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Northern Ontario Plant Database
Northern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)Summary: A conifer stand dominated by black spruce, with white cedar, and balsam fir occurring with less than 50% frequency. Other occasional species in the canopy include white birch, white pine, and trembling aspen. These species also occur in the subcanopy and regeneration layers with varying frequencies, with balsam fir taking over as the dominant species in the understorey. Red pine and yellow birch may be present occasionally in the understorey. The shrub layer contains a variety of tall and low shrubs. The most common tall shrubs are mountain maple and showy mountain ash, while Canada fly honeysuckle is the dominant low shrub. The herb layer is dominated by creeping snowberry, goldthread, wild sarsaparilla, spinulose woodfern, and all of the characteristic boreal forest species. The forest floor has discontinuous patches of Schreber's feathermoss, three-lobed leafy liverwort, and various Dicranum and Sphagnum species. This vegetation type is similar to C-V38, however, C-V37 occurs on slightly drier sites, is characterized by the dominance of black spruce in the overstorey, and contains a much poorer variety of pteridophytes in the herb layer, especially ferns. Soil & Ecosite Types: The Black Spruce-White Cedar-Balsam Fir-Mountain Maple-Creeping Snowberry Vegetation Type (C-V37) occurs on a variety of soil types, including very moist, coarse loamy to silty soils (S15). This vegetation type was described from Site Regions 4E and 5E, mainly from Site District 4E-4 (northern North Bay region) and others. Vegetation type C-V37 is found primarily on ecosite types C-ES 22 (White Cedar-Other Conifer, dry to moist) C-ES 33 (White Cedar-Other Conifer, very moist to wet); rarely, it may also be found on C-ES 32 (White Cedar-Black Spruce-Tamarack, very moist to wet). 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:black spruce (Picea mariana)subcanopy tall shrubsDwarf Shrubs and Herbs:mountain maple (Acer spicatum)low shrubs dwarf shrubsFerns and Fern Allies:creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula)forbs fernsBryophytes:spinulose woodfern (Dryopteris carthusiana)clubmossesground pine (Lycopodium dendroideum or Lycopodium obscurum) Lichens:Schreber's feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi) common powderhorn (Cladonia coniocraea) |
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