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Northern Ontario Plant DatabaseNorthern Ontario Vegetation Type (V-type)Summary: A stunted black spruce stand type with occasional larch. Black spruce provides 11-20% cover in the overstorey and 21-40% cover in the regeneration. Larch provides more cover in the understorey (2-5%) than in the overstorey (<1%). This stand type represents an early successional stage from bog to a wet black spruce forest type, as seen by the larger number of trees in the understorey and the abundance of peatmoss species in the moss layer. The shrub layer is composed entirely of ericaceous shrubs, with Labrador tea and leatherleaf providing the most cover (each 21-40%), followed by bog rosemary and bog laurel (each 2-5% cover), and less frequently lowbush and velvetleaf blueberries (2-5% cover on fewer than 2/3 of sample plots). The herb layer is poor, with sedges (11-20% cover), creeping snowberry, and threeleaf false Solomon's seal (2-5% cover each) the most common species. Small cranberry and goldthread provide less than 1% cover. The moss layer is dominated by several peatmoss species, each with slightly different moisture requirements. Wet hollows contain mainly narrowleaf peatmoss (>40% cover), while hummock tops support common brown peatmoss (11-20% cover). The red fatleaf peatmoss (6-10% cover) and less frequently the northern peatmoss (6-10% cover) occupy hummock sides and contribute to the formation of young hummocks. The common green peatmoss, more common in wet forests than open bogs, forms mounds or carpets in wet depressions (11-20% cover). Bog hummocks also support Schreber's feathermoss (6-10% cover), along with small amounts of plume moss and gray reindeer lichen. Soil and Ecosite Types: The Black Spruce-Bog Rosemary-Bog Laurel-Sphagnum Vegetation Type (NE-V28) occurs on deep organic soils (S17, S18), most commonly on organic soils with fibric rather than mesic peat. The NE-V28 vegetation type occurs primarily on ecosite type ES 14 (Black Spruce-Leatherleaf-Organic Soil), but may be found occasionally on ecosite type ES 11 (Black Spruce-Labrador Tea-Organic Soil). Trees: overstoreyShrubs: low shrubsDwarf Shrubs & Herbs: dwarf shrubsBryophytes: Lichens:narrowleaf (or yellow twoleaf) peatmoss (Sphagnum angustifolium) 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.gray reindeer lichen (Cladina rangiferina) |