Coptis trifolia

Flowering late spring-summer (May-Aug). Wet to mesic, coniferous and mixed forests, bogs, willow scrub, and tundra, often associated with mosses; 0-1500m; Greenland; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Alaska, Conn., Ind., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Vt., W.Va., Wis.; e Eurasia.

More info for the term: fern

Goldthread is commmon in coniferous forests, swamps, bogs, and road
banks [41]. It occurs in thickets, mossy places, cedar swamps, and in a
diversity of damp woods and banks [24,46]. Goldthread is most
frequently found in low light, cool, moist conditions on relatively
infertile soils [1,9,13,17,47]. It usually occurs on Histosolic or
Spodosolic soils (podzolic soils), which are poorly drained and acidic,
with a deep, often not well-decomposed, organic layer [7,20,23,31,47].

Plant associates not listed in Distribution and Occurrence include:

Shrubs: Hairy raspberry (Rubus pubescens), lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium
angustifolium [V. myrtilloides]), wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis),
bog blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea),
Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), speckled alder (Alnus rugosa),
partridge berry (Mitchella repens), raspberry (Rubus idaea), willow
(Salix pyrifolia), small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus), Viburnum
alnifolium, American fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis), laurel
(Kalmia angustifolia) [2,8,21,31,34,43].

Forbs: Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), Cypripedium acaule, wild
lily-of-the-valley, starflower (Trientalis borealis), woodsorrel (Oxalis
montana), yellow beadlily (Clintonia borealis), sedge (Carex spp.),
creeping wintergreen (Gaultheria hispidula), goldenrod (Solidago
macrophylla), violet (Viola spp.), bedstraw (Galium spp.), Aster
ciliolatus, softleaved sedge (Carex disperma), leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne
calyculata), common fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium), glandular
willowweed (E. glandulosum), woodland horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum),
Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), naked miterwort (Mitella
nuda), Smilacina trifolia, mountain lover (Pachystima myrsinites), robin
run-away (Dalibarda repens) [2,8,19,20,21,31,39,43].

Ferns and allies: Hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctiloba), moonwort
(Botrychium spp.), woodferns (Dryopteris cristata, D. carthusiana, D.
spinulosa), clubmosses (Lycopodium obscurum, L. annotinum, L.
ludiculum), interrupted fern (Osmunda claytoniana) [19,20,31,43,39].

Mosses: Calliergonella schreber, Hypnum cristacastrensis, Bazzania
trilobata, Deiranum scoparium, feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi),
Ptilidium ciliare, Sphagnum spp. [2,8,22,39]

More info for the terms: association, hardwood, organic soils, tree

Goldthread is commonly associated with cool, moist habitats on poor to
moderately well drained soils at low to middle elevations [10]. It
often occurs in or near peatlands of various types [21]. It occurs in a
number of plant associations but is not considered indicative of
particular associations, although it is more often associated with
coniferous canopies than with hardwood [4].

In Ontario, goldthread is usually associated with sites under or near
black spruce (Picea mariana), as opposed to sites that are open or near
other tree species [8]. In northern Idaho, it usually grows underneath
western white pine (Pinus monticola) stands in association with other
moisture-loving plants [30]. In Michigan, it is scattered in open
coniferous forests on gleysolic or organic soils on sites receiving
water. It is common in nutrient-poor wetlands and is an oxylophytic
species characteristic of Mor humus formations [26]. In New York, it
occurs in riparian areas [7]. In Labrador, goldthread is a
wide-ranging, upland species that occurs on a variety of soil types from
boggy to well-drained [14,23].

Goldthread is considered diagnostic for particular edaphic conditions
[6] (see Site Characteristics). It occurs as a dominant understory
species in an eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)-wild lily-of-the-valley
(Maianthemum canadense)-goldthread type found in low lying areas in
northern Wisconsin and Michigan [6,27]. It is considered indicative of
minerotrophic water (water that carries mineral nutrients into the peat)
in peatlands [22]. It is an understory dominant in the mountain hemlock
(Tsuga mertensiana)-yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkaensis)/blueberry
(Vaccinium spp.) type, the western hemlock-yellow cedar/blueberry/skunk
cabbage (Lysichiton americanum) type, the Sitka spruce (Picea
sitchensis)/blueberry/American skunkcabbage type, and the mountain
hemlock/blueberry types of both low and high elevations [10].

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the term: bog

K001 Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
K002 Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
K012 Douglas - fir forest
K013 Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
K015 Western spruce - fir forest
K020 Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
K093 Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K097 Southeastern spruce - fir forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwoods - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES19 Aspen - birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES24 Hemlock - Sitka spruce

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

1 Jack pine
5 Balsam fir
12 Black spruce
13 Black spruce - tamarack
16 Aspen
18 Paper birch
20 White pine - northern red oak - red maple
21 Eastern white pine
22 White pine - hemlock
23 Eastern hemlock
24 Hemlock - yellow birch
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
30 Red spruce - yellow birch
31 Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
32 Red spruce
33 Red spruce - balsam fir
34 Red spruce - Fraser fir
35 Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
37 Northern white-cedar
38 Tamarack
51 White pine - chestnut oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
107 White spruce
201 White spruce
202 White spruce - paper birch
204 Black spruce
205 Mountain hemlock
215 Western white pine
223 Sitka spruce
224 Western hemlock
225 Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
226 Coastal true fir - hemlock
227 Western redcedar - western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
229 Pacific Douglas-fir
230 Douglas-fir - western hemlock
251 White spruce - aspen
253 Black spruce - white spruce
254 Black spruce - paper birch

Goldthread is distributed from Labrador south to Maryland and in the
Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee. It extends west
to Alaska in small pockets across Canada, with a more continuous
distribution in Alaska and British Columbia [24,29].

