Plants and Animals
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Plants
This is a dense, diverse hardwood forest unlike other forests in the park—nowhere else in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park will you reliably find chinquapin oak as a component of a tall forest. (Chinquapin oak grows on limestone-derived soil. See Physical Setting.) The forest floor is lush with nutrient-demanding plants.
Canopy Trees
The trees whose crowns intercept most of the sunlight in a forest stand. The uppermost layer of a forest.
Understory Trees
Small trees and young specimens of large trees growing beneath the canopy trees. Also called the subcanopy.
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.
Low Plants (Field Layer)
Plants growing low to the ground. This includes small shrubs and tree seedlings.
- clustered black-snakeroot
- eastern bottlebrush grass
- white snakeroot
- wingstem
- Canadian honewort (occasional)
- downy yellow violet (occasional)
- Jack-in-the-pulpit (occasional)
- jumpseed (occasional)
- slender woodland sedge (occasional)
Non-Native Invasive Plant Species
Non-native invasive species are numerous here. 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.