Variation within the upland hardwood forest.

The ground cover of the hardwood forest.

The lo wland forests:

Red map/e forest.

Pine forest.

Cedar woods.

Black spruce forest.

The differentiation of the upland forest by site, already indicated roughly by Stewart’s first three land types, corresponds closely to that found by Long (1952) in the western portion of the Central Acadian Section, near Fredericton, NB. Pure stands of beech (Stewart's third type) dominated the dry hilltops of the central and southeastern uplands; sugar maple with some yellow birch predominated on the flatter summit areas of the north—eastern peninsula and the low uplands of western Prince, occurring also in the central uplands on the more gradual slopes. On gently north-facing slopes or in shady ravines, red maple and hemlock predominated, particularly in the central and southeastern uplands; red maple alone or with yellow birch grew on the almost imperceptible O’Leary clay slopes. On the Island red spruce is less characteristic of low sites, probably because it here approaches its northern summer-temperature limits.

Typically, the ground cover of such sites is sparse and a shrub layer almost lacking. The striped maple (Acer pensy/vanicum) and mountain maple (A. spicatum), small and straggly but essentially trees, form a subsidiary element in the stands dominated by sugar maple. The herbs are mostly spring—flora perennials: Smi/acina racemosa, Ranuncu/us abortivus, Ara/la nudicaulis, Trillium undulatum, T. cernuum, Medea/a virginiana, Trienta/is borea/is, and such localized species as Clayton/a caroliniana, Viola pensylvanica, Osmorhiza c/aytonii, Panax trifo/ius, semi-saprophytes like Listera conval/arioides, Pyro/a e/liptica, saprophytes like Monotropa unif/ora and Coral/orhiza macu/ata and parasites like Epifagus virginiana. Where hemlock was abundant a few saprophytes alone grew; under red spruce woods, the mossy floor would harbour Oxa/is montana, Viola incognita, and various Pyroleae (Chimaphi/a, Orthi/ia).

On the lowlands a wider range of sites made for a more heterogeneous forest. Deviating least from the hardwood forest is that of the stream-valley clays in western Prince. Dominated by red maple, now mainly in elders and always with the occasional elm, and interstitial species, elder (Sambucus canadensis) and less invariably, Clematis virginiana and Viburnum trilobum, with Sal/x lucida around open wet spaces, it corresponds closely to the Acereto-ulmetum (maple-elm community) of the upper clay plain of postglacial terraces in Kamouraska County, Oue., described by Hamel (1955). Along streams cedar may form pure stands, usually with a limited undergrowth of herbs: Viola spp. most typical. White and black ash are also scattered along streams here, where the tall herbs Eupatorium maculatum, Aster puniceus and A. umbellatus, Urtica spp. and Geum laciniatum grow. Without ash, the same association is found along the larger rivers of the north slope, far to the east of Prince. The herbaceous plants of the red maple forest vary with the wetness of the site: with poor drainage, the ferns Onoc/ea sens/bill's and Osmunda cinnamomea with scattered Rubus pubescens are most common; with better but still damp sites, Ara/fa nudicaulis, The/ypteris noveboracensis, Dryopteris spinu/osa, Aster acuminatus and Carex debi/is var. rudgei are more typical. Red maple forest without elm is characteristic of the depressions of the sandy east-central lowland.

The abundance of glacial and marine sands in the lowlands makes for a contrasting forest, probably then dominated by white pine or white pine and oak, associated with red pine and wire birch in the most gravelly sites. Where these sands are little above the water table, the most extensive cedar woods of west Prince occur. The undergrowth of the pine woods consists of widely scattered Pyroleae, but under wire birch (Betu/a popu/ifo/ia), the shrub Compton/a peregrina, the goldenrods Sclidago puberula and S. nemora/is, and the Ericaceae are admitted. Black spruce (Picea mariana), an occasional element in these low dry sites, dominated the true swamps of the lowlands almost exclusively, save for larches

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