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Northern Ontario Plant DatabaseNorthern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)Summary: A hardwood swamp forest type dominated by black ash in the canopy (21-40% cover) and understorey (11-20% cover). A variety of other hardwood and coniferous species may occur, but not with more than 10% cover. The shrub layer is dominated by speckled alder (21-40% cover), mountain maple (6-10% cover), and red osier dogwood and wild raspberry (2-5% cover). The herb layer is rich, dominated by sedges and drooping woodreed (11-20% cover), dwarf raspberry (6-10% cover), fragrant bedstraw, violets, and wild lily-of- the-valley (2-5% cover). A large number of other herbaceous species occur in less frequency, most with less than 5% cover. Spinulose shield fern and woodland horsetail are the most common pteridophytes, with northern lady fern occurring less frequently. The forest floor is covered with deciduous leaf litter, but the wet soils promote decomposition, so the moss layer is fairy well developed, with a wide variety of species present with 1-5% cover. Soil & Ecosite Types: The Black Ash-Speckled Alder-Sedge Vegetation Type (NE-V9) occurs on moist to wet soils, including moist fine loamy to clayey soils (S14), shallow moist black organic soils (S15), and deep humic organic soils (S19). This vegetation type is restricted to Ecosite type ES13r (White Cedar-Black Spruce-Organic Soil-Species Rich). Trees: overstoreyShrubs: tall shrubsDwarf Shrubs & Herbs: dwarf shrubsFerns & Fern Allies: fernsBryophytes: Note: Species listed above are taken from the Vegetation type description and the Species Percentage Cover by Vegetation Type Tables (pg. D 34). Species are listed in order of most cover and abundance.northern tree moss (Climacium dendroides) |