Plants and Animals
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Plants
Black maple, bitternut hickory, and common hackberry are the most common trees in the Rich Boulderfield Forest. They all require fertile soil, so their presence is a hint that the soil, though sparse, contains elements such as calcium and magnesium that promote plant growth. The fertile soil also supports wildflowers such as squirrel-corn and pale jewelweed. The shrub layer is full of American bladdernut, with its unusual papery seed capsules.
Canopy Trees
The trees whose crowns intercept most of the sunlight in a forest stand. The uppermost layer of a forest.
- bitternut hickory
- black maple
- common hackberry
- red maple (occasional)
- white ash (occasional)
Understory Trees
Small trees and young specimens of large trees growing beneath the canopy trees. Also called the subcanopy.
- black maple
- bitternut hickory (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.
- American bladdernut
- eastern poison-ivy
- Virginia creeper
- bitternut hickory (occasional)
- northern spicebush (occasional)
- red elderberry (occasional)
Low Plants (Field Layer)
Plants growing low to the ground. This includes small shrubs and tree seedlings.
- cleavers
- marginal woodfern
- pale jewelweed
- squirrel-corn
- white wood-aster
- zigzag goldenrod
- cutleaf toothwort (occasional)
- harbinger-of-spring (occasional)
- ramp (occasional)
- Virginia springbeauty (occasional)
- white fawnlily (occasional)
Non-Native Invasive Plant Species
Two non-native plants that commonly invade this community are garlic mustard* and tree-of-heaven*. See Ecological Threats.
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.