Abstract for CNVC00211

Forest
Forêt

Picea mariana / Rhododendron groenlandicum – Kalmia angustifolia / Pleurozium schreberi

Black Spruce / Common Labrador Tea – Sheep Laurel / Red-stemmed Feathermoss
Épinette noire / Thé du Labrador – Kalmia à feuilles étroites / Pleurozie dorée

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CNVC00211 is a boreal coniferous forest Association that occurs in Ontario and Quebec. It has a moderately closed canopy dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana). The shrub layer is well developed to dense with abundant regenerating black spruce, a minor component of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and abundant heath species, including common Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum), velvet-leaved blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides), early lowbush blueberry (V. angustifolium) and sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia). The herb layer is sparse; only creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula) and bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) are common. The moss layer is continuous, consisting of a thick mat of feathermosses dominated by red-stemmed feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi), with smaller amounts of knight’s plume moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis), broom mosses (Dicranum spp.), grey reindeer lichen (Cladina rangiferina) and Cladonia lichens. CNVC00211 occurs mainly in a region with a humid continental boreal climate, where it is generally found on mesic, nutrient-poor to medium sites. It can be the first cohort after fire or succeed earlier seral conditions. Four subassociations are distinguished: typic, Kalmia angustifolia, Rhododendron groenlandicum and Alnus viridis.

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