Northern Ontario Plant Database

Northern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)

---

NW-V5: Aspen Hardwood

Summary: A hardwood stand dominated by only trembling aspen, or in some areas trembling aspen and white birch. Largetooth aspen occurred in only 10% of the sample plots, but often dominates the canopy of stands in the Quetico/Rainy River area. The shrub layer contains a variety of tall and low shrubs, with beaked hazel and mountain maple as the most common tall shrubs, although mountain maple is more common in the eastern portions of northwestern Ontario. Bush honeysuckle dominates the low shrub layer; prickly wild rose occurs less frequently.

The herb layer contains wild sarsaparilla, dwarf raspberry, rose twisted-stalk, largeleaf aster, and most of the characteristic boreal forest species, except twinflower. The forest floor is covered with broadleaf litter. This vegetaton type is similar to other trembling aspen-V6 dominated stands (NW-V6-V11), but the latter can be differentiated by the common occurrence of balsam fir in their regeneration.

Soil & Ecosite Types: The dominant canopy species in the Aspen Hardwood Vegetation Type (NW-V5) may vary in different regions of northwestern Ontario. This V-type may occur on Ecosite Types ES 16 (Hardwood-Fir-Spruce Mixedwood, sandy soil), ES 19 (Hardwood-Fir-Spruce Mixedwood, fresh, sandy- coarse loamy soil), ES 28 (Hardwood-Fir-Spruce Mixedwood, fresh, silty soil), ES 29 (Hardwood-Fir-Spruce Mixedwood, fresh, fine loamey-clayey soil), ES 23 (Hardwood$#45;Spruce Mixedwood, moist, sandy$#45;coarse loamy soil), and ES 33 (Hardwood-Fir-Spruce Mixedwood, moist, silty-clayey soil). Aspen Hardwood stands occur most frequently on deep, fresh, well-drained, upland mineral soils, but with a variety of soil textures (mainly S1, S2, and S3).

Note: The percentage of sample plots that contained overstorey tree species is given in square brackets after each scientific name. Other species are listed in order of frequency, according to the NW-FEC manual.

Trees:

overstorey:

trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) [9]
white birch (Betula papyrifera) [5]
largetooth aspen (Populus grandedentata) [1]
red maple (Acer rubrum) [1]

regeneration:

balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides)

Shrubs:

tall shrubs:

beaked hazel (Corylus cornuta)
mountain maple (Acer spicatum)
serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.)
mountain alder (Alnus viridis subsp. crispa)

low shrubs:

bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
prickly wild rose (Rosa acicularis)

Dwarf Shrubs & Herbs:

dwarf shrubs:

dwarf raspberry (Rubus pubescens)

forbs:

wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)
wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense)
rose twisted-stalk (Streptopus lanceolatus)
largeleaf aster (Eurybia macrophylla)
bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis)
bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
starflower (Trientalis borealis)
violets (Viola spp.)
fragrant bedstraw (Galium triflorum)

Bryophytes:

Schreber's feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi)
woodsy mnium (Plagiomnium cuspidatum)