ABSTRACT
The forested wetlands are a diverse mixture of non-riverine hardwood and pine dominated site-types that occur within the flatwoods section of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains from Maryland and southeastern Virginia to southeastern Texas. Flatwoods wetlands include some of the more controversial categories of forested wetlands from a jurisdictional and management perspective. Soils of the flatwoods were formed from marine and alluvial sediments deposited in the Tertiary and Cretaceous periods. Many of the wet flatwoods soils in Florida are Haplaquods, Ochraqualfs, Paleaquults, and Ochraquults. Paleaquults are common throughout the lower coastal plain of Mississippi and Alabama. Non-alluvial hardwood swamps occur as inclusions in the flatwoods. Flatwoods wetlands support a characteristically rich and diverse mixture of woody plant species. Flatwoods site types are typically dominated by either pine or hardwood species, depending on the hydrologie regime and the resultant soil formation processes and fire disturbance frequency.
