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Northern Ontario Plant DatabaseNorthern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)Summary: A mixedwood stand with white cedar, trembling aspen, white pine, yellow birch, and white spruce as the most commonly encountered species, though none of the canopy species occurs with more than 50% frequency. Balsam fir is dominant in the subcanopy and regeneration layers, while white cedar and white spruce are the next most frequent species, indicating that this forest type is a successional stage to a conifer forest. The low shrub layer is dominated by Canada fly honeysuckle, with beaked hazel and mountain maple as the most common tall shrubs. The herb layer is dominated by the characteristic boreal forest species, plus wild sarsaparilla, fragrant bedstraw, spinulose woodfern, largeleaf aster, goldthread, and with less frequency, kidneyleaf violet. The moss layer is dominated by Schreber's feathermoss. This vegetation type is similar to C-V22 and C-V23, however, C-V21 is characterized by the presence of white cedar, twinflower, and kidneyleaf violet, but lacks significant amounts of red maple. Soil & Ecosite Types: The White Cedar-Trembling Aspen-White Spruce-Twinflower Vegetation Type (C-V21) occurs most commonly on fresh to very fresh, coarse loamy to silty soils (S7), but may also be found on wetter soil types. This vegetation type was described mainly from the eastern portions of Site Regions 4E and 5E, including Site Districts 4E-4 (northern North Bay region) and 5E-12 (Ottawa Valley). Vegetation type C-V21 is found on a variety of ecosites. It can be found most often on ecosite types C-ES 34 (White Cedar-Lowland Hardwood, very moist to wet) and C-ES 18.2 (Poplar-White Birch-White Spruce-Balsam Fir, fresh to moist), and less frequently on ecosite types and C-ES 17.2 (Poplar-White birch, fresh to moist), C-ES 20.1 (White Pine-Red Pine-White Spruce-White Birch-Trembling Aspen, dry to moderately fresh), C-ES 21.1 (White Cedar-White Pine-White Birch-White Spruce, dry to moderately fresh), C-ES 21.2 (White Cedar-White Pine-White Birch-White Spruce, fresh to moist), and C-ES 35 (Lowland Hardwood, fresh to very 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: overstoreyShrubs:[white cedar (Thuja occidentalis)]subcanopy tall shrubsDwarf Shrubs and Herbs:beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta)low shrubs dwarf shrubsFerns and Fern Allies:twinflower (Linnaea borealis)forbs fernsBryophytes:spinulose woodfern (Dryopteris carthusiana)clubmosses Lichens:Schreber's feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi) [no species occur more than 30% of the time] |