Northern Ontario Plant Database

Descriptions of northern Ontario species

Trees | Shrubs | Woody Vines/Lianas | Dwarf Shrubs | Herbs (Forbs)
Herbs (Graminoids) | Pteridophytes | Bryophytes

Over one hundred original descriptive webpages have been compiled for the Northern Ontario Plant Database (NOPD) website. These webpages are primarily of species included in Ontario's Forest Ecosystem Classification (FEC) and are intended to assist forestry workers and students in the identification of these species. Click on the thumbnail images to link to a full-page image in a new window. In addition to images scanned from 35 mm slides, many digital images by Derek Goertz, a very talented former AUC student, have been included in the webpages..

New descriptions and images will be added to the website throughout the course of the project.

Trees

• Abies balsamea (balsam fir)
• Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
• Acer rubrum (red maple)
• Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
• Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
• Acer spicatum (mountain maple)
• Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
• Betula papyrifera (white birch)
• Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
• Fagus grandifolia (beech)
• Fraxinus americana (white ash)
• Fraxinus pensylvanica (green ash)
• Larix laricina (hackmatack)
• Malus pumila (sweet apple)
• Ostrya virginiana (ironwood)
• Picea glauca (white spruce)
• Picea rubens (red spruce)
• Pinus resinosa (red pine)
• Prunus serotina (black cherry)
• Populus tremuloides (trembling aspen)
• Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak)
• Quercus rubra (northern red oak)
• Salix × fragilis (crack willow)
• Tilia americana (basswood)
• Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
• Ulmus americana (white elm)
• Thuja occidentalis (northern white cedar)

Shrubs

• Alnus incana subsp. rugosa (speckled alder)
• Alnus viridis subsp. crispa (mountain alder)
• Amelanchier laevis (smooth Juneberry)
• Betula pumila (dwarf birch)
• Chamaedaphne calyculata (leatherleaf)
• Comptonia peregrina (sweetfern)
• Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaf dogwood)
• Cornus rugosa (rough dogwood)
• Cornus stolonifera (red-osier dogwood)
• Corylus cornuta (beaked hazelnut)
• Crataegus chrysocarpa (fireberry hawthorn)
• Dasiphora fruticosa (shrubby cinquefoil)
• Diervilla lonicera (bush honeysuckle)
• Dirca palustris (leatherwood)
• Ilex mucronata (mountain holly)
• Ilex verticillata (black alder)
• Juniperus communis (common juniper)
• Kalmia angustifolia (sheep laurel)
• Lonicera canadensis (Canada fly honeysuckle)
• Myrica gale (sweet gale)
• Prunus pensylvanica (pincherry)
• Prunus virginiana (choke cherry)
• Physocarpus opulifolius (smooth ninebark)
• Rhododendron groenlandicum (Labrador tea)
• Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
• Ribes cynosbati (prickly gooseberry)
• Ribes glandulosum (skunk currant)
• Ribes hirtellum (wild gooseberry)
• Ribes triste (swamp red currant)
• Rosa acicularis (prickly wild rose)
• Rosa blanda (meadow rose)
• Rosa palustris (swamp rose)
• Rubus allegheniensis (common blackberry)
• Rubus canadensis (smooth blackberry)
• Rubus chamaemorus (cloudberry, bakeapple)
• Rubus idaeus (wild red raspberry)
• Rubus parviflorus (thimbleberry)
• Salix discolor (pussy willow)
• Salix humilis (gray willow)
• Salix pedicellaris (bog willow)
• Salix petiolaris (slender willow)
• Salix planifolia (tealeaf willow)
• Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
• Sambucus racemosa (red elderberry)
• Shepherdia canadensis (soapberry)
• Sorbus decora (showy mountainash)
• Spiraea alba (narrowleaf meadowswee)
• Taxus canadensis (Canada yew)
• Toxicodendron radicans subsp. rydbergii (western poison ivy)
• Vaccinium angustifolium (lowbush blueberry)
• Vaccinium ovalifolium (ovalleaf bilberry)
• Viburnum cassinoides (northern wild raisin)
• Viburnum edule (squashberry)
• Viburnum lantanoides (hobblebush)
• Vaccinium myrtilloides (velvetleaf blueberry)
• Viburnum trilobum (highbush cranberry)

Woody Vines/Lianas

• Clematis virginiana (virginsbower)
• Lonicera dioica (glaucous honeysuckle)
• Lonicera hirsuta (hairy honeysuckle)
• Parthenocissus inserta (thicket creeper)

