What grows in which forest

The mushroom maps start from the species: you pick one and the map shows where it does well. These pages start from the other end. You are in a forest, and the question is what to look for.

Three types cover most of Finland's forest. The division is the one the map's model uses to separate the species, so recognising the forest type on the ground tells you directly which layers are worth turning on.

The three types

Pine heath

Sub-xeric and xeric heath: pine, heather and reindeer lichen, sandy soil and an open stand. The pine porcini is the species of this type.

Spruce forest

Mesic heath: spruce, bilberry and thick moss, shaded and damp. Finland's commonest forest, and the funnel chanterelle's best ground.

Herb-rich forest and birch

Herb-rich forest and heath: dark soil, grasses and broadleaf trees. There is little of it, and it is the best ground for the mapped species.

Where the division comes from

Site fertility class (kasvupaikkaluokka) is one of the themes in the Natural Resources Institute's inventory data, and one of six factors in the mushroom map model. These three pages gather the same information the other way round: what one site class means on the ground, and which species it suits. How the model works as a whole and where its limits are: the mushroom maps and their limits.