| Zusammenfassung: | We sampled 23 stands of older second growth hardwood forest on level, low elevation uplands of the undissected Lower Coastal Plain of Virginia. Our stands differed from upland forests of the dissected Upper Coastal Plain, where hardwood forests are dominated by Quercus alba, Fagus grandifolia, Liriodendron tulipifera, and Q. falcata. In the Lower Coastal Plain most of our stands were dominated by Acer rubrum and Liquidambar styraciflua, neither of which was important in the Upper Coastal Plain forests. Both detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) ordinations separated our 23 Lower Coastal Plain stands into two groups: a 10-stand mesophytic Group I, in which Acer and Liquidambar share dominance with Q. alba, Fagus grandifolia, and Pinus taeda; and a 13-stand more hydrophytic Group II, with Acer and Liquidambar sharing dominance with Liriodendron tulipifera and various hydrophytic oaks (Q. pagoda, Q. michauxii, Q. phellos, and Q. laurifolia). This Group II still differs from floodplain forests of the Upper Coastal Plain, where dominants are Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Ulmus americana, Acer rubrum and hydrophytic oaks, but not Liriodendron tulipifera. Differences between our Groups I and II were not correlated with growth season soil moisture levels. Altered water tables from ditching and drainage of surrounding developed areas since the forests were established may explain the discrepancy, or length of wintertime soil saturation, which we did not measure, may be a major determinant of stand composition. Non-floodplain forests of the undissected Lower Coastal Plain are intermediate between upland forests of the Upper Coastal Plain and floodplain forests along the streams that dissect the Upper Coastal Plain, filling a portion of the mesic to hydric gradient poorly represented in the strongly dissected Upper Coastal Plain.
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