What Native Vegetation Grows in New York City?

Trees

• American beech (Fagus grandifolia)
• Black cherry (Prunus serotina)
• Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
• Black oak (Quercus velutina)
• Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)
• Northern red oak (Quercus rubra)
• Pin oak (Quercus palustris)
• Red maple (Acer rubrum)
• Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
• Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Shrubs

• American hazelnut (Corylus americana)
• Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum)
• Blackhaw viburnum (Viburnum prunifolium)
• Common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
• Gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa)
• Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)
• Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)
• Northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
• Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
• Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

Grasses & Sedges

• Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)
• Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus)
• Common reed (Phragmites australis)
• Eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides)
• Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
• Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
• Northern switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
• Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)
• Virginia wildrye (Elymus virginicus)

Wildflowers

• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
• Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
• Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
• Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
• Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
• New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
• New York aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii)
• Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
• Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota)

Despite its urban density, NYC's parks, wetlands, and coastal areas preserve surprising botanical diversity native to the northeastern U.S.