Image gallery loading....
How to Recognize It
 | Open Park Map |
 | Compare Natural Communities |
The Basic Oak - Hickory Forest can be found in patches all throughout Harpers Ferry National Historical Park on slopes and a few ridges. Fairly good soil allows a wide variety of plants to grow here. The canopy contains many kinds of oaks and hickories. Other trees include white ash, tuliptree, and sugar maple. There is a nice show of spring wildflowers at some sites, as on Maryland Heights.
Can you find this combination of key features?
Identifying This Natural Community
- A mixture of oaks in the canopy, including white oak, black oak, northern red oak, and chestnut oak
- A variety of hickory species
- White ash, sugar maple, and eastern redbud in the understory
- Lack of heath family shrubs, except perhaps deerberry
- (Optional) mapleleaf viburnum
- A great diversity of low-growing plants
- Location: higher on the slope than cove forests, but not as high, dry, and exposed as the forests dominated by chestnut oak and mountain laurel
If so, welcome to the Basic Oak - Hickory Forest at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park .
Not sure? Check out the Compare Natural Communities Tool.