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You are here >1Up Info > Wildlife, Animals, and Plants > Plant Species > Shrub > Species: Cornus canadensis | Bunchberry
 

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BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

SPECIES: Cornus canadensis | Bunchberry
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : Bunchberry is a low, rhizomatous subshrub with erect, mostly herbaceous stems 2 to 8 inches (5-20 cm) tall [49,96]. There is a terminal whorl of four to seven true leaves. The small white flowers are borne in clusters above four white or pinkish bracts which makes the entire inflorescence resemble a single flower [55]. The coral-red fruits look like berries but are actually drupes [49,96]. Bunchberry has a clonal habit which allows it to maintain itself under a canopy. In Alaska, clones are often roughly circular, but rhizomes ramble across the forest floor and over or through decaying logs [90]. The rhizomes have annual increments of wood [18]. The longest living rhizome found in one study was 172 inches (436 cm), and its age was estimated at 36 years exclusive of early growth, which was already dead [90]. In British Columbia, bunchberry rhizomes generally grow between 2 and 5 inches (5-13 cm) below the surface of the mineral soil [60]. However, another British Columbia study found bunchberry rhizomes in the organic layer [69,70,71,21,73]. In Alaska, the "thread-like" rhizomes were found 1 to 3 inches (2-8 cm) below the forest floor [90]. In New Brunswick bunchberry rhizomes were found in mineral soil at a mean depth of 3.1 inches (8 cm) with a range of 1.6 to 5.1 inches (4-13 cm) [24]. Tappeiner and Alaback [90] describe bunchberries growing in old growth forests with canopy openings, young stands with dense canopies, and open clearcuts: Old stand Young stand Clear-cut mean range mean range mean range Size of clone 64 in (30-172) 6 in (1-14) 122 in (87-274) (rhizome length) 165 cm (77-436) 15 cm (3-35) 309 cm (220-696) Height 3.5 in (3-6) 1.6 in (0.4-4) 4 in (2-5) 9 cm (8-14) 4 cm (1-10) 10 cm (5-12) Annual growth of rhizomes 4.7 in (0-12) 1.2 in (0.4-2) 24 in (7-45) 9 cm (3-22) 3 cm (1-5) 131 cm (42-230) Nodes/clone 9 (3-22) 1 (1-3) 62 (18-114) Nodes/m of rhizome 6 (3-11) ----- 20 (16-27) RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : Chamaephyte Geophyte REGENERATION PROCESSES : Bunchberry appears to be self-sterile and is dependent on pollinators such as bumblebees, solitary bees, beeflies, and syrphid flies [7,18]. The flowers have one petal with an awnlike extension that initiates the explosive release of pollen [18]. Results of one study show low (21.5%) fruit-set after controlled cross-pollination, and significantly lower (10.7%) fruit-set after open pollination. In the same study, other factors also affected reproductive success. Buds did not open, fruit development did not occur, and developing fruit aborted, suggesting that fruit-set is resource limited. Possible limiting factors include low light levels and nutrient-poor soils [7]. Seeds of bunchberry are dispersed by birds and mammals [62]. The seeds of bunchberry are much smaller than those of other dogwoods, which may be an adaptation to seed dispersal by mice and/or mouse predation [89]. Bunchberry seeds have dormant embryos and need cold stratification. Details of treatment are given in Brinkman [9]. Normally seed of bunchberry germinates over a 3-year period, with most of the seed germinating in either the first or second year. Further study of bunchberry germination found good (61-87%) germination in the laboratory and good germination (72-85%) in packets placed on the soil surface, but germination was poor (1-8%) in fine mesh packets placed 0.4 inches (1 cm) under the forest floor. Seed placed beneath the forest floor that did not germinate within 1 year, did germinate in the laboratory. Low light levels may have caused the low germination rates, although other factors such as low temperature were not ruled out [90]. A light requirement for germination could be useful to a species that stores seed in the soil. Soil-stored seed of bunchberry has been found in Alberta [31], in Minnesota [4], in Maine [68], and in Quebec [62]. A postfire test of buried seed germination in a northern Saskatchewan white spruce, jack pine (Pinus banksiana), aspen (Populus tremuloides), and balsam poplar (P. balsamifera) forest found bunchberry seedlings comprised 5.2 percent of the total sample [6]. Early growth and clonal development are slow and survival is low (13 percent by the fourth year). After 3 years, seedlings averaged 1 inch (25 mm) in height, and by 4 years no rhizomes had been produced [90]. The establishment of new bunchberry plants from seed is low due to low fruit set [46], low germination and survival rates, and slow early growth. Although some new seedlings are established, bunchberry is a clonal perennial that relies heavily on vegetative regeneration to maintain itself and spread. It responds vigorously to disturbance [90]. By September 1980 following the