page_title: Anticosti Island
section_title: Flora
hierarchical_section_title: Anticosti Island / Flora
caption_attribution_description: English: A beaver pond. Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada. Photo taken in 1999 by R. Rancourt Français&#160;: Un étang de castor. Île d'Anticosti, Québec, Canada. Photo prise en 1999 par Déclic (R. Rancourt)
context_page_description: Anticosti Island is an island in the Minganie Regional County Municipality, in administrative region of Côte-Nord, the province of Quebec, Canada.
  This island is located at the outlet of the Saint Lawrence River into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, between 49° and 50° N., and between 61° 40' and 64° 30' W. At 7,892.52 km² in size, it is the 90th largest island in the world and 20th largest island in Canada. Anticosti Island is separated on the north from the Côte-Nord region of Quebec by the Jacques Cartier Strait, and on the south from the Gaspé Peninsula by the Honguedo Strait.
  Anticosti Island is larger than Prince Edward Island but sparsely populated, with most of the permanent population in the village of Port-Menier on the western tip of the island, consisting chiefly of the keepers of the lighthouses erected by the Canadian government. The entire island constitutes one municipality known as L'Île-d'Anticosti.
  Due to more than 400 shipwrecks off its coasts, Anticosti Island is sometimes called the "Cemetery of the Gulf".
context_section_description: The forests of Anticosti Island are typical boreal forest, with common species such as white spruce, balsam fir, and black spruce. It is distinguished by some minor stands of American white birch and trembling aspen. Balsam fir is slowly being replaced with white spruce because of intensive grazing done by deer and by periodic outbreaks of hemlock looper and spruce budworm. About a quarter of the island is covered by peat lands.
  Anticosti Island is home to the rare lady's slipper orchid. While populations are declining elsewhere in eastern North America, the orchid flourishes here abundantly, making Anticosti a refuge for this plant.
caption: Boreal forest on Anticosti Island
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