DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Kalmia angustifolia | Sheep-Laurel 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Sheep-laurel is found in northeastern North America from Newfoundland
and Labrador west through Ontario, south through Michigan, and
occasionally as far south as Georgia.  It is most common in the eastern
Great Lakes region, the St. Lawrence River region, northern New England,
and the Maritime Provinces.  Sheep-laurel is occasional in the
Appalachian Mountains, on the Piedmont Plataeu, and on the United
States' upper Atlantic Coastal Plain [36,41].



ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES19  Aspen - birch


STATES : 
     CT  GA  ME  MD  MA  MI  MN  NH  NJ  NY
     PA  RI  VT  WI  LB  NB  NF  NS  ON  PE
     PQ


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ACAD  APIS  BLRI  CACO  FIIS


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest  (Quercus-Pinus)


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce - tamarack
    18  Paper birch
    21  Eastern white pine
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce - balsam fir
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    37  Northern white cedar
    45  Pitch pine
   107  White spruce


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Sheep-laurel is a common understory shrub in eastern lowland forests.
It is characteristically found in coniferous, mixed, and hardwood stands
in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States [28,38].  On
peatlands, it often occurs in extensive, nearly pure stands known as
"heaths" [6].  Sheep-laurel is a common dominant of bog communities in
the lower St. Lawrence lowlands [10] and grows in the New Jersey Pine
Barrens [11].

Common overstory associates include red spruce (Picea rubens) [2], black
spruce (Picea mariana) [8,42], jack pine (Pinus banksiana) [28], quaking
aspen (Populus tremuloides), and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) [37].
Understory associates include bog Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum),
low sweet blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), wintergreen (Gaultheria
procumbens), sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina) [43], Sphagnum spp., and
Cladonia spp. [8,37]

Published classification schemes listing sheep-laurel as a dominant or
codominant member of a plant associations or community types include:

Geographical changes in the vegetation of raised bogs in the bay of
   Fundy region of Maine and New Brunswick [7]
The principal plant associations of the St. Lawrence Valley [9].

Related categories for Species: Kalmia angustifolia | Sheep-Laurel