USDA Forest Service Celebrating Wildflowers
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Montane Mixed Conifer Forest
Montane mixed conifer forests are the glue that binds together the many different serpentine plant communities within the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains. The serpentine barrens, meadows, Jeffrey pine savanna, rock outcrops, and all the other distinct communities found on the serpentines of this bioregion are within or at the margins of the montane mixed conifer forest matrix. The mixed conifer forest forms the most continuous cloth over the landscape here. Under the trees, the understory may be dense or lacking; the shrub layer may give way to grass or rocky openings. These forests are found over a wide range of elevations and topographic positions. The most important influences on localized plant community composition are elevation, precipitation, soil depth, and the degree of the soil serpentine syndrome: soil toxicity and available calcium. The driest sites, whether from shallow rocky soil, southern exposure, or less precipitation, are dominated by Jeffrey pine and incense-cedar, with lesser numbers of Douglas-fir, sugar pine, white fir, and western white pine. The understory is scant.
More mesic sites, near the coast or higher in elevation, have a stronger component of white fir, along with a more even mix of Jeffrey, sugar, western white and lodgepole pines, Douglas-fir, and incense-cedar, with an understory of dwarf tanbark-oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus var. echinoides), huckleberry-oak (Quercus vaccinifolia), and pinemat Manzanita (Arctostaphylos nevadensis). The Klamath-Siskiyou endemic Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana) is occasionally found in this community.
At the upper end of the mixed conifer zone, just below subalpine woodland, white fir is replaced by Shasta red fir (Abies magnifica) and mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), and the understory in this cold, snowy zone may include common juniper (Juniperus communis) and the rare Klamath manzanita (Arctostaphylos klamathensis). Rare plants in montane mixed conifer forests on serpentine are most often found in shrubby, grassy, or rocky openings, rather than under a dense canopy of trees. Rare plants associated with serpentine mixed conifer forests of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion include:
Photo Gallery
Our thanks to CalPhotos and its many contributors for many of the pictures in this photo gallery. |
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Location: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/communities/serpentines/communities/montane_mixed_conifer.shtml
Last modified: Wednesday, 03-Dec-2008 13:54:24 EST