Name:
Tsuga mertensiana - Tsuga heterophylla - Picea sitchensis / Vaccinium ovalifolium - Vaccinium parvifolium Forest
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This association is located within a subalpine Wet Hypermaritime Mountain Hemlock Subzone (MHwh) along the outer coast from approximately 500 to 1100 m above sea level. It follows the outer mainland British Columbia coast from Rivers Inlet, beyond the tip of northern Vancouver Island, northward to Portland Canal, and includes the Queen Charlotte Islands. Steep middle to upper and crest slope positions with imperfectly to moderately well-drained, upland organic (Folisolic) soils with mor humus forms, over bedrock and colluvial or morainal veneers are common. Sandy to loamy mineral soils on morainal veneers are also found. This scrubby, often dense forest is codominated by <i>Tsuga mertensiana</i> and <i>Tsuga heterophylla</i>, with lower cover of <i>Picea sitchensis</i>. <i>Callitropsis nootkatensis</i> is frequently present. In addition to the above tree species, the light to moderate cover shrub layer (growing in canopy gaps) includes <i>Vaccinium ovalifolium, Vaccinium alaskaense, Vaccinium parvifolium</i>, and occasional <i>Menziesia ferruginea</i>. The herb layer is minimal; various species may occur but almost always with very low cover. These include <i>Coptis aspleniifolia, Veratrum viride, Calamagrostis nutkaensis, Rubus pedatus</i>, and <i>Listera cordata</i>. The moss layer is very well-developed and dominated by <i>Rhytidiadelphus loreus</i>, with <i>Hylocomium splendens, Rhizomnium glabrescens, Scapania bolanderi, Pellia neesiana</i>, and <i>Buckiella undulata</i>. There is only one relatively drier and poorer woodland community recognized, i.e., ~<i>Tsuga mertensiana - Picea sitchensis - Callitropsis nootkatensis - Pinus contorta / Calamagrostis nutkaensis</i> Woodland (CEGL002841)$$, and it is exclusively found on the shallowest soils on exposed rocky knolls. Species characteristic of other associations and normally not found in this community include <i>Phyllodoce empetriformis, Cassiope mertensiana, Luetkea pectinata, Peltigera</i> spp., <i>Caltha leptosepala, Nephrophyllidium crista-galli, Carex</i> spp., and <i>Lysichiton americanus</i>.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:31742-{11FB5ED0-1A52-497B-AC7E-7A642CB36236}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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