Floristics of Difficult Creek Natural Area Preserve: a Piedmont mafic woodland complex in Halifax County, Virginia, U.S.A.

Abstract

The 331-hectare (819-acre) Difficult Creek Natural Area Preserve (DCNAP) was established in Halifax County, Virginia to protect and manage habitat for rare vascu-lar plant species and animals, and to restore plant communities. Mafic metavolcanic rocks of the Virgilina Formation and felsic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Aaron Formation comprise the geologic units on the preserve. The Virgilina-derived soils have high shrink-swell potential, a dense hardpan layer, relatively high base status, and a significant gravelly or stony component; these soil conditions support the highest density of rare plant species known on the preserve. The first noteworthy vascular plant species were documented from the property in 1972 by botanist Alton Harvill of Longwood University, but detailed investigations of the flora did not begin until the site was revisited by the second author in 1993. Rare plant inventory has been the primary focus of botanists since that time. In 2001, the property was acquired by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage (DCR) and dedicated as a state Natural Area Preserve, at which point active management for natural communities and associated rare species was initiated. Since the rare plants on site thrive in open woodland or savanna-like conditions, prescribed burns and timber harvests have been used by DCR stewards to restore habitat after decades of fire suppression and conversion of hardwood stands to loblolly pine plantations. In 2018, a thorough floristic study was initiated to highlight the significance of this flora beyond the documentation of rare plants. The two-year inventory documented 653 plant taxa, comprising 326 genera in 106 families. Fourteen of these species are of conservation concern at the global or state level; an additional 12 taxa are considered uncommon and of potential conservation concern (Townsend 2019). These rare or uncommon species are components of two globally rare plant communities. In addition, the globally rare lepidopteran, Erynnis martialis (Mottled Duskywing), occurs on the preserve, the only extant population known in Virginia. Due to agricultural impacts and widespread fire exclusion, few analogs to this flora exist within the southern Piedmont of Virginia.