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In comparison with other biomes, however, the taiga has low botanical diversity. Coniferous trees are the dominant plants of the taiga biome. Very few species, in four main genera, are found: the evergreen spruce, fir and pine, and the deciduous larch. In North America, one or two species of fir, and one or two species of spruce, are dominant.
Many species of trees inhabit these forests including pine, cedar, fir, and redwood. The understory also contains a wide variety of herbaceous and shrub species. Temperate coniferous forests sustain the highest levels of biomass in any terrestrial ecosystem and are notable for trees of massive proportions in temperate rainforest regions. [1]
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea (/ p aɪ ˈ s iː. ə / py-SEE-ə), [1] a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the Northern hemisphere. Picea is the sole genus in the subfamily Piceoideae.
White spruce, black spruce and tamarack are most prevalent in the four northern eco-zones of the Taiga and Hudson Plains, while spruce, balsam fir, jack pine, white birch and trembling aspen are most common in the lower boreal regions. Large populations of trembling aspen and willow are found in the southernmost parts of the Boreal Plains. [12]
During this stage, the roots are established, and the bud of the tree is protected from fire. Years later, the longleaf will reach about 6–10 feet (1.8–3.0 m) in height and the diameter will increase with time. Somewhere around 30 years after the trees will begin to produce cones with fertile seeds and average about 110 feet (34 m) at maturity.
Spruce–fir forests can be found in cold regions at high latitudes or high altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere. [1] This includes both areas throughout the high latitude boreal forest of Canada and Russia, [2] [3] as well as mountain ranges at lower latitudes, such as the Rocky Mountains in North America, the Tian Shan in Asia, and the Carpathian Mountains in Europe.
The dominant vegetation type of this ecoregion is coniferous forest, composed mainly of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. glauca), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanni) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), with limited populations of limber pine (Pinus flexilis).
Spruce–fir on the slopes of Kuwohi. The southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest is an ecoregion of the temperate coniferous forests biome, a type of montane coniferous forest that grows in the highest elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States.