Plants and Animals
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Plants
Trees in the Bedrock Floodplain Forest are widely spaced. Green ash is the most common tree. American sycamore, silver maple, and American elm are usually present as well. The layer of low plants, though patchy, can be dense and diverse, containing a wide variety of wildflowers that bloom in late summer and fall.
Canopy Trees
The trees whose crowns intercept most of the sunlight in a forest stand. The uppermost layer of a forest.
- American elm
- American sycamore
- green ash
- silver maple
- black walnut (occasional)
- eastern cottonwood (occasional)
- river birch (occasional)
Understory Trees
Small trees and young specimens of large trees growing beneath the canopy trees. Also called the subcanopy.
- black willow (occasional)
- box-elder (occasional)
- American hornbeam (occasional)
Shrubs, Saplings, and Vines
Shrubs, juvenile trees and vines at the right height to give birds and others a perch up off the ground but below the trees.
- eastern poison-ivy
- frost grape
- riverbank grape
- Virginia creeper
- common buttonbush (occasional)
- silky dogwood (occasional)
Low Plants (Field Layer)
Plants growing low to the ground. This includes small shrubs and tree seedlings.
- calico aster
- Canadian clearweed
- Canadian germander
- common three-seed-mercury
- dotted smartweed
- Emory’s sedge
- jumpseed
- small-spike false nettle
- hollow-stem joe-pye-weed
- whitegrass
- wingstem
- blue mistflower (occasional)
- deertongue (occasional)
- false Indian-plantain (occasional)
- giant goldenrod (occasional)
- groundnut (occasional)
- orange jewelweed (occasional)
- pale dock (occasional)
- thinleaf sunflower (occasional)
- white snakeroot (occasional)
Non-Native Invasive Plant Species
Non-native invasive plants are common in this natural community because floods bring in their seeds, roots, or other plant parts. In places, half of the low-growing plant species may be non-native species, such as creeping jenny*. See Ecological Threats for more.
Animals
Even though natural communities aren’t named after animals, animals do play a crucial role in maintaining natural communities. Plants and animals need each other. To name just a few examples, plants provide food and habitat for animals, and animals help plants reproduce by spreading pollen and seeds. To learn more, see The Role of Animals in Natural Communities in Ecology Basics.
Check out iNaturalist to see photos of animals (and plants!) that people have seen in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.