Poor Mountain Natural Area Preserve is a 925 acres (374.3 ha) Natural Area Preserve

Virginia Natural Area Preserve System

The Virginia Natural Area Preserve System is a system of protected areas in the state of Virginia. It was established in the late 1980s to protect sites that were designated as among the most significant natural areas in the state...

 located on Poor Mountain

Poor Mountain

Poor Mountain is a ridge of high peaks located in Roanoke County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Virginia. At 3,928 feet, Poor Mountain is the tallest mountain in the immediate area. The mountain is under consideration for the placement of a wind farm...

 in Roanoke County, Virginia

Roanoke County, Virginia

Roanoke County is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area and located within the Roanoke Region of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 85,778. As of 2010, the population was 92,376...

. The preserve has the world's largest population of the rare piratebush. The mountain derives its name from the fact that the soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

s on its slopes are poor, due to their base of metamorphosed sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 bedrock

Bedrock

In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...

. Table Mountain pine

Table Mountain Pine

Pinus pungens, the Table Mountain Pine, is a small pine native to the Appalachian Mountains in the United States. Table Mountain Pine, Pinus pungens, is also called Hickory Pine or Mountain Pine, though the latter name usually refers to the European species Mountain Pine - Pinus...

, hemlock

Tsuga

Tsuga is a genus of conifers in the family Pinaceae. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage to that of the unrelated plant poison hemlock....

, and oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 may be found on the ridgetop, as may huckleberry

Huckleberry

Huckleberry is a common name used in North America for several species of plants in two closely related genera in the family Ericaceae:* Vaccinium* GaylussaciaHuckleberry may also refer to:-Plants:...

, blueberry

Blueberry

Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...

, and mountain laurel.