Northern Ontario Plant Database

Northern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)

---

C-V28: Largetooth Aspen - White Pine - Red Oak - Red Maple - Blueberry - Wintergreen

Summary: A mixedwood stand dominated by largetooth aspen in the canopy, where white pine, white birch, red oak, and trembling aspen occur with 30-50% frequency. Red maple dominates the subcanopy and regeneration layer, but is absent from the main canopy. Balsam fir, white pine, red oak, and sugar maple also occur in the subcanopy, where they occur with 30-50% frequency, but these species are common in the regeneration layer. The shrub layer is dominated by beaked hazel, lowbush blueberry, Canada fly honeysuckle, and bush honeysuckle. Northern wild raisin, striped maple, and velvetleaf blueberry occur with 30-50% frequency.

The herb layer contains wintergreen, wild sarsaparilla, largeleaf aster, mountain rice grass, and all of the characteristic boreal forest species, except for twinflower.

This vegetation type is similar to C-V27, however, C-V28 is characterized by the common presence of northern wild raisin and striped maple, and occasionally velvetleaf blueberry, bluebead lily, and bunchberry, but lacks significant quantities of smooth serviceberry, mapleleaf viburnum, and partridgeberry.

Soil & Ecosite Types: The Largetooth Aspen-White Pine-Red Oak-Red Maple-Blueberry-Wintergreen Vegetation Type (C-V28) occurs most commonly on fresh to very fresh, coarse loamy to silty soils (S7), but may occasionally be found on drier soils. This vegetation type was described from Site Regions 4E and 5E, mainly from Site Districts 5E-10 (northern Algonquin Park area), with only 10% of sample plots from Site Region 4E. Like C-V27 and C-V34, this vegetation type can be found on ecosite types C-ES 14.1 (White Pine-Largetooth Aspen-Red Oak, Dry to Moderately Fresh) and C-ES 14.2 (White Pine-Largetooth Aspen-Red Oak, 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:

overstorey

largetooth aspen (Populus grandidentata)
[white pine (Pinus strobus)]
[white birch (Betula papyrifera)]
[red oak (Quercus rubra)]
[trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides)]

subcanopy

red maple (Acer rubrum)
[white birch (Betula papyrifera)]
[balsam fir (Abies balsamea)]
[white pine (Pinus strobus)]
[red oak (Quercus rubra)]
[sugar maple (Acer saccharum)]
[largetooth aspen (Populus grandidentata)]
[white spruce (Picea glauca)]

regeneration

red maple (Acer rubrum)
balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
white pine (Pinus strobus)
red oak (Quercus rubra)
sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
[white spruce (Picea glauca)]
[white birch (Betula papyrifera)]
[largetooth aspen (Populus grandidentata)]

Shrubs:

tall shrubs

beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta)
[northern wild raisin (Viburnum cassinoides)]
[striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum)]

low shrubs

lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)
Canada fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis)
bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
[velvetleaf blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides)]

Dwarf Shrubs and Herbs:

dwarf shrubs

wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)

forbs

wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense)
wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)
starflower (Trientalis borealis)
largeleaf aster (Eurybia macrophylla)
[bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis)]
[bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)]

graminoids

mountain rice grass (Oryzopsis asperifolia)

Ferns and Fern Allies:

ferns

bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum)

Bryophytes:

[spiky dicranum (Dicranum flagellare)]
[beautiful branch moss (Callicladium haldanianum)]
[broom moss (Dicranum scoparium)]
[Schreber's feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi)]
[naugehyde liverwort (Ptilidium pulcherrimum)]

Lichens:

common powderhorn (Cladonia coniocraea)
[mealy pixie cup (Cladonia chlorophaea)]