Characteristic Plants Birch - Oak Rocky Woodland These plants are frequently found in this community type. Those with an asterisk are State Rank S3 often diagnostic of this community. Similar Types Canopy Community Description Ironwood - Oak - Ash Woodlands are Big-toothed aspen These community types are partial similar. They may have a high cover Blue birch* canopy deciduous woodlands or of red oak, but also include ironwood Paper birch* patches of woodland among talus and sometimes sugar maple. Birches Red maple areas. Overall canopy closure may are less common, and the herbaceous Red oak* be <25% when the open areas are flora includes rich site indicators Striped maple included. Paper birch, red oak, and/ that are absent from this type. Other Yellow birch* or yellow birch are dominant. Sugar community types dominated by red oak Paper Birch Sapling/shrub maple, if present, is not abundant. occur on thin soil over bedrock or on Mountain maple* Marginal wood-fern, rock polypody, deeper soils. Oak - Pine Woodlands, Conservation, Wildlife, and Striped maple* and poison ivy are characteristic of the the most similar, typically include Management Considerations Yellow birch* herb layer, which is best developed in bracken fern and lowbush blueberry, Talus woodlands receive little human Dwarf Shrub open patches. Vegetation is generally which are rarely (or only sparsely) found use because of their inaccessibility and Lowbush blueberry very patchy, developing in pockets in talus woodlands. low timber value; however, areas at the Poison-ivy among the rocks. base of talus slopes that receive water Herb

Birch - Oak Talus Woodland and nutrients from above sometimes Big-leaved aster Soil and Site Characteristics have enough large trees to make logging Common hairgrass Sites typically occur on dry, acidic Location Map economical. Conservation of these sites Marginal woodfern talus substrates with various aspects. should include the range of talus forest Rock polypody Documented elevations are from cover, from the base of the slope on up, Wild sarsaparilla nearly sea level to about 1500’. with a buffer of adjacent forest cover. Bryoid Dicranum moss Diagnostics South facing occurrences of this type Large hair-cap moss Sites occur on talus substrate; conifer in the southern part of the state may Pincushion moss cover can be one-fourth of the canopy, have provided historical habitat for the ironwood is absent and birches are timber rattlesnake, which is believed to Associated Rare Plants common. have been extirpated from Maine. Purple clematis Distribution Not well documented. Extends Examples on Conservation westward from Maine, and possibly in Lands You Can Visit other directions. • Acadia National Park – Hancock Co. Landscape Pattern: Small Patch • Caribou Mountain, Donnell Pond Public Lands – Hancock Co. • Horse Mountain, Baxter State Park – Penobscot Co. • Little Kineo Mountain Public Lands –Piscataquis Co. Striped Maple Maine Natural Areas Program