Northern Ontario Plant Database

Northern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)

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C-V36: Black Spruce - White Cedar - Balsam Fir - Northern Wild Raisin - Sphagnum

Summary: A conifer stand dominated by black spruce, with less frequent occurrences of white cedar and balsam fir. Black spruce, balsam fir, white cedar, and white birch occur throughout the subcanopy and regeneration layer, but with varying frequencies. Red maple and yellow birch are only common in the regeneration. The tall shrub layer is more developed than the low shrub layer, with northern wild raisin and mountain holly dominating. Velvetleaf blueberry is the only low shrub that occurs with more than 30% frequency.

The herb layer is dominated by creeping snowberry, goldthread, wood sorrel, and all of the characteristic boreal forest species, plus spinulose woodfern and three-fruited sedge. The forest floor is dominated by carpets of Sphagnum mosses and Schreber's feathermoss.

This vegetation type is similar to C-V35, however, C-V36 occurs on slightly drier sites and is characterized by the presence of wood sorrel and the more common presence of tall shrubs, such as northern wild raisin and mountain holly, but lacks tamarack and lowbush blueberry.

Soil & Ecosite Types: The Black Spruce-White Cedar-Balsam Fir-Northern wild Raisin-Sphagnum Vegetation Type (C-V36) occurs most commonly on wet, deep organic, humic soils (S21) and others, but may occasionally be found on somewhat drier soil types. This vegetation type was described from Site Regions 4E and 5E, mainly from Site Districts 5E-9 (southern Algonquin Park area) and 5E-8 (Parry Sound), with 20% of sample plots from Site Region 4E. Vegetation type C-V36 is found primarily on ecosite type C-ES 32 (White Cedar-Black Spruce-Tamarack, very moist to wet), but may also be found less frequently on C-ES 22 (White Cedar-Other Conifer, dry to moist).

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:

overstorey

black spruce (Picea mariana)
[white cedar (Thuja occidentalis)]
[balsam fir (Abies balsamea)]

subcanopy

black spruce (Picea mariana)
balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
[white cedar (Thuja occidentalis)]
[white birch (Betula papyrifera)]

regeneration

balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
red maple (Acer rubrum)
black spruce (Picea mariana)
yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis)
white cedar (Thuja occidentalis)
[white birch (Betula papyrifera)]

Shrubs:

tall shrubs

northern wild raisin (Viburnum cassinoides)
mountain holly (Ilex mucronata)
[showy mountain ash (Sorbus decora)]
[speckled alder (Alnus incana subsp. rugosa)]

low shrubs

velvetleaf blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides)

Dwarf Shrubs and Herbs:

dwarf shrubs

creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula)
[twinflower (Linnaea borealis)]

forbs

bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
goldthread (Coptis trifolia)
starflower (Trientalis borealis)
bluebead lily (Clintonia borealis)
wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella subsp. montana)
[wild lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum canadense)]
[Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora)]

graminoids

three-fruited sedge (Carex trisperma)

Ferns and Fern Allies:

ferns

spinulose woodfern (Dryopteris carthusiana)
[cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)]

Bryophytes:

common green peatmoss (Sphagnum girgensohnii)
spiky dicranum (Dicranum flagellare)
three-lobed leafy liverwort (Bazzania trilobata)
midway peatmoss (Sphagnum magellanicum)
Schreber's feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi)
[northern peatmoss (Sphagnum capillifolium)]

Lichens:

[common powderhorn (Cladonia coniocraea)]
[mealy pixie cup (Cladonia chlorophaea)]