Native Plants of North Carolina: From Mountains to Coast

North Carolina's extreme elevation range (Mt. Mitchell 6,684 ft → Atlantic 0 ft) creates **four distinct ecoregions**—Mountains, Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plain—each with unique flora. Here are representative native species by category.

Trees (Canopy & Understory)

• Pines: Loblolly (Piedmont/Coastal), Longleaf (Sandhills), Shortleaf, Virginia, Eastern White (Mountains), Table Mountain (high peaks).
• Oaks: White, Northern Red, Southern Red, Black, Scarlet, Willow, Live (coastal), Chestnut Oak (mountains), Overcup (swamps).
• Hardwoods: Red Maple, Sugar Maple (mountains), Tulip Poplar, Sweetgum, Hickories (Shagbark, Pignut, Mockernut), American Beech, Black Gum, Sourwood.
• Conifers: Eastern Hemlock (mountains, threatened by woolly adelgid), Bald Cypress (blackwater rivers), Atlantic White Cedar (peat bogs).
• Small Trees: Flowering Dogwood (state flower), Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, Fringe Tree, American Holly, Pawpaw, Red Buckeye.

Shrubs

• Ericads: Catawba Rhododendron (high mountains), Rosebay Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel, Flame Azalea, Pinxterflower, Piedmont Azalea.
• Others: Sweetshrub (Carolina Allspice), Virginia Sweetspire, Fothergilla, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Strawberry Bush, Spicebush, Winterberry, Inkberry, Wax Myrtle (coastal), Yaupon Holly.

Wildflowers (Spring Ephemerals & Summer)

• Mountains: Trilliums (6+ spp.), Bloodroot, Dutchman's Breeches, Squirrel Corn, Trout Lily, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Lady's Slipper Orchids, Turk's Cap Lily.
• Piedmont/Sandhills: Carolina Lily, Michaux's Lily, Fire Pink, Woodland Phlox, Green-and-Gold, Iris cristata.
• Coastal Plain: Venus Flytrap (endemic to 90-mi radius Wilmington), Pitcher Plants, Sundews, Orchids (Grass Pink, Rose Pogonia), Coastal Plain Joe-Pye Weed.

Grasses & Graminoids

• Native Warm-Season: Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian Grass, Switchgrass, Eastern Gamagrass, Wiregrass (longleaf understory).
• Cool-Season: River Oats, Purpletop, Beaked Panicgrass.
• Lawn Alternatives: Poverty Oatgrass, Curly Mesquite, Buffalo Grass (western NC).

Aquatic & Wetland

• Fragrant Water Lily, American Lotus, Pickerelweed, Arrowhead, Cattail, Soft Rush, Bulrush, Sedges (Carex spp. - 100+ native), Bald Cypress, Water Tupelo, Swamp Tupelo.

Resources: Flora of the Southern & Mid-Atlantic States (Weakley), NC Native Plant Society, NC State Extension.