More info for the terms: association, selection, taiga, tree
Devil's-club is a dominant component of understories of various Pacific
Northwest and western boreal forests where moist to wet soil conditions
prevail. Devil's-club is an indicator of numerous habitat types; some
commonly occurring ones are western redcedar (Thuja plicata)/devil's
club, western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)/devil's-club, Sitka spruce
(Picea sitchensis)-western hemlock/devil's-club, subalpine fir (Abies
lasiocarpa)/devil's-club, and Pacific silver fir (A. amabilis)/devil's
club [2,3,8,9]. Understories of various forest/devil's-club types are
sometimes nearly pure, dense stands of devil's-club. Other understories
dominated by devil's-club, however, are species rich, involving mixed
shrub, shrub-fern, or shrub-forb associations [21,27].
A comprehensive list of publications naming devil's-club as a dominant
or indicator species would be prohibitively long. A geographically
representative selection of such publications is listed below:
Old-growth forests of the Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks [1]
Forest types of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex [2]
Classification and management of riparian and wetland sites in
northwestern Montana [8]
Plant associations and management guide for the Pacific silver fir zone
and Gifford Pinchot National Forest [9]
Forest habitat types of northern Idaho: a second approximation [11]
Preliminary forest plant association management guide: Ketchikan Area,
Tongass National Forest [14]
Classification, description, and dynamics of plant communities after
fire in the taiga of interior Alaska [19]
Devil's-club tree associates not previously mentioned include noble fir
(Abies procera), grand fir (A. grandis), Alaska-cedar (Chamaecyparis
nootkatensis), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western white pine
(Pinus monticola), lodgepole pine (P. contorta varieties latifolia and
murrayana), shore pine (P. c. var. contorta), bigleaf maple (Acer
macrophyllum), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), and black cottonwood
(P. trichocarpa) [12,15,38,39].
Shrub associates are Alaska blueberry (Vaccinium alaskaense), ovalleaf
huckleberry (V. ovalifolium), evergreen huckleberry (V. ovatum), bog
blueberry (V. uliginosum), salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), Rocky
Mountain maple (Acer circinatum), red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea),
prickly currant (Ribes lacustre), and Oregon-grape (Mahonia nervosa)
[14,15,19,38].
Herbaceous associates of devil's-club include queencup beadlily
(Clintonia uniflora), trefoil foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata), starry
false-Solomon's-seal (Smilacina stellata), northern bedstraw (Galium
boreale), softleaved sedge (Carex disperma), woolly sedge (C.
laeviculmis), and coast sedge (C. obnupta) [8,38]. Other common
associates are wood horsetail (Equistum sylvaticum), ladyfern (Athyrium
filixfemina), oak-fern (Gymnocarpium dryopteris), mountain woodfern
(Dryopteris austriaca), and mosses (Mnium spp.) [8,15,27,38].