Madrean Encinal - Code: Ne6C

Madrean Encinal occurs in a band directly below the Madrean Pine-Oak Forests and usually above xeric shrublands or grasslands. The habitat is dry and pleasant for much of the year, though summers can be quite hot. Encinal is a mid-elevation habitat generally occurring between 4000 and 6000ft (1200-1800m). This habitat varies with latitude and in the north is structurally like other oak savannas with widely spaces trees, broad spreading crowns, and a dense understory of grasses. Travelling southward, this habitat generally becomes more of a closed woodland, and eventually dense and shrubby. In southern Mexico it is often part of a well-blended ecotone between thornscrub and dry deciduous habitats and the higher Pine-oak woodlands.
        The Madrean Encinal at the northern end of the range is usually open and savanna like and heavily dominated by Emory Oak (Quercus emoryii). Arizona White Oak (Quercus arizonica), Felt Oak (Quercus chihuahuaensis), and Mexican Blue Oak (Quercus oblongifolia) are also regularly present. The northern encinal has few shrubs present, mostly small oaks and scattered junipers (Juniperus spp.).These savannas have a grassy understory generally comprised of species from arid shrublands and grasslands below, especially gramas (Bouteloua spp.) and mulhys (Mulhenbergia spp.).
By the time the encinal reaches the southern end of its range it is mostly Oak Chaparral - a dense shrubby woodland. This form of encinal feels more like a dwarf form of the dry deciduous forest or a tall thornscrub. A diverse array of oaks still dominate the canopy, with up to a dozen species occurring in a single stand. Mexican Red Oak (Quercus castanea), Netleaf Oak (Quercus rugosa), and Chilillo Oak (Quercus crassifolia) are all common here along with a variety of thorny leguminous trees. The understory can be quite viney with scattered cactus but the forest floor is usually bare aside from a dense layer of oak leaves. The oaks in this form are often covered in a staggering number of small epiphytes, especially bromeliads in the genus Tillandsia. Many of these bromeliads are endemic to specific valleys and basins within this system. Madrean Encinal varies in a long gradient between its northern and southern forms.