Tall fern western spruce taiga

Description (English)

Forests of Picea abies or, in the east, Picea obovata, sometimes accompanied by Pinus sylvestris and/or Populus tremula, of southern boreal and boreonemoral regions of Fennoscandia, Russia west of the western Ural piedmont, Belarus, the Baltic States, with an understorey dominated by ferns, in particular, Athyrium filix-femina, Dryopteris carthusiana, Dryopteris expansa, Dryopteris dilatata, Phegopteris connectilis, Gymnocarpium dryopteris, Matteuccia struthiopteris, often with two tiers, one of taller ferns, one of medium-sized ferns, with a greater presence of herbs than of Vaccinium myrtillus and much Oxalis acetosella, developing on mesic to moist moraines (podsol-acid brown forest earth). Accompanying species include Betula pubescens, Maianthemum bifolium, Trientalis europaea, Geranium sylvaticum, Rubus saxatilis, Stellaria nemorum, Viola epipsila, Paris quadrifolia, Luzula pilosa, Melica nutans, Milium effusum, Deschampsia flexuosa Equisetum sylvaticum, and mosses. They occupy stations with a richer nutrient supply than those of the bilberry forests of unit 42.C1 and of the small fern forests of unit 42.C21, with a lower nutrient supply than the small herb forests of unit 42.C3 and the tall herb forests of unit 42.C4, and with a higher humidity level than all except the latter. In the boreo-nemoral zone, deciduous trees, in particular, Tilia cordata, Acer platanoides, Ulmus laevis, may form a second tree layer.

Source: EUNIS habitat classification