Northern Ontario Plant Database

Northern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)

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C-V2: Sugar Maple - Beech - Striped Maple
Summary: A hardwood stand dominated by sugar maple in the canopy, subcanopy, and regeneration layers. Beech, red oak, basswood, eastern hemlock, white ash, and trembling aspen occur with less than 50% frequency in the canopy. The subcanopy layer also contains beech, basswood and ironwood, but with less than 50% frequency. The regeneration layer is dominated by sugar maple, beech, and iron wood; other hardwood tree species occur with less frequently. Striped maple is the only shrub species reported from the this vegetation type.

Spinulose wood fern, wild lily-of-the-valley, and hairy Solomon's seal are the most common herbaceous species. Red and white trilliums, rose twisted-stalk, starflower, and false Solomon's seal occur with less frequency. Mosses are found mainly on tree trunks and rotting logs, although common powderhorn is reported from in the moss layer.

Vegetation type C-V2 is similar in species composition to C-V3, but red maple and wild sarsaparilla are lacking in this type.

Soil & Ecosite Types: The Sugar Maple-Beech-Striped Maple Vegetation Type (C-V2) occurs most commonly on fresh to very fresh, coarse to medium loamy or clay soils (S7). This vegetation type was described primarily from the eastern portion of Site Region 5E, including Site Districts 5E-10 and 5E-11, with less than 10% of plots from Site District 4E-2 (Algoma District). Like C-V3, this V-type can be found on ecosite types C-ES 25.1 (Sugar Maple-Beech-Red Oak, Dry to Moderately Fresh Soils) and C-ES 25.2 (Sugar Maple-Beech-Red Oak, Fresh to Moist Soils).

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:

overstorey

sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
[beech (Fagus grandifolia)]
[red oak (Quercus rubra)]
[basswood (Tilia americana)]
[eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)]
[white ash (Fraxinus americana)]
[trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides)]

subcanopy

sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
[beech (Fagus grandifolia)]
[basswood (Tilia americana)]
[ironwood (Ostrya virginiana)]

regeneration

sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
ironwood (Ostrya virginiana)
beech (Fagus grandifolia)
[white ash (Fraxinus americana)]
[red oak (Quercus rubra)]
[basswood (Tilia americana)]

Shrubs:

tall shrubs

striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum)

Dwarf Shrubs and Herbs:

forbs

wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense)
hairy Solomon's seal (Polygonatum pubescens)
[red trillium (Trillium erectum)]
[rose twisted-stalk (Streptopus lanceolatus)]
[white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)]
[starflower (Trientalis borealis)]
[false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum)]

Ferns and Fern Allies:

ferns

spinulose woodfern (Dryopteris carthusiana)

Bryophytes:

beautiful branch moss (Callicladium haldanianum)
reflexed cedar moss(Brachythecium reflexum)
[rough cedar moss (Brachythecium salebrosum)]

Lichens:

common powderhorn (Cladonia coniocraea)