , rarely , and often has a fluted and crooked trunk. The bark is smooth and greenish-grey, becoming shallowly fissured in all old trees. The leaves are alternate, long, with prominent veins giving a distinctive corrugated texture, and a serrated margin. The male and female catkins appear in spring at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Laurifolia
''Quercus laurifolia'' (swamp laurel oak, diamond-leaf oak, water oak, obtusa oak, laurel oak) is a medium-sized semi-evergreen oak in the red oak section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae''. It is native to the southeastern and south-central the United States. Description ''Quercus laurifolia'' is a tree growing to (rarely to ) tall, with a large, circular crown. The leaves are broad lanceolate, long and broad, and unlobed (very rarely three-lobed) with an entire margin and a bristle tip; they typically fall just as the new leaves start to emerge in spring. The acorns, borne in a shallow cup, are hemispherical, long, green, maturing blackish-brown about 18 months after pollination. Acorn production is often heavy, enhancing the species' value for wildlife. The seedlings show embryo dormancy and germinate the following spring after fall ripening; germination is hypogeal. Swamp laurel oak grows rapidly and usually matures in about 50 years. A similar evergreen oak that also grows ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Phellos
''Quercus phellos'', the willow oak, is a North American species of a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the south-central and eastern United States. Description It is a medium-sized tree growing to tall (exceptionally to ), with a trunk up to in diameter (exceptionally ). It is distinguished from most other oaks by its leaves, which are shaped like willow leaves, long and broad with an entire (untoothed and unlobed) margin; they are bright green above, paler beneath, usually hairless but sometimes downy beneath. The fruit is an acorn, long, and almost as wide as long, with a shallow cup; it is one of the most prolific producers of acorns. The tree starts acorn production around 15 years of age, earlier than many oak species. Willow oaks can grow moderately fast (height growth up to a year), and tend to be conic to oblong when young, rounding out and gaining girth at maturity (i.e. more than 50 years). Distribution and habitat The species is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Michauxii
''Quercus michauxii'', the swamp chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section ''Quercus'' section ''Quercus'' in the beech family. It is native to bottomlands and wetlands in the southeastern and midwestern United States, in coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland primarily in the Mississippi–Ohio Valley as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. Description The leaves of the swamp chestnut oak are simple (not compound), long and broad, with 15–20 lobe-like, rounded simple teeth on each side, similar to those of chestnut oak and chinkapin oak (''Quercus muehlenbergii''), although they generally do not achieve the more slender form that the leaves of those trees may exhibit at times. The leaves turn red in autumn. The fruit is an acorn long and broad, borne on a 2–3 cm peduncle, maturing in the fall, about 6 months after pollination. The tree only bears heavy acorn crops at intervals of several years. Taxonomy The swamp ches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nyssa Aquatica
''Nyssa aquatica'', commonly called the water tupelo, cottongum, wild olive, large tupelo, tupelo-gum, or water-gum, is a large, long-lived tree in the tupelo genus ''(Nyssa)'' that grows in swamps and floodplains in the Southeastern United States. ''Nyssa aquatica'' trunks have a swollen base that tapers up to a long, clear bole, and its root system is periodically under water. Water tupelo trees often occurs in pure stands. Names ''Nyssa aquaticas genus name ''(Nyssa)'' refers to a Greek water nymph; the species epithet ''aquatica'', meaning ‘aquatic’, refers to its swamp and wetland habitat. One of the species' common names, tupelo, is of Native American origin, coming from the Creek words ''ito'' ‘tree’ and ''opilwa'' ‘swamp’; it was in use by the mid-18th century Uses A large mature tree can produce commercial timber used for furniture and crates. The swollen base of the ''Nyssa aquatica'' is the source of a favored wood of wood carvers. Many kinds of w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liquidambar Styraciflua
American sweetgum (''Liquidambar styraciflua''), also known as American storax, hazel pine, bilsted, redgum, satin-walnut, star-leaved gum, alligatorwood, or simply sweetgum, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temperate areas of eastern North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ... and tropical montane regions of Mexico and Central America. Sweetgum is one of the main valuable forest trees in the southeastern United States, and is a popular ornamental tree in temperate zone, temperate climates. It is recognizable by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves (similar to maple leaves) and its hard, spiked fruits. It is currently classified in the plant family (biology), family Altingiaceae, but was formerly considered a mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fraxinus Pennsylvanica
''Fraxinus pennsylvanica'', the green ash or red ash, is a species of ash native to eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia west to southeastern Alberta and eastern Colorado, south to northern Florida, and southwest to Oklahoma and eastern Texas. It has spread and become naturalized in much of the western United States and also in Europe from Spain to Russia. Other names more rarely used include downy ash, swamp ash and water ash. Description ''Fraxinus pennsylvanica'' is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching (rarely to ) tall with a trunk up to in diameter. The bark is smooth and gray on young trees, becoming thick and fissured with age. The winter buds are reddish-brown, with a velvety texture. The leaves are long, oppositely arranged, pinnately compound with seven to nine (occasionally five or eleven) leaflets, these (rarely ) long and broad, with serrated margins and short but distinct, downy petiolules a few millimeters long. They are green both above ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxodium Distichum
''Taxodium distichum'' (bald cypress, swamp cypress; french: cyprès chauve; ''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide range of soil types, whether wet, salty, dry, or swampy. It is noted for the russet-red fall color of its lacy needles. This plant has some cultivated varietiesFarjon, A. (2005). ''Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. and is often used in groupings in public spaces. Common names include bald cypress, swamp cypress, white cypress, tidewater red cypress, gulf cypress and red cypress. The bald cypress was designated the official state tree of Louisiana in 1963. Description ''Taxodium distichum'' is a large, slow-growing, and long-lived tree. It typically grows to heights of and has a trunk diameter of . The main trunk is often surrounded by cypress knees. The bark is grayish brown to reddish brown ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxbow Lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are called billabongs. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off from the main stream. Geology An oxbow lake forms when a meandering river erodes through the neck of one of its meanders. This takes place because meanders tend to grow and become more curved over time. The river then follows a shorter course that bypasses the meander. The entrances to the abandoned meander eventually silt up, forming an oxbow lake. Because oxbow lakes are stillwater lakes, with no current flowing through them, the entire lake gradually silts up, becoming a bog or swamp and then evaporating completely. When a river reaches a low-lying plain, often in its final course to the sea or a lake, it meanders wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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