Abstract for CNVC00350

Forest
Forêt

Picea mariana / Pleurozium schreberi – Hylocomium splendens

Black Spruce / Red-stemmed Feathermoss – Stairstep Moss
Épinette noire / Pleurozie dorée – Hylocomie brillante

---

CNVC00350 is a boreal coniferous forest Association that occurs in Quebec and insular Newfoundland. It has a moderately closed to closed canopy dominated by black spruce (Picea mariana), typically with a minor component of balsam fir (Abies balsamea). The shrub layer is well developed to dense, comprising mostly black spruce and balsam fir regeneration, with presence of heath species, particularly early lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) and sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia). The herb layer is poorly developed; only creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula) and bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) are common. The moss layer is continuous and made up predominantly of red-stemmed feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi) and stairstep moss (Hylocomium splendens), with smaller amounts of knight’s plume moss (Ptilium crista-castrensis), broom mosses (Dicranum spp.), grey reindeer lichen (Cladina rangiferina) and Cladonia lichens. CNVC00350 typically occurs on mesic, nutrient-poor to medium sites in a region with a very humid, maritime-influenced boreal climate. Fire is required for the black spruce dominance that characterizes this Association. Three subassociations are distinguished: typic, Rhododendron canadense and Dicranum majus.

 Factsheet