Other spruce types in vicinity are a matrix Picea rubens / Dryopteris intermedia and a small patch Picea rubens / Vaccinium erythrocarpon, both with higher herb diversity and more spruce regeneration.;West slope above small creek on high elevation mountain top. Community of Picea rubens with Rhododendron maximum and Rhododendron catawbiense forming thickets in the understory. Subcanopy has Betula allegheniensis in gaps between canopy spruce. Some areas on edges of impenitrable thickets are stick piles with scraggly tall live stems of Rhododendron, presumably evidense of a front of heavy deer herbivory. Low herb diversity and low spruce regeneration in this community.
Representativeness
Small patch of Picea rubens with Rhododendron catawbiense codominant in shrub layer. Plot has arelatively high cover of Picea with some areas adjacent having more Betula allegheniensis in canopy. Sampled to represent CEGL006163 and this stand is likely so
