Southeastern mixed forests grow in below the pines. Sugar maple ("Acer saccharum"), a shade tolerant tree, grows amid the oaks and hickories in the northern part of this ecoregion. Mesic forests occur in fertile, mesic, low-elevation habitats such as deep ravines and sheltered north- or east-facing slopes. Dominant trees include American beech ("Fagus grandifolia"), tulip tree ("Liriodendron tulipifera"), northern red oak, white ash ("Fraxinus americana"), black maple ("Acer nigrum"), sugar maple ("Acer saccharum"), basswood ("Tilia americana"), and bitternut hickory ("Carya cordiformis"). Understory trees include pawpaw ("Asimina triloba") and painted buckeye ("Aesculus sylvatica"). Mesic mixed hardwood forests grow on mesic uplands, ravines, lower slopes,
Stillingia sylvatica Stillingia sylvatica Stillingia sylvatica, known as queen's-delight or queen's delight, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It was described in 1767. It is endemic to the south-central and southeastern United States, growing in sandy areas such as sandhills and pine flatwoods. It is an herb or subshrub averaging in height. It has alternate, ovate leaves with short petioles, reaching in length and in width. The leaf margins are serrulate to crenulate with incurved teeth. Each crowded inflorescence has four to seven staminate flowers and three to four pistillate flowers. Queen's delight flowers between March and June,