Pipsissewa

More info for the terms: prescribed fire, restoration

The Research Project Summary Vegetation response to restoration treatments
in ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forests of western Montana provides
information on prescribed fire and postfire response of plant community
species, including pipsissewa, that was not available when this species
review was written.

pipsissewa
prince's-pine
prince's pine
waxflower
wintergreen

More info for the term: natural

Chimaphila umbellata var. cisatlantica is listed as threatened in Ohio
by the Natural Heritage Program [85]. Chimaphila species are considered
vulnerable in New York and may become rare, threatened, or endangered in
the future if collection and/or development continues. They are
protected under the 1974 New York State Wildflower Law [50].

More info for the terms: capsule, herb, shrub

Pipsissewa is a native evergreen low shrub or perennial rhizomatous
herb.  The woody stems are usually 4 to 12 inches (10-30 cm) tall and
the leathery, whorled leaves are sharply serrate.  The fertile stems are
generally erect and may have 2 to 15 flowers.  Fruits are depressed,
globose capsules which often persist through the winter
[25,39,57,70,72,82].

Across its range, pipsissea was show wide variation in size; in leaf
blade length, number of teeth, and prominence of lower surface venation;
in sepal shape; and in stigma and capsule size [31].

Pipsissewa is a circumboreal species that is widely distributed in
the northern hemisphere.  It is found from Newfoundland to Alaska south
to California and Mexico, and east to New Mexico, Colorado, and South
Dakota.  It is also found in the eastern United States from Maine south
in the mountains to Georgia and west to Minnesota [25,44,63,67,81,82].

More info for the terms: duff, fire severity, fire-sensitive species, severity

Pipsissewa is a fire-sensitive species that is very susceptible to
damage and often shows a strong decline following fire [33,52,71,78].
Survival probably depends to a great extent on damage to rhizomes, so it
depends on depth of rhizomes, fire severity, and consumption of duff
[68,78].  Loss of the long-lived evergreen leaves may also reduce
survival.  Postfire vegetative recovery depends primarily on the
survival of scattered individuals in undisturbed microsites [33].

More info for the terms: forest, selection, tree

Pipsissewa is a component in many subzones in which guidelines for
prescribed burning and tree species selection have been developed in the
Vancouver Forest District, British Columbia [46].

More info on this topic.

More info for the terms: chamaephyte, geophyte

   Chamaephyte
   Geophyte

More info for the term: soil moisture regimes

Pipsissewa is found in a wide variety of soils and soil moisture
regimes.  It most commonly occurs in mixed woods and coniferous forests
[17,24,35,38,44] on dry, well-drained, rocky or sandy soils
[7,18,24,26].  In coastal regions of British Columbia, pipsissewa is
an indicator of dry to very dry, nutrient-poor soils in montane boreal,
temperate, and cool mesothermal climates.  Its occurrence decreases with
increasing elevation and precipitation, and increases with
continentality [47].  In Ontario, pipsissewa most often occurs on
sandy or rocky soil on well-drained sites, on gravel terraces, and in
jack pine (Pinus banksiana) barrens [70].  In red pine (P.
resinosa)-white pine (P. strobus) forests of Voyageurs National Park,
Minnesota, pipsissewa is found on dry, shallow, well-drained,
nutrient poor to medium loamy sand to sandy loam soils [51].  In the
nearby Boundary Waters Canoe area, pipsissewa is found on shallow,
sandy soils to deep soils with a high clay content [59].

Pipsissewa also occurs in moist or imperfectly-drained situations
throughout its range.  It is found on moist sites in oak ecosystems of
Michigan [2], on moist sites in the Black Hills of South Dakota [72],
and in lodgepole pine (P. contorta) forests in Alberta [9].  In the
Adirondack Mountains of New York, pipsissewa occurs on well- to
imperfectly-drained sites, most often under pines (Pinus spp.) on
outwash soils, but also on tills in mixed woods [50].

