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CEGL005140 Dasiphora fruticosa / Carex interior - Carex flava - Parnassia glauca Fen
Type Concept Sentence: This rich fen community is found in the Allegheny region and Lake Erie-Lake Ontario plains of the United States and Canada. Stands are minerotrophic and alkaline to circumneutral in character, with groundwater flowing through shallow peats and marls on level to sloping glacial deposits. Graminoids dominate, though forbs and dwarf-shrubs can be prominent.
Common (Translated Scientific) Name: Shrubby-cinquefoil / Carex interior - Carex flava - Parnassia glauca Fen
Colloquial Name: Allegheny Sedge - Low Shrub Rich Fen
Hierarchy Level: Association
Type Concept: This rich fen community is found in the Allegheny region and Lake Erie-Lake Ontario plains of the United States and Canada. Stands occur on level to sloping seepage areas. Sites are minerotrophic and alkaline to circumneutral in character, with groundwater flowing through shallow peats and marls on glacial deposits. Graminoids dominate, though forbs and dwarf-shrubs can be prominent. A tall-shrub layer swamp often surrounds the core fen area. Typical graminoids include the sedges Carex aquatilis, Carex flava, Carex interior, Carex leptalea, Carex lacustris, Carex hystericina, Carex sterilis, and Carex stricta, as well as Cladium mariscoides, Eleocharis rostellata, Eriophorum viridicarinatum. Other herbaceous species include Symphyotrichum puniceum, Doellingeria umbellata, Cypripedium reginae, Muhlenbergia glomerata, Oxypolis rigidior, Platanthera dilatata, Pycnanthemum virginianum, Solidago patula, Solidago uliginosa, Thalictrum dasycarpum, and Thelypteris palustris. Shrubs most characteristic of this type include Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda and Rhamnus alnifolia, but Aronia melanocarpa, Alnus incana, Cornus amomum, Cornus foemina, Salix candida, Salix sericea, and Viburnum lentago can also be found. A moss layer is commonly well-developed, and may or may not contain species of Sphagnum. The open marl area is often sparsely vegetated, but can contain Chara spp., Juncus brachycephalus, Lobelia kalmii, Parnassia glauca, Rhynchospora capillacea, Sarracenia purpurea, Triglochin maritima, and Triglochin palustris.
Diagnostic Characteristics: No Data Available
Rationale for Nominal Species or Physiognomic Features: No Data Available
Classification Comments: This type allows for considerable variability in the shrub component, allowing for as much as 50% shrub cover. Compare with ~Dasiphora fruticosa / Carex (sterilis, hystericina, flava) Fen (CEGL006326)$$, which may be the same type, but see also ~Cornus racemosa / Carex (sterilis, aquatilis, lacustris) Fen (CEGL006123)$$. Note that the tall-shrub rich fen equivalent is treated as ~Cornus sericea - Cornus amomum - Aronia melanocarpa - Viburnum lentago Fen (CEGL005088)$$, but some states, such as Ohio, simply treat these two types as zones within their fen (Schneider and Cochrane 1997). There, the type is restricted to the glaciated Allegheny Plateau in the northeast. In New York it is found in the glaciated Finger Lakes region. In Ontario, the shrubby-cinquefoil type is only reported from Site Region 6, suggesting that the type may not be the same.
Similar NVC Types: No Data Available
note: No Data Available
Physiognomy and Structure: Graminoids dominate, though forbs and dwarf-shrubs can be prominent. A tall-shrub swamp often surrounds the core fen area.
Floristics: Typical graminoids include the sedges Carex aquatilis, Carex flava, Carex interior, Carex leptalea, Carex lacustris, Carex hystericina, Carex sterilis, and Carex stricta, as well as Cladium mariscoides, Eleocharis rostellata, Eriophorum viridicarinatum. Other herbaceous species include Symphyotrichum puniceum (= Aster puniceus), Doellingeria umbellata (= Aster umbellatus), Cypripedium reginae, Muhlenbergia glomerata, Oxypolis rigidior, Platanthera dilatata, Pycnanthemum virginianum, Solidago patula, Solidago uliginosa, Thalictrum dasycarpum, and Thelypteris palustris. Shrubs most characteristic of this type include Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda (= Pentaphylloides floribunda) and Rhamnus alnifolia, but Aronia melanocarpa, Alnus incana, Cornus amomum, Cornus foemina, Salix candida, Salix sericea, and Viburnum lentago can also be found. A moss layer is commonly well-developed and may or may not contain species of Sphagnum. The open marl area is often sparsely vegetated, but can contain Chara spp., Juncus brachycephalus, Lobelia kalmii, Parnassia glauca, Rhynchospora capillacea, Sarracenia purpurea, Triglochin maritima, and Triglochin palustris (Anderson 1996, Reschke 1990).
