The central Appalachian dry oak–pine forest is a forest system found from Maine south through New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, to West Virginia and Virginia.
These forests occur on dry sites with loamy to sandy soils.
Shrubs such as hillside blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata), and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) are common in the understory and can form a dense layer.
[1][2] This system is found on drier sites than the related northeastern interior dry–mesic oak forest.
South of central Virginia, it is replaced by the Southern Piedmont dry oak–pine forest.