Pipsissewa occurs in the following elevational ranges:

                         feet              meters
               _________________________________________________
               UT     6,930-9,570     2,100-2,900 [82]
               AZ     6,000-9,570     1,800-2,900 [31]
               CA     1,000-9,570       300-2,900 [38,57]
               CO     8,000-11,500    2,400-3,500 [35]

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce - tamarack
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine - hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    26  Sugar maple - basswood
    27  Sugar maple
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    31  Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce - balsam fir
    34  Red spruce - Fraser fir
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    37  Northern white-cedar
    38  Tamarack
    42  Bur oak
    45  Pitch pine
    51  White pine - chestnut oak
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    53  White oak
    55  Northern red oak
    58  Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
    59  Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
    60  Beech - sugar maple
    63  Cottonwood
   107  White spruce
   108  Red maple
   110  Black oak
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   203  Balsam poplar
   204  Black spruce
   205  Mountain hemlock
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fir
   207  Red fir
   208  Whitebark pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   211  White fir
   212  Western larch
   213  Grand fir
   215  Western white pine
   217  Aspen
   218  Lodgepole pine
   222  Black cottonwood - willow
   223  Sitka spruce
   224  Western hemlock
   225  Western hemlock - Sitka spruce
   226  Coastal true fir - hemlock
   227  Western redcedar - western hemlock
   228  Western redcedar
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir - western hemlock
   231  Port-Orford-cedar
   232  Redwood
   233  Oregon white oak
   234  Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   236  Bur oak
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderosa pine
   246  California black oak
   249  Canyon live oak
   251  White spruce - aspen
   252  Paper birch
   253  Black spruce - white spruce
   254  Black spruce -  paper birch
   256  California mixed subalpine

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES28  Western hardwoods

More info on this topic.

This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the terms: bog, forest, shrub

   K001  Spruce - cedar - hemlock forest
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir - hemlock forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K006  Redwood forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K008  Lodgepole pine - subalpine forest
   K010  Ponderosa shrub forest
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K013  Cedar - hemlock - pine forest
   K014  Grand fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K019  Arizona pine forest
   K020  Spruce - fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K021  Southwestern spruce - fir forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K030  California oakwoods
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K097  Southeastern spruce - fir forest
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K099  Maple - basswood forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K102  Beech - maple forest
   K103  Mixed mesophytic forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K109  Transition between K104 and K106
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest

More info for the term: top-kill

Pipsissewa has a moderate to high probability of being killed by fire
[40,76].  Low-severity fires that do not consume the organic mantle may
only top-kill it.

More info for the terms: forest, stolon

Pipsissewa is of minor importance in winter, spring, and fall diets
of Roosevelt elk in the Pacific Northwest [43].  It is a component
of white-tailed deer winter diets in the Swan Valley, Montana [56].

Mature stands of white fir (Abies concolor)-giant chinquapin
(Chrysolepsis chrysophylla)/pachistima (Pachistima myrsinites)-prince's
pine and Shasta red fir (Abies magnifica var. shastensis)-white
fir-giant chinquapin/pipsissewa-long stolon sedge (Carex inops) plant
associations in the Winema National Forest are critical elk calving and
deer fawning habitat.  They are also important for feeding and nesting
sites for birds and are suitable habitats for spotted owls, goshawks,
and pileated woodpeckers [40].  White fir-Brewer spruce/pipsissewa
plant associations in the southern Oregon Cascade Mountain Province are
also excellent wildlife habitat [8].

More info for the terms: association, forest, natural, tree

Pipsissewa is a common understory species in many habitat types
throughout its range but often does not reach dominance.  It is found in
coniferous and mixed forests with numerous tree species.  In addition to
those already mentioned, pipsissewa may occur with sugar pine (Pinus
lambertiana), giant sequoia (Sequoia gigantea), and Brewer spruce (Picea
breweriana) [6,65,79].  Several publications that list pipsissewa as
a dominant understory species in the western United States follow.

Description and classification of the forests of the upper Illinois
  River drainage of southwestern Oregon [6]
Preliminary plant associations of the Siskiyou Mountain Province [8]
Preliminary plant associations of the southern Oregon Cascade Mountain
  Province [7]
Terrestrial vegetation of California [66]
Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington [21]
Plant association and management guide: Willamette National Forest [37]
Plant associations of south Chiloquin and Klamath Ranger
  Districts--Winema National Forest [40]
Vegetation and fire history of a ponderosa pine-white fir forest in
   Crater Lake National Park [53]

Associated species are well described for the Northwest and include
baldhip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa), Nootka rose (R. nutkana), Greene
mountain-ash (Sorbus scopulina), common snowberry (Symphoricarpos
albus), Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), Pacific yew
(Taxus brevifolia), huckleberry (Vaccinium spp.), russet buffaloberry
(Shepherdia canadensis), spiraea (Spiraea spp.), menziesia (Menziesia
ferruginea), creeping juniper (Juniperus horizontalis), common juniper
(J. communis), pachistima (Pachistima myrsinites), snowbrush ceanothus
(Ceanothus velutinus), Utah honeysuckle (Lonicera utahensis), currant
(Ribes spp.), raspberry (Rubus spp.), twinflower (Linnaea borealis),
bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax),
Oregon-grape (Mahonia repens), queencup beadlily (Clintonia uniflora),
violet (Viola spp.), strawberry (Fragaria spp.), sweet-scented bedstraw
(Galium trifolium), pyrola (Pyrola spp.), oneleaf foamflower (Tiarella
unifoliata), western rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia),
pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens), and elk sedge (Carex geyeri)
[1,7,14,28,37].