Dynamics: No Data Available
Environmental Description: Sites are minerotrophic and alkaline to circumneutral in character, with groundwater flowing throughout shallow peats and marls on glacial deposits. In New York, the sloping fens are fed by small springs of groundwater seepage; these are headwater wetlands with cold water constantly flowing through them (Reschke 1990). In Ohio, sites are found in seepage areas of minerotrophic springs associated with gravel deposits in terminal moraines and other glacial forms (Anderson 1996).
Geographic Range: This shrubby-cinquefoil - sedge rich fen community type is found in the Allegheny region of northeastern Ohio and elsewhere in the eastern Great Lakes area of the northeastern United States, including central-western New York (glaciated Finger Lakes region) and possibly in southern Ontario and northwestern Pennsylvania.
Nations: CA,US
States/Provinces: NY, OH, ON, PA
Plot Analysis Summary:
http://vegbank.org/natureserve/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.687038
Confidence Level: Low - Poorly Documented
Confidence Level Comments: No Data Available
Grank: G3
Greasons: No Data Available
| Type | Name | Database Code | Classification Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Class | C02 | 2 |
| Subclass | 2.C Shrub & Herb Wetland Subclass | S44 | 2.C |
| Formation | 2.C.2 Temperate to Polar Bog & Fen Formation | F016 | 2.C.2 |
| Division | 2.C.2.Na North American Bog & Fen Division | D029 | 2.C.2.Na |
| Macrogroup | 2.C.2.Na.2 Shrubby cinquefoil - Woolly-fruit Sedge / Star Campylium Moss Alkaline Fen Macrogroup | M877 | 2.C.2.Na.2 |
| Group | 2.C.2.Na.2.f North-Central Interior & Appalachian Alkaline Fen Group | G805 | 2.C.2.Na.2.f |
| Alliance | A4479 <i>Dasiphora fruticosa - Carex flava - Carex tetanica</i> Alkaline Fen Alliance | A4479 | 2.C.2.Na.2.f |
| Association | CEGL005140 Shrubby-cinquefoil / <i>Carex interior - Carex flava - Parnassia glauca</i> Fen | CEGL005140 | 2.C.2.Na.2.f |
Concept Lineage: No Data Available
Predecessors: No Data Available
Obsolete Names: No Data Available
Obsolete Parents: No Data Available
Synonomy: = Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda / Carex interior - Carex flava - Sarracenia purpurea Shrub Herbaceous Vegetation (Faber-Langendoen 2001)
- Anderson, D. M. 1996. The vegetation of Ohio: Two centuries of change. Draft. Ohio Biological Survey.
- Edinger, G. J., D. J. Evans, S. Gebauer, T. G. Howard, D. M. Hunt, and A. M. Olivero, editors. 2014a. Ecological communities of New York state. Second edition. A revised and expanded edition of Carol Reschke''s ecological communities of New York state. New York Natural Heritage Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY.
- Faber-Langendoen, D., editor. 2001. Plant communities of the Midwest: Classification in an ecological context. Association for Biodiversity Information, Arlington, VA. 61 pp. plus appendix (705 pp.).
- Lee, H., W. Bakowsky, J. Riley, J. Bowles, M. Puddister, P. Uhlig, and S. McMurray. 1998. Ecological land classification for southern Ontario: First approximation and its application. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Southcentral Science Section, Science Development and Transfer Branch. SCSS Field Guide FG-02.
- Midwestern Ecology Working Group of NatureServe. No date. International Ecological Classification Standard: International Vegetation Classification. Terrestrial Vegetation. NatureServe, Minneapolis, MN.
- ONHD [Ohio Natural Heritage Database]. No date. Vegetation classification of Ohio and unpublished data. Ohio Natural Heritage Database, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Columbus.
- ONHIC [Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre]. 2018. Unpublished data. Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario, Canada.
- Reschke, C. 1990. Ecological communities of New York State. New York Natural Heritage Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Latham, NY. 96 pp.
- Schneider, G. J., and K. E. Cochrane. 1997. Plant community survey of the Lake Erie drainage. A final report to The Nature Conservancy, Great Lakes Program (Chicago, IL) and The Ohio Chapter (Columbus, OH), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Great Lakes National Program Office (Chicago, IL). 158 pp.