Taiga Shield Terrestrial Ecozone - Plants

Legend 1. Yellow Pond Lily 18. Green Alder 35. Cotton-grass 2. Cat tail 19. Paper Birch 36. Fireweed 3. Sedge 20. Black Spruce 37. Tamarack 4. Water Parsnip 21. Layering in Black Spruce 38. Tree Lichens 5. Water Smartweed 22. Labrador Tea 39. Fire Snag 6. Water Horsetail 23. Northern Commandra 40. Trembling Aspen 7. Water Arum 24. Wild Rose 41. White Spruce 8. Marsh Five-finger 25. Wood Horsetail 42. Jack Pine 9. Willow 26. Wild Chives 44. Rock Harlequin 10. Ground Juniper 27. Twinflower 45. Fragrant Shield Fern 11. Kinnikinick 28. Feathermoss 46. Creeping Juniper 12. Fruticose Lichens 29. Fire-charred log 47. Prickly Saxifrage 13. Dwarf Birch 30. Soapberry 48. Mountain Cranberry 14. Goldenrod 31. Crowberry 49. Gooseberry 15. Grass of Parnassus 32. Cupidberry   16. Shrubby Cinquefoil 33. Bearberry   17. Sweet Gale 34. High-bush Cranberry

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."