| Roundtop
Mountain |
Jess
Riddle |
| May
04, 2003 15:54 PDT |
Roundtop Mountain, located in SC about three mile south of NC,
is narrow,
gneiss, ridge about 3000' in elevation. The north side of the
mountain
includes cliffs and an uncut forest dominated by chestnut oak.
At the top
of the cliffs and perched on boulders in the chestnut oak
forest, grow old
carolina hemlocks. A boulderfield that has developed between a
couple of
the cliffs, and the better watered, more sheltered area supports
tuliptree, black birch, northern red oak, silverbell, and white
basswood.
One tuliptree that has been hollowed by fiver is 14'10"
cbh, but most
trees in the boulderfield are much small. Below the big
tuliptree,
evidence of cutting can be seen around the edge of the rocky
area, but
soil fertility also appears to increase. The dense herbaceous
layer in
this section include black cohosh and Viola canadensis, and the
canopy
appears to be in the 100 to 150 year age range. One tuliptree in
the area
is 138.2' tall and another is 10'2.5" cbh and at least
139.1' tall. Some
tuliptrees in the stand almost certainly exceed 140'. The real
find of
the day was the cucumbertree growing amongst the tuliptrees. The
tree,
which appears to have at least a partially broken crown, is
11'2" cbh and
123.7' tall. The tree has enough points to qualify as a state
co-champion, and is the largest diameter individual of the
species I have
seen in SC. Adjacent drainages may have small areas of
comparable forest.
Jess Riddle |
|