Vegetation of Northern Cape Breton. 



397 



the culminating stage in the succession: it is a permanent 

 association-type. Throughout most of the forested region in the 

 highland this coniferous forest cHmax has been attained, and 

 it is only in edaphically unfavorable situations or in places 

 where the original forest has been destroyed by fire that the 

 more primitive stages in the succession are encountered. The 

 association-types of exposed hilltops may resemble those of 

 similar situations in the barrens, but, on the whole, the sequence 



Figure 50. — Low coniferous woodland on plateau west of Ingonish. 



and general character of the preliminary successional stages in 

 the highland is essentially similar to what has been described 

 for the lowland and therefore need not be discussed further. As 

 a rule the succession takes place rapidly, the trees of the climax 

 forest being present from the outset, and the various stages are 

 more or less telescoped. 



b. THE ASSOCIATIOX-COMPLEXES OF POORLY DRAINED UPLANDS 



Forests of the regional climax type attain their optimum 

 development on well-drained slopes. But over a considerable 

 portion of the forested region the country is flat or rolling, with 

 a tendency to be poorly drained, and the prevailing type of vege- 

 tation here is low, more or less swampy woodland (Fig. 50). No 