More info for the terms: forb, shrub

Shrub, Forb

More info for the terms: cover, forest, frequency, natural, presence, selection, tree

In a study of lodgepole pine stands in spruce (Picea engelmannii and P.
glauca)/queencup beadlily (Clintonia uniflora) habitat types in Glacier
National Park, pipsissewa displayed a significant (p less than .10) decrease in
frequency in response to a mountain pine beetle infestation and was more
numerous on sites never infested than sites infested 80 years earlier.
It was negatively correlated to overstory removal and increased light
intensity, as shown by a steady decline in cover and frequency following
the epidemic [3].

Pipsissewa is a major constituent of old-growth forests in the Swan
Valley, Montana.  It often persists only on sheltered, unburned
microsites.  It is present (39% frequency) in untreated old-growth and
mature stands but is absent from burned clearcuts and plantation sites
(20-30 years old).  Where standing trees remain to provide cover,
frequency may be as high as 67 percent in stands that have been select
cut without burning [22].  At other locations pipsissewa has
essentially disappeared from stands or has had a major decrease in
frequency or cover following stand removal with or without subsequent
burning [4,5,14,74].

In the Vancouver Forest Region of British Columbia, pipsissewa is an
indicator species in several variants of biogeoclimatic units for which
guidelines for site diagnosis, tree species selection, and slash burning
have been developed [26].  It is used as an indicator of good forest
sites in the Winema and Fremont National Forests, Oregon.  When
associated with twinflower, it is an indicator of the best fir (Abies
spp.) sites [32,40].  The presence of pipsissewa is used to predict
natural regeneration success under partially cut stands on the Dead
Indian Plateau in southwest Oregon [55].

Pipsissewa is not a serious competitor to conifer seedlings [7].

     AK  AZ  CA  CO  CT  DE  GA  ID  IL  IN
     IA  KY  ME  MD  MA  MI  MN  MT  NV  NH
     NJ  NM  NY  NC  OH  OR  PA  RI  SC  SD
     TN  UT  VT  VA  WA  WV  WI  WY  AB  BC
     MB  NB  NF  NT  NS  ON  PE  PQ  SK  YT
     MEXICO

Historically, pipsissewa roots and leaves were boiled and the
infusion was ingested as a treatment for tuberculosis and long-lasting
colds.  The leaves were also used as an astringent.  Pipsissewa can
also be used as an ingredient in root beer [34,40].
 

More info on this topic.

Pipsissewa flowers from June to August throughout its range
[17,24,25,31,57].

More info for the terms: cover, fire severity, forest, frequency, severity, wildfire

Postfire response of pipsissewa is variable and is probably most
dependent on fire severity and the uniformity of the burn.  Some studies
have reported pipsissewa surviving fire.  In mixed western
hemlock-Douglas-fir-western redcedar (Thuja plicata) stands in North
Cascades National Park, Washington, pipsissewa was considered a
residual species following a July wildfire.  Its frequency in postfire
years 1, 2, and 3 was 65.3, 52.1, and 52.1 percent, respectively [54].

Pipsissewa appeared to survive on moderately burned sites following
the Waterfalls Canyon Fire in Grand Teton National Park in July, 1974,
but was eliminated from severely burned sites.  The prefire vegetation
was spruce-fir with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and whitebark pine
(P. albicaulis).  Pipsissewa had the following percent frequency and
cover as measured in 1975 [10]:

                         Frequency     Cover
______________________________________________
Unburned sites              52           5
Sites burned in 1932         2         trace
Moderately burned sites     17           1
Severely burned sites        0           0 

In the northern Rocky Mountains, slow recovery after fire has been
reported.  Pipsissewa was eliminated from initial postfire
communities by a severe wildfire in western larch (Larix
occidentalis)-Douglas-fir stands on the Flathead National Forest,
Montana [75].  In western larch-fir (Abies grandis and A. lasiocarpa)
stands on the Flathead and Lolo National Forests, Montana, pipsissewa
had not recovered by postfire year 9 following logging and broadcast
burning [74].  Pipsissewa was also absent 10 months after a
late-summer wildfire in lodgepole pine stands in the Chamberlain Basin,
Idaho.  It was found on adjacent unburned sites and was present on
burned sites 5 years after the fire, but had less biomass production
than on unburned sites [61].

