Plants of the Taiga Shield Ecozone

Full-colour Illustration

Legend

1. Yellow Pond Lily
2. Cat tail
3. Sedge
4. Water Parsnip
5. Water Smartweed
6. Water Horsetail
7. Water Arum
8. Marsh Five-finger
9. Willow
10. Ground Juniper

11. Kinnikinick
12. Fruticose Lichens
13. Dwarf Birch
14. Goldenrod
15. Grass of Parnassus
16. Shrubby Cinquefoil
17. Sweet Gale
18. Green Alder
19. Paper Birch
20. Black Spruce

21. Layering in Black Spruce
22. Labrador Tea
23. Northern Commandra
24. Wild Rose
25. Wood Horsetail
26. Wild Chives
27. Twinflower
28. Feathermoss
29. Fire-charred log
30. Soapberry

31. Crowberry
32. Cupidberry
33. Bearberry
34. High-bush Cranberry
35. Cotton-grass
36. Fireweed
37. Tamarack
38. Tree Lichens
39. Fire Snag
40. Trembling Aspen

41. White Spruce
42. Jack Pine
43. Crustose Lichens
44. Rock Harlequin
45. Fragrant Shield Fern
46. Creeping Juniper
47. Prickly Saxifrage
48. Mountain Cranberry
49. Gooseberry

Cool temperatures, a short growing season, frequent forest fires, and thin, acidic soils covering permafrost are among the many challenges faced by plants in this ecozone. The open, stunted forests of the Taiga Shield are dominated by a few highly adaptable tree species such as Black Spruce and Jack Pine. These forests are mixed with innumerable bogs and other wetlands, scattered stands of Paper Birch and Trembling Aspen, and bare rock outcrops dominated by colourful lichens and ground-hugging shrubs.

Forest fires add to the distinctive mosaic of the Taiga Shield by creating a patchwork quilt of plant communities that vary widely in species composition and age. Although fire often destroys large areas of forest and occasionally threatens human activities or property, it also has a renewing effect on the landscape by triggering new growth, purging forests of insect pests and disease, and increasing the variety of habitats available to wildlife.

Permafrost is another major influence, especially in low areas where the soggy ground or active layer above the permafrost regularly freezes and thaws. As trees grow in these ever-shifting soils, they often tip in random directions, giving the impression of a "drunken forest."