HYBRID W HITE SPRUCE/OSTRICH FERN Picea engelmannii × glauca/Matteuccia struthiopteris

This forested community has a fairly open canopy dominated by large hybrid white spruce (Picea engelmannii x glauca), but also including subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa), and paper birch (Betula papyrifera). Mountain alder (Alnus incana ssp. tenuifolia), red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa ssp. pubens), and devil’s-club (Oplopanax horridus) dominate the vigorous shrub layer. The well-developed herb layer includes an abundance of ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), horsetails (Equisetum spp.), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), enchanter’s-nightshade (Circaea alpina), northern golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium tetrandrum), one-leaved foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata var. unifoliata), and large-leaved avens (Geum macrophyllum). Moss cover is low, and consists primarily of leafy mosses (Mnium spp.) and Brachythecium. See DeLong (1996), and Steen and Coupe (1997) for more information.