Appendix F Detailed Cover Type Tables - USDA Rural Development

Bemidji – Grand Rapids
Biological Assessment and Evaluation
Species Distribution and Occurrences within the Study Area
This species is known from the northern tier of US states from Michigan
to Maine, and Canadian Provinces Quebec and Ontario.
USDA Plants Database at:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Minnesota&statefips=
27&symbol=VINO
Viola novae‐angliae is only listed by the DRM, so point data from DNR
and CNF is not available.
Risk Factors
Viola novae‐angliae is a species of open, xeric‐mesic sites, yet there
appear to be few threats to its occurrence at a site containing suitable
habitat. In fact, destructive activities that would tend to eliminate other rare plant species (disturbed
fields, road building, etc.) tend to enhance the species survival. Ballard (1989a cited in NatureServe,
2007) indicated that the species is able to invade such areas at numbers significantly higher than found
in natural settings. Such evidence suggests that the habitat is highly recoverable with respect to this
species, and that V. novae‐angliae is a species that may be dependent on moderate levels of
disturbance. Maintenance of moderately open woodlands via selective logging is probably the most
beneficial method for long‐term survival of the species at a given site (Ballard pers. comm. cited in
NatureServe, 2007). He suggested that certain human disturbances, if they do not disturb the soil
chemistry of the substrate or strongly shade sites, may enhance the vigor and viability of a given violet
population (Ballard 1988 cited in NatureServe 2007). The largest populations that have been found have
been associated with areas of past, low‐level disturbance: old meadows, disturbed roadsides and
power‐line rights‐of‐way.
4.2.5.13 Barrens strawberry (Waldsteinia fragaroides)
Barrens strawberry is listed as DNR Special Concern and DRM Sensitive.
Potential effects for this species are described in the following Guilds: Northern Hardwood Forest,
Woodlands and Forest Openings/Exposed Areas/Grasslands.
Species Description
Hill (2003) provides the following description for barrens strawberry:
Waldsteinia fragarioides ssp. fragarioides is a low perennial herb 10‐20 cm tall with
short to elongate slender tough and fibrous (sub‐woody) shallow rhizomes that are
generally crowded together and so the colony appears to be in a mat; the roots are
mostly adventitious and develop in clusters at rhizome tips; the basal, normally
evergreen leaves are also found at the end of the rhizomes, they resemble those of a
strawberry, and they have 3 leaflets each at the top of an elongate (3‐17 cm) hairy
petiole; the leaflets are broadly cuneate‐obovate, 2‐8 cm long and 2‐6 cm wide, only
sparsely hairy, serrate and usually shallowly lobed, the lateral ones are asymmetrical
and the middle leaflet is usually longer and wider than the lateral ones; the leaves
generally turn somewhat bronze in the winter; stipules are adnate to the petiole or
obsolete; the flowers are in a several‐flowered loose cyme on a stalk that about equals
the leaves in length. The small flowers are bracteate, yellow, the five petals are obovate
to broadly elliptic and generally 5‐10 mm long and 3‐6 mm wide, and they are obtuse or
rounded and longer than the five 2‐7.5 mm long sepals. There are numerous stamens
July 2010 Species and Associated Habitat Page 4‐80