Dwarf Shrubs

• Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (bearberry)
• Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen)
• Linnaea borealis (twinflower)
• Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
• Rubus arcticus subsp. acaulis (arctic bramble, plumboy)
• Rubus pubescens (dewberry, dwarf raspberry)
• Vaccinium oxycoccus (small cranberry)

Herbs (Forbs)

• Acorus americanus (sweetflag)
• Actaea pachypoda (doll's eyes)
• Allium tricoccum (wild leek)
• Anaphalis margaritacea (pearly everlasting)
• Anemone americana (roundlobe liverleaf)
• Anemone canadensis (Canada anemone)
• Apocynum androsaemifolium (spreading dogbane)
• Arethusa bulbosa (dragon's mouth)
• Aralia racemosa (spikenard)
• Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
• Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)
• Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
• Brasenia schreberi (watershield)
• Caltha palustris (marsh marigold)
• Caulophyllum thalictroides (blue cohosh)
• Chamerion angustifolium (French willow)
• Claytonia caroliniana (Carolina spring beauty)
• Clintonia borealis (bluebead lily)
• Coptis trifolia (goldthread)
• Corallorhiza striata (striped coralroot)
• Cornus canadensis (bunchberry)
• Dalibarda repens (dewdrop)
• Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's breeches)
• Doellingeria umbellata (flattop white aster)
• Epipactis helleborine (broadleaf helleborine)
• Erythronium americanum (yellow adder's tongue)
• Euthamia graminifolia (grassleaf goldenrod)
• Eutrochium maculatum (spotted Joe-Pye weed)
• Fragaria vesca (woodland strawberry)
• Fragaria virginiana (Virginia strawberry)
• Geum fragarioides (barren strawberry)
• Heracleum mantegazzianum (giant hogweed)
• Heracleum maximum (cow parsnip)
• Impatiens capensis (touch-me-not, jewelweed)
• Iris versicolor (blue flag, iris)
• Lilium philadelphicum (wood lily)
• Maianthemum canadense (wild lily-of-the-valley)
• Maianthemum racemosum (feathery false Solomon's seal)
• Medeola virginiana (Indian cucumber-root)
• Mitella nuda (naked miterwort)
• Pogonia ophioglossoides (rose pogonia)
• Polygonatum pubescens (hairy Solomon's seal)
• Pyrola asarifolia (bog wintergreen)
• Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan)
• Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)
• Sarracenia purpurea (pitcher plant)
• Solidago nemoralis (gray-stemmed goldenrod)
• Streptopus lanceolatus (rose twisted-stalk)
• Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
• Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
• Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower)
• Trientalis borealis (starflower)
• Trillium erectum (purple trillium)
• Trillium grandiflorum (great white trillium)
• Trillium cernuum (nodding trillium)
• Uvularia grandiflora (large-flowered bellwort)
• Viola blanda (sweet white violet)
• Viola cucullata (marsh blue violet)
• Viola lanceolata (lanceleaf violet)
• Viola macloskeyi (northern white violet)
• Viola nephrophylla (northern bog violet)
• Viola pubescens (downy yellow violet)
• Viola renifolia (kidneyleaf violet)
• Viola selkirkii (Selkirk's violet)
• Viola sororia (woolly blue violet)

Herbs (Graminoids)

• Anthoxanthum nitens (sweet grass)
• Brachyelytrum aristosum (northern shorthusk)
• Carex arctata (drooping woodland sedge)
• Carex lucorum (longbeaked oak sedge)
• Carex gracillima (graceful sedge)
• Danthonia spicata (poverty oatgrass)
• Deschampsia flexuosa (wavy hairgrass)

Pteridophytes

• Dryopteris intermedia (evergreen woodfern)
• Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
• Huperzia lucidula (shining clubmoss)
• Lycopodium annotinum (bristly or interrupted clubmoss)
• Osmunda cinnamomeum (cinnamon fern)
• Polystichum braunii (Braun's holly fern)
• Pteridium aquilinum (eastern bracken fern)
• Selaginella selaginoides (spikemoss)

Bryophytes

• Hylocomium splendens (stairstep moss)
• Pleurozium schreberi (Schreber's moss)
• Ptilium crista-castrensis (plume moss)
• Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus (shaggy moss)

Photographers of the images and the illustrators can be identified by their initials, included in the copyright information on each image: dg = Derek Goertz, sjm = Susan J. Meades, jem = John Maunder (Newfoundland Museum), rd = Russ Dennison (deceased Sault Naturalist), kb = Ken Baldwin.