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,
Dioscorea sylvatica Dioscorea sylvatica Dioscorea sylvatica ("forest elephants foot") is a species of a twining tuberous vine that is native to Africa. It is common and widespread in forest and thicket, throughout the summer rainfall areas of East and Southern Africa. It produces a distinctively flattened caudex, often with lobes that spread out. The creeping shoots grow throughout most of the year, though each will periodically die back and be replaced from the central caudex root stock. In dryer conditions it can become deciduous. The green creeping foliage can reach 4 meters or more in height. It is an extremely widespread and