Variable responses to fire have been reported for pipsissewa in
Minnesota.  It survived the Little Sioux Wildfire in May, 1971, in mixed
conifer-hardwood stands in northeastern Minnesota.  Number of
individuals (on seventy 0.605 sq m plots) and aboveground average dry
weight per individual pipsissewa were measured at the end of each
growing season for the first 5 postfire years [58]:

                       1971     1972      1973     1974     1975
________________________________________________________________
No. of individuals      15     no data     57       30        7
Ave. dry wt. (g)       .07     no data    .33      .29      .46

Pipsissewa responded more slowly after wildfires in second-growth
mixed conifer-hardwood forests in northeastern Minnesota.  It was not
present in postfire years 3, 5, or 14 after the April Heartlake Fire.
It was not present on the Kelley Creek Burn, resulting from a July fire,
at postfire year 2 but had a frequency of 3 percent in postfire years 5
and 11 [48].

More info for the terms: herb, rhizome

   Rhizomatous low woody plant, rhizome in organic mantle
   Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil

More info for the terms: duff, forest, fruit, herb

Pipsissewa reproduces both sexually and vegetatively.  Flowers have
been observed being pollinated by bumblebees and staphylinid beetles
[11]. Pipsissewa develops numerous, minute seeds [25,57,72].  Their
dispersal mechanism has not been documented.  A New Brunswick study of
boreal herb reproductive biology found that pipsissewa flowered for
an average of 30 days.  Fruit set was low for flowers opening at the
beginning of the flowering period.  Eighty-three percent of buds opened
and 76.5 percent survived the flowering period.  Forty-seven percent of
flower buds eventually developed fruit, and 45.6 percent actually
matured fruit [36].

Pipsissewa produces long rhizomes that normally grow at a fast rate.
Genets are generally long-lived [83].  Reports differ concerning the
depth of pipsissewa rhizomes.  In a study of the Douglas-fir forest
zone in southern interior British Columbia, McLean [52] listed prince's
pine with species that have rhizomes growing from 2 to 5 inches (5-13
cm) below the mineral soil surface.  Most of those species are able to
regenerate from those depths, but he stated that only pipsissewa
rhizomes near the soil surface are able to produce new shoots.  Stickney
[78] reported that in the northern Rocky Mountains, pipsissewa
rhizomes are confined to the duff near or above the mineral soil
surface.

More info on this topic.

This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):

    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands

More info on this topic.

More info for the terms: climax, cover, frequency, succession

Pipsissewa has been classified as moderately shade tolerant to
tolerant throughout its range [26,29,42,47,50,60].  Its highest
frequency or cover is probably reached at intermediate light levels,
such as in relatively open conifer stands in the Siskiyou Mountains of
Oregon [15].

In the western Cascades, pipsissewa is significantly more frequent
(p less than .05) under a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) canopy than under a
western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) canopy (71% vs. 4% frequency).
Average cover under western hemlock is less than 1.0 percent compared to
12.5 percent under Douglas-fir.  The difference may be due to less
direct radiation in the western hemlock stands [73].

Pipsissewa is present throughout succession and occurs in stands of
all ages [28,29,59,64,71].  It is found in relatively young stands
[1,20,45], but is probably more frequent in mid-successional stages and
mature forests [3,5,21,29].  Pipsissewa is a common understory
component in many old-growth and climax forests of the Pacific Northwest
[20,27,30,42].

Pyrola umbellata L. [41,82]

The currently accepted scientific name of pipsissewa is Chimaphila
umbellata (L.) Barton [17,39,57,81,82]. Pipsissewa comprises a
circumboreal complex in which several geographical varieties have been
recognized [70]. The following varieties and subspecies are accepted:

Chimaphila umbellata var. umbellata (Eurasia) [70]
Chimaphila umbellata var. occidentalis (Rydb.) Blake (western North America)
[17,38,39,57,82]
Chimaphila umbellata var. cisatlantica Blake (eastern North America)
[17,24,63,70]
Chimaphila umbellata var. acuta (Rydb.) Blake (Arizona and New Mexico) [35,44]
Chimaphila umbellata subsp. domingensis (S.F. Blake) Dorr (Dominican Republic) [84]
Chimaphila umbellata subsp. mexicana (DC.) Hulten (Mexico) [41]

Pipsissewa is sensitive to trampling and has a low potential for
recovery.  It may, however, recover from very low (less than 40 passes
per year) or low (75-100 passes per year) trampling intensities [13].