Vegetation of Northern Cape Breton. 461 



The regional climax association-type in the highland is pre- 

 dominantly coniferous, Abies balsamea being- by far the most 

 abundant tree. Associated with this in the forest, but always of 

 subordinate importance, grow Picea canadensis, P. mariana, 

 Betula alba papyrifera, and Pyrus amcricana. • Ten shrubs and 

 twenty-seven herbaceous vascular plants are listed as charac- 

 teristic. Bryophytes develop luxuriantly on the forest floor, 

 forming an almost continuous ground cover. 



The permanency of this type of forest is attested by the 

 character of the younger growth which is essentially similar to 

 that of the mature trees. All of the climax trees grow best in 

 the open and reproduction is most prolific in openings of the 

 forest due to windfall. But the reproduction, at least of the 

 balsam fir and black spruce, is by no means confined to wind- 

 fall areas, which seems to be the case farther inland, as on Isle 

 Royale. 



That the coniferous forest climax of the highland is a climatic 

 and not an edaphic climax is evidenced by the gradual transition 

 from deciduous to coniferous forest encountered in ascending 

 the mountains, and by the practically complete absence on the 

 plateau, even in edaphically favorable situations, of the climax 

 trees of the deciduous forest climatic formation. 



A detailed review of the character and successional relations 

 of the various association-types which comprise the edaphic 

 formation-complexes of the lowland and highland respectively 

 will not be attempted here. An outline of these is afforded by 

 the table of contents, at the beginning of the paper, and by the 

 paragraph headings which are scattered through the text. 



By way of brief general summary it may be stated that : in the 

 lowland, associations of the regional climax type represent 

 the culmination of successional series in all edaphically favorable 

 situations. Elsewhere succession stops at a stage less mesophytic 

 than the regional climax association-type : in other words, in 

 such situations the edaphic climax association-type does not 

 coincide with the regional climax association-type, as it does in 

 the more favorable situations. Due largely to human activity 

 many areas formerly occupied by forests of the regional climax 

 association-type are now occupied by associations of a much 

 more primitive character, notably by forests of white spruce and 

 balsam fir. In the lowland the regional climax forests of the 



