Potomac, Maryland Native Plants

Trees

• Common tall hardwood trees include red, white and chestnut oak, ash, tulip poplar, American basswood, red and silver maples, sweet and river birches, beech, persimmon, sycamore and black walnut. Pine trees include shortleaf, pitch, white and Virginia pines. Smaller trees that occur as forest understory are eastern redbud, flowering dogwood, American holly, serviceberry, crabapple, sassafras and sweetbay magnolia. (see Reference 4)

Vines

• Native vines include red-flowered trumpet creeper and coral honeysuckle, which attract hummingbirds; American bittersweet, leather flower, Virgin's bower and Virginia creeper.

Shrubs

• Shrubs occur primarily at forest edges, in thickets and as forest understory. Some native tall shrubs are American hazelnut, mountain laurel, staghorn and winged sumac, alder, possum haw and black haw. Medium-sized shrubs include chokeberry, buttonbush, witch hazel, rhododendron, azalea, elderberry, swamp rose, and deerberry. Some of the low shrubs that occur are black huckleberry, blackberry, lowbush blueberry, pasture rose and St. John's wort.

Water-loving Plants

• Along streams and in pools, sweet and blue flags can occur, as well as rushes, fragrant and yellow water lilies, arum, sedges and cattails.

Herbaceous Wildflowers

• Many kinds of wildflowers lend color to the landscape in spring, summer and fall. They occur on forest floors, meadows, fields and along roadsides. Some wildflowers that prefer shaded forest understory are jack-in-the-pulpit, columbine, snakeroot, spring beauty, Dutchman's breeches, trout lily, hepatica, alumroot, Virginia bluebells, Mayapple, Solomon's seal, bloodroot and Virginia spiderwort. Wildflowers that grow in more open habitats include bird's foot violet, goldenrods, blue-eyed grass, coneflower, beardtongue, horsemint, lilies, sunflowers, coreopsis and asters.

Groundcovers

• Ground-hugging native plants mostly prefer shade or partial shade, and include stonecrop, wood sorrel, moss phlox, mayflower, wintergreen, partridgeberry and wild ginger.

Grasses

• Most grasses grow in areas with dry to moist soil types. Common grasses include broom sedge, river oats, Canada and Virginia wild rye, Virginia switch grass, and Indiangrass.

Ferns

• Most ferns occupy moist to wet soils and shaded or semi-shaded areas. Some fern types native to the Potomac area include maidenhair fern, southern lady fern, evergreen wood fern, New York fern, and Virginia chain fern.