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Wildlife, Animals, and Plants
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Introductory
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
ABBREVIATION :
LEDGRO
SYNONYMS :
Ledum pacificum Small
Ledum palustre L. spp. groenlandicum
SCS PLANT CODE :
LEGR
COMMON NAMES :
bog labrador tea
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for bog Labrador tea is Ledum
groenlandicum Oeder [3,44]. There are no recognized varieties,
subspecies, or forms.
LIFE FORM :
Shrub
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
COMPILED BY AND DATE :
Milo Coladonato, May 1993.
LAST REVISED BY AND DATE :
NO-ENTRY
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo. 1993. Ledum groenlandicum. In: Remainder of Citation
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Bog Labrador tea is distributed throughout Alaska, Canada, and
Greenland. It occurs south through New England, the northern parts of
the Lake States, northern Idaho, and western Washington and Oregon
[6,8,20,22].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES19 Aspen - birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES24 Hemlock - Sitka spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES44 Alpine
STATES :
CT ID ME MA MI MN MT NH NJ NY
OH OR PA VT WA WI AB BC MB NF
NT NS ON PE PQ SK YT
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS :
ACAD APIS DEWA GLBA ISRO LACL
MORA NOCA OLYM PIRO SLBE VOYA
WRST YUCH
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K001 Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
K002 Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
K004 Fir - hemlock forest
K008 Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
K015 Western spruce - fir forest
K093 Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
K094 Conifer bog
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
1 Jack pine
5 Balsam fir
12 Black spruce
13 Black spruce - tamarack
38 Tamarack
107 White spruce
201 White spruce
202 White spruce - paper birch
204 Black spruce
205 Mountain hemlock
206 Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
218 Lodgepole pine
224 Western hemlock
225 Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
227 Western redcedar - western hemlock
228 Western redcedar
251 White spruce - aspen
253 Black spruce - white spruce
254 Black spruce - paper birch
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Bog Labrador tea is dominant or codominant in a variety of habitats
within its range. It may occur as an understory component in open or
closed forest habitats, primarily with black or white spruce (Picea
mariana, P. glauca). Bog Labrador tea can also dominate or codominate
in dwarf shrub types, bogs, muskegs, or open tundra [2,45]. Associated
overstory and understory species of bog Labrador tea include low sweet
blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana),
serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), bog birch (Betula glandulosa), bog
blueberry (V. uliginosum), mountain cranberry (V. vitis-idaea),
leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), bog laurel (Kalmia polifolia),
feathermoss (Pleurozium schreberi), lichens (Cladonia spp.), and
sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum spp.) [1,13,17,23].
The following publications lists bog Labrador tea as a dominant or
codominant species:
Old-growth forests of the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks [1]
Alpine and high subalpine plant communities of the North Cascade Range,
Washington and British Columbia [12]
Classification, description, and dynamics of plant communities after
fire in the taiga of interior Alaska [17]
Preliminary forest plant associations of the of the Stikine Area,
Tongas National Forest [42]
The Alaskan vegetation classification [45]
VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Bog Labrador tea leaves and twigs are browsed by caribou and moose. In
Ontario, caribou browse bog Labrador tea as supplemental winter browse
[11]. In a study in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest
Territories, leaves and twigs of bog Labrador tea occrrred in 100
percent of caribou rumen samples [36].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Bog Labrador tea is rated low in digestibility for black-tailed deer [35].
COVER VALUE :
Bog labrador tea presumably provides cover for a variety of small
wildlife species.
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Bog labrador tea has potential for revegetating disturbed sites. It
naturally recolonized local sites after powerline construction in the
subartic bogs of northern and central Manitoba [38]. Bog labrador tea
has also recolonized mined peatlands in the northeastern United States
and may be of use in managing mined reclamation projects [15].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
The strongly aromatic leaves of bog Labrador tea can be used to make a
palatable tea. As a folk medicine the tea was used externally for all
kinds of skin problems. Taken internally, the tea was used to stimulate
the nerves and stomach. A syrup made from the tea was sometimes used
for coughs and hoarseness [26,32].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
On Willow Island, Alaska, white spruce stands were subjected to clearcut
and shelterwood treatments. Second-year average percent cover and
average percent frequency of bog Labrador tea were as follows [13]:
shelterwood shelterwood
control clearcut 14 m spacing 9 m spacing
---------------------------------------------------------------
cover 0.2 trace 0.1 0.1
frequency 3.0 3 3.0 3.0
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Bog Labrador tea is a low, native, evergreen shrub from 1 to 4 feet
(0.3-1.2 m) high [6,8]. It is prostrate to erect in form and generally
circular in outline. The leaves are 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.5 cm) long.
The flowers are borne on slender stalks in crowded clusters at the ends
of the branches. The fruit is a many-seeded capsule [20,39]. Bog
labrador tea roots in the organic layer and is rhizomatous. Rhizome
depth can reach 6 to 20 inches (15-50 cm) [16,28].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
Chamaephyte
Geophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Bog Labrador tea reproduces primarily vegetatively but can reproduce by
seed [24]. It regenerates vegetatively through sprouting from rhizomes.
Length and depth of rhizomes are greatly influenced by soil and moisture
characteristics [27,46].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Bog Labrador tea grows on a broad range of sites from dry to wet, but it
is most common on wetter sites with low subsurface water flow and low
nutrients. It reaches its greatest cover in bogs [5,7,33].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Facultative Seral Species
Bog Labrador tea is an important component of woodland understories
through the early, midseral, and late stages of succession. It is
often abundant in the shaded portions of the forest [4] It is also
important in the early shrub stages of tundra succession [10,30,31].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Bog Labrador tea flowers from late May to early June. Fruits ripen from
late August through late fall [8,26].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Bog Labrador tea would likely survive fire because the rhizomes are
found deep in the organic layer. It will sprout from rhizomes or the
root crown following fire [28].
The bogs in which this species often occurs are usually too wet to burn
except in years with exceptionally low rainfall.
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Small shrub, adventitious-bud root crown
Rhizomatous shrub, rhizome in soil
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Fire generally top-kills bog Labrador tea. The underground stems are
not usually damaged by fire [34,37,45].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Bog Labrador tea sprouts from rhizomes or the root crown following low-
to moderate-severity fires. It is one of the first plants to recolonize
burned bogs and grows rapidly following fire [18,21,23,43,46]. Chandler
[9] reported that bog Labrador tea cover was 45 percent 5 years after
fire.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Ledum groenlandicum | Bog Labrador Tea
REFERENCES :
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national parks. Natural Areas Journal. 9(1): 12-26. [7442]
2. Ahlgren, Clifford E. 1959. Some effects of fire on forest reproduction
in northeastern Minnesota. Journal of Forestry. 57: 194-200. [208]
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Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press. 543 p. [9928]
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Adirondacks. Utica, NY: North Country Books, Inc. 131 p. [12766]
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[1153]
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Index
Related categories for Species: Ledum groenlandicum
| Bog Labrador Tea
|
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