May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens, bunchberry had sprouted from rhizomes in previously clearcut areas, blowdown, and scorched sites [61]. It was growing on ripped up tree roots where pieces of rhizomes had survived [39]. SITE CHARACTERISTICS : Bunchberry prefers moist, well-drained sites [26]. It is considered a facultative wetland plant, which is sometimes found in wetlands but is usually found on uplands [76]. It is considered to be indicative of very moist sites [51] and of moist soils with moderately good drainage [79]. In southeastern Alaska where bunchberry's range overlaps with that of Lapland cornel, bunchberry is consistently a forest species, while Lapland cornel is found in bogs. Hybrids between them are found on intermediate sites [66]. In Wisconsin, bunchberry is primarily a boreal forest plant, although it is frequent in open bogs and occurs in dry forest types as well [13]. It is also found on high levees and can tolerate poorly drained forest sites [5]. The limitations on bunchberry's range to the south may be due to its preference for cool, acidic soils and its inability to survive in soils warmer than 65 degrees F (18 degrees C) in the summer [99]. Soils: In northern Idaho, bunchberry grows more abundantly on soils relatively low in organic matter (2-5.5%) and on granitic rather than quartzite soils [64]. It prefers a pH of 7.0 to 7.9, although it grows on soils with pH from 3.0 to 7.9 [51]. A perhaps more common view of bunchberry is that it is an "acid loving" species [14]. In peatlands of the boreal forest it is classified as very eutrophic, although it grows on a wide range of sites [51]. In rich swamp forest it is an indicator of minerotrophic water with pH 5.8-7.0, calcium 10-25 p/m, and calcium + magnesium 13-30 p/m [45]. Elevation: Elevational ranges in some western states are as follows [15]: Minimum Maximum feet meters feet meters Colorado 5,700 1,737 11,000 3,353 Montana 3,200 975 6,600 2,012 Wyoming 4,600 1,402 9,000 2,743 SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : In Alaskan Sitka spruce-western hemlock forests, bunchberry had 11.3 percent cover under gaps and only 0.87 percent cover under the forest canopy. In comparison with other understory species it is more shade tolerant than salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) and less shade tolerant than fernleaf goldthread (Coptis asplenifolia), Alaska blueberry (Vaccinium alaskaense), and red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) [5]. A shade frame study in Manitoba found little difference in frequency of bunchberry growing in different shade frames, but cover increased extremely rapidly in plots with 0 percent shade and more rapidly in plots with 25 percent shade than those with 50 to 100 percent shade [50]. During secondary succession on disturbed Sitka spruce-western hemlock forest sites in Alaska, bunchberry may become a dominant species on moist microsites within the first 3 years. It then continues to be a dominant understory plant until around 40 years when the pole-sized, overstory canopy becomes dense and continuous. As the overstory matures, the canopy opens and becomes stratified. At around 150 years, bunchberry biomass may increase sharply and continue to rise as the old-growth stage is reached [5]. On Alaskan white spruce sites, bunchberry is a common species by the mixed hardwood-spruce stage (55-90 years). By this time tree stands have thinned out sufficiently to allow light to reach the understory [16]. Another report on Alaskan white spruce shows bunchberry increasing to a peak in the tall shrub-sapling stage (3-30 years), decreasing as trees become dense (26-45 years), then increasing in the hardwood stage (45-150 years), and remaining constant or decreasing slightly into the spruce stage (150-300 years). The pattern on Alaskan black spruce (Picea mariana) sites is very similar, although bunchberry's cover reaches a peak in the mixed hardwood-spruce stage (55-90 years) [25]. A study of Michigan red maple (Acer rubrum)-eastern white pine forests initially dominated by bigtooth aspen (Populus grandidentata), found bunchberry had its greatest frequency at 50 years [81]. In northwestern Montana red cedar (Thuja plicata)-western hemlock forests, bunchberry frequency is higher early in succession and decreases sharply in the climax forest [36,37]. SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : Phenology for bunchberry in various areas is as follows [15,46,62,65,82]: Flowering Fruit Ripening Fruit Dispersal California May-July Colorado June-July August Montana June-July August North Dakota June-July August New Brunswick June-early July mid July-August Aug.-October New England mid May-July 2nd flowering mid Aug.-Sept. Newfoundland June-July late August late Aug.-Oct. Quebec May-July Late July-Oct. Wyoming June August

Related categories for Species: Cornus canadensis | Bunchberry

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Information Courtesy: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Fire Effects Information System

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