Northern Ontario Plant Database

Characteristic boreal forest species
The following 5 species, characteristic of the boreal forest, are listed as a group in the vegetation type descriptions. These include:

bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense)
bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis)
starflower (Trientalis borealis)
twinflower (Linnaea borealis)

These species occur in nearly every FEC V-type in northern Ontario. Where this group of plants is lacking is often more telling than where they do occur. These species are consistently absent from forest types NE-V26 through NE-V28, the wet, black spruce stand types transitional to bog, though bunchberry may be found on drier portions of the bog hummocks. They are also mostly absent from the drier, jack pine stands (NE-V21, NE-V22), except for twinflower, which is recorded from NE-V21.