page_title: Southeastern mixed forests
section_title: Oak-hickory forests
hierarchical_section_title: Southeastern mixed forests / Flora / Oak-hickory forests
caption_attribution_description: Liriodendron tulipifera in Belt Woods, St George's County, Maryland, MD
context_page_description: The Southeastern mixed forests are an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome, in the lower portion of the Eastern United States.
context_section_description: The most common oaks (Quercus spp.) of this ecoregion are white oak (Quercus alba), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), black oak (Quercus velutina), and scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea). Black and scarlet grow in open forests. Black oak grows in nearly single-species stands on dry, exposed sites. Scarlet oak grows in various habitats. Chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) is found on ridgetops.
  The hickories (Carya spp.) of this ecoregion are identifiable by their pinnately compound leaves. They include pignut (Carya glabra) and mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa), both of which grow on a variety of sites from dry ridges to mesic habitats.
  Understory trees include sassafras (Sassafras albidum), hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), and green hawthorn (Crataegus viridis). Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) blooms in early spring.
  Shrubs include highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium), huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).
  Common pine (Pinus spp.) species are shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). The pine forests are regenerated by fire. Without fire, hardwood species grow in below the pines.
  Sugar maple (Acer saccharum), a shade tolerant tree, grows amid the oaks and hickories in the northern part of this ecoregion.
caption: Mesic forest in Belt Woods, Maryland
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