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Northern Ontario Plant DatabaseNorthern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)Summary: A mixedwood foresty type dominated by hemlock in the canopy, with several other conifers and birch as associate species, including white pine, white spruce, white cedar, and yellow and white birch. The subcanopy is similar in composition, although no species occurs with more than 50% species; red maple begins to appear in the subcanopy layer. The regeneration layer is dominated by hemlock, balsam fir, red and sugar maple, and yellow birch. As in C-V18, The occassional occurrence of red spruce in this vegetation type is mentioned in the C-FEC manual, but is not included in their species list. The shrub layer is relatively poor and is dominated by striped maple, beaked hazel, and Canada fly honeysuckle; mountian maple occurs with 30-50% frequency. The herb layer lacks the diversity seen in similar hemlock forest types, such as C-V18. Spinulose wood fern is the most common species in the herb layer, but the only other fern listed for this V-type is the rock polypody, which occurs with 30-50% frequency. Wild lily-of-the-valley, wild sarsaparilla, and starflower are the only herbs that occur with more than 50% frequency. The moss layer is very diverse and includes a number of leafy liverworts, including three-lobed bazzania, plus a number of terrestrial mosses in addition to those species normally found growing on rotting logs and at the base of tree trunks. This vegetation type is similar to C-V18, however, C-V19 is characterized by the absence of many species found in C-V18, including hobblebush, goldthread, wood sorrel, bunchberry, and shining clubmoss. Soil & Ecosite Types: The Hemlock-Spinulose Woodfern-Herb Poor Vegetation Type (C-V19) occurs most commonly on dry to moderately fresh (S3) and fresh to very fresh (S7), coarse loamy to silty soils, and dry to moist, shallow mineral soils (SS3) soils. This vegetation type was described from Site Region 5E, mainly in Site District 5E-9 (southern Algonquin Park area). Like C-V18, this vegetation type can be found on ecosite types C-ES 30.1 (Hemlock-Yellow Birch, dry to moderately fresh) and C-ES 30.2 (Hemlock-Yellow Birch, fresh to moist). Note: In sample plots, species listed below occurred with 50% frequency or more, except for those in square brackets, which occurred with 30-49% frequency. Trees: overstoreyhemlock (Tsuga canadensis)subcanopy |