The Florida longleaf pine sandhill is a forest system found on

sandhill A sandhill is a type of ecological community or xeric wildfire-maintained ecosystem. It is not the same as a sand dune. It features very short fire return intervals, one to five years. Without fire, sandhills undergo ecological succession and be ...

s in the coastal plains of northern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, ranging from the panhandle to the central peninsula. Particular examples can be found in

Ocala National Forest The Ocala National Forest ls the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers of northern Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) east of Ocala and southeast of Gainesville. The Ocala National For ...

Withlacoochee State Forest The Withlacoochee State Forest is in the western central part in the U.S. state of Florida, near Lecanto, Inverness, Floral City, Brooksville, Ridge Manor, and Dade City. The forest was named for the Withlacoochee River, which passes throug ...

Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park Gold Head Branch State Park, a Florida State Park, is just shy of 2400 acres (8 km²) of rolling sandhills, marshes, ravines, lakes and scrub located midway between Gainesville and Jacksonville, six miles (10 km) north of Keystone He ...

, and

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The ...

. These forests consist of stands of longleaf pine (''

Pinus palustris The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...

'') on very well-drained, sandy hills. The stands are maintained by frequent fires. Turkey oak (''

Quercus laevis ''Quercus laevis'', the turkey oak, is a member of the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the southeastern United States. The name turkey oak derives from the resemblance of the leaves to a turkey's foot. A Turkish and southern European spec ...

''), myrtle oak (''

Quercus myrtifolia ''Quercus myrtifolia'', the myrtle oak, is a North American species of oak. It is native to the southeastern United States (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina). It is often found in coastal areas on sandy soils. It is an eve ...

''), and gopher apple (''

Licania michauxii ''Geobalanus oblongifolius'', commonly known as gopher apple, is an evergreen shrub. It grows in America within the sandhills of peninsular Florida as well as coastal Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia. Its fruit is ea ...

'') are common in the understory; wiregrass (''

Aristida beyrichiana ''Aristida'' is a very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. ''Aristida'' is distinguished by having three awns (bristles) on each lemma of each floret. The genus includes about 300 species found worldwide, often in arid warm ...

'') makes up the ground layer.

References

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References

See also