Name:
Pinus contorta / Clintonia uniflora Forest
Reference:
Western Ecology Working Group of...
Description:
Broadly distributed throughout the northern Rocky Mountains and adjacent terrain, this large-patch to matrix seral lodgepole pine forest association occupies relatively moist (mesic) and warm to cool sites having free air drainage and lacking frost-pocket conditions. It occurs on slopes of all degrees of steepness and aspect orientation, though it is more likely to occur in predominantly collecting positions. At the dry extreme of its distribution it is more strongly associated with protected positions such as concave slopes, moist depressions in gently sloping plateau areas, stringers along perennial stream bottoms, toeslopes and northeastern aspects. In the north it ranges from 760 to 1585 m (450-5200 feet), whereas to the south it ranges from 1060 to 1710 m (3500-5600 feet). A wide variety of parent materials are represented including those as disparate as granite, limestone, and all manner of glacio-fluvial material. It is also routinely found on ash caps, ranging from 3 to 60 cm in depth. The soil textures are predominantly loams and silt loams; soils typically have less than 15% coarse-fragment content and are well-drained. This mesic, wholly seral association is characterized by <i>Pinus contorta</i> dominating the upper canopy. Other tree species do occur in the overstory but with much less cover, including the seral <i>Larix occidentalis</i> and <i>Pinus monticola</i> as well as those from warmer environments: <i>Pinus ponderosa, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Thuja plicata</i>, and <i>Tsuga heterophylla</i>, and those of colder environments: <i>Abies lasiocarpa, Abies grandis</i>, and <i>Picea engelmannii</i>. The shrub layer may be highly diverse with tall shrubs (e.g., <i>Acer glabrum, Taxus brevifolia, Amelanchier alnifolia</i>), short shrubs (<i>Symphoricarpos albus, Paxistima myrsinites, Rubus parviflorus, Spiraea betulifolia</i>), and dwarf-shrubs (e.g., <i>Chimaphila umbellata, Linnaea borealis, Mahonia repens</i>) abundantly represented. The graminoid component is inconspicuous. The cover of the diagnostic forbs <i>Clintonia uniflora</i> and <i>Tiarella trifoliata</i> is greatest when this type occurs in warmer environments, up to 30% canopy cover. In the colder environments cover of these diagnostics and all forbs is generally less. Other forbs of high constancy are <i>Aralia nudicaulis, Adenocaulon bicolor, Coptis occidentalis, Cornus canadensis, Galium triflorum, Goodyera oblongifolia, Maianthemum stellatum, Osmorhiza berteroi (= Osmorhiza chilensis), Orthilia secunda (= Pyrola secunda), Thalictrum occidentale, Trillium ovatum, Viola glabella</i> (or <i>Viola canadensis</i>), and <i>Viola orbiculata</i>.
Accession Code:
VB.CC.32160.CEGL005916
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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