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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
8 Northern Rocky Mountains

AK CT DE IN IL IA ME MD MA MI
MN NH NJ NY NC OH PA RI TN VT
VA WV WI AB BC MB NB NF NT NS
ON PE PQ SK YT

Coptis groenlandica (O.F. Müll.) Fernald:
Canada (North America)
Greenland (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Coptis trifolia (L.) Salisb.:
Greenland (North America)
United States (North America)
Canada (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Canada

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: Coptis trifolia occurs from Greenland across North America to Alaska, including most of Canada and the eastern U.S. C. trifolia also occurs in northeast Asia to northern Japan (Kartesz and Meachum 1999, M. Stein (BLM) 1998). There are two disjunct populations in western United States, in the states of Washington and Oregon.

More info for the terms: forb, rhizome

Goldthread is a small, scapose, evergreen forb. It has a long, slender
creeping rhizome that is a bright golden yellow. With no main stem,
goldthread is many branched and frequently matted [12,40,46].

Goldthread forms endomycorrhizal associations [34].

Rhizomes bright yellow to orange. Leaves: blade ternate; leaflets sessile or short-petiolulate, blade cuneate-obovate, margins serrate, slightly lobed distally. Inflorescences 1-flowered, usually equal to or longer than leaves at anthesis, 3-17 cm, not elongating in fruit. Flowers erect; sepals spreading, oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic, 4-11× 1-4 mm; petals clavate, nectary apical, blade absent; stamens 30-60. Follicles 4-7; stipe equal to or longer than body; body elliptic, 3.9-7 mm; beak straight to ascending, 2-4 mm. Seeds 1-1.5 mm. 2 n =18.

Helleborus trifolius Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 558. 1753; Coptis groenlandica (Oeder) Fernald; C. trifolia subsp. groenlandica (Oeder) Hultén

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: > 300

Comments: Coptis trifolia is considered common in Canada, its main North American range. It is considered rare in Oregon where it has been designated as a sensitive species (pers. comm. J. Kagan, December 2001). This species is more frequent in western than eastern British Columbia (Douglas et al. 1990). In the eastern U.S., Coptis trifolia is rare in North Carolina, but reportedly more common in the northeast (Rhoads and Block 2000).

More info for the terms: cover, litter, prescribed fire, succession, wildfire

After both spring and fall prescribed fires, goldthread responded with
vigorous vegetative reproduction but no seed production. Both fires
were relatively cool, consuming only the surface litter layer.
Overstory scorch was limited to 6.6 feet (2 m), and flame heights were
no higher than 20 inches (50 cm) [5]. In New Brunswick, a similarly
cool prescribed fire resulted in patchy charring of the surface litter
and negligible removal of the organic matter. Vegetation returned
quickly from surviving rhizomes [44]. In a study of post wildfire
changes in average individual biomass, goldthread increased from 0.0004
ounce (0.01 gm) dry weight per individual to 0.001 ounce (0.03 gm) per
individual. No population decline was indicated [48].

In other studies of post wildfire succession, goldthread reappeared
slowly [33,42]. Goldthread was found to decrease significantly after a
wildfire in a black spruce-feathermoss forest [15]. In a study to
increase lowbush blueberry, removal of the overstory by logging in the
fall of 1949 followed by prescribed fires in the spring of 1951 and the
spring of 1952 resulted in a severe decline of goldthread [20].

In a postfire successional study, goldthread did not reappear in burned
plots until crown cover developed to 40 percent or more [33].
Similarly, Shafi [42] reports that goldthread increased gradually after
wildfire as the canopy developed, but then the population declined
rapidly as the canopy closed.

More info for the term: rhizome

Goldthread will survive cool fires, sprouting from the rhizome if
top-killed. However, the rhizome is sufficiently near the surface that
it may be killed by moderate-severity fires. Removal of the overstory
appears to have a negative effect on goldthread survival
[5,14,15,42,44].

More info for the terms: ground residual colonizer, rhizome

Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)

Goldthread propagates from rhizomes and tends to form colonies [20,47].
No documentation on seed set or fertility is available.

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More info for the term: hemicryptophyte

Hemicryptophyte

More info for the term: forb

Forb

Goldthread does not appear to be well adapted to fire, despite its
rhizomatous habit. It is shallow rooted and occurs in areas that tend
to have long fire rotations (up to 500 years) [15].

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Facultative seral species.

Goldthread is not tolerant of disturbance and disappears after logging,
although it is not clear whether its disappearance is due to loss of the
canopy or mechanical damage to the roots [30]. It appears to be
intolerant of closed canopies but does require some shade, possibly
because of its preference for moist sites [26,42].

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Flowering occurs from May to July, depending on latitude [12,46].

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 6
Specimens with Barcodes: 18
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: T5 - Secure

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: This widespread species is relatively frequent in the northern portion of its large, generally boreal range. It is sensitive to ecological disturbance and is sometimes collected from the wild for medicinal use. Given the large range for this species, it is estimted that there are 300+ occurrences, more than 100,000 plants worldwide, and at least 13 protected sites, if not more than 40.

Environmental Specificity: Moderate. Generalist or community with some key requirements scarce.

Comments: This species grows in wet areas, seeps, along creeks, depressions in mainly coniferous forest.

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Global Long Term Trend: Increase of 10-25% to decline of 30%

Degree of Threat: Low

Comments: Many activities pose a threat to this understory species, such as logging, hydrologic change, soil disturbance and possibly high intensity fires; this species is collected to a certain extent for medicinal use, but collection probably does not pose a significant threat at this time across its range. Populations in Oregon, and perhaps other regions in western North America are relatively rare, so collecting in these areas could be detrimental to local populations. A related Asian species, Coptis sinensis, is cultivated for commercial use (Tilford 1998).