Native Plant Descriptions
Successful plant communities are usually composed of a combination of various woody and
herbaceous species. Proportions of each species characterize the various ecological
communities described in the guide. For instance, trees are largely absent from coastal dune
communities, but form the dominant vegetation in bottomland forest. Effective planting
strategies can be based on supplementing existing vegetation to replicate these communities,
depending on careful analysis of soils, light conditions, and hydrologic resources. Carefully
consider the mature sizes of specified plants to best determine the appropriate spacing.
Following are descriptions of the many native species suitable for planting in New York City.
There are several variables listed for each species, based on the research completed and
available at time of publication. Some plants are more well-studied than others, and as a result,
for certain species, there may be information that is simply not known.
Some of the information presented is technical in nature and to assist the reader the following
tables are provided to clarify the data.
Wetland Indicator Status:
OBL = >99% probability, plants always found in wet soil or standing water.
FACW = 67-99% probability, plants usually found in wet to moist soil.
FAC = 34-66% probability, plants occurring in both wetlands and moist upland soil.
FACU = 1-33% probability, plants sometimes occur in wetlands and tolerate moist to dry soil.
UPL = 0% probability, plants that almost never occur in wetlands and tolerate dry soil.
NI=No Indicator.
Salt Tolerance Level Explanation
Moderate salt tolerance The plant can tolerate some salt, but does not
necessarily do well in a coastal flood. If the
plant is ever inundated with salt water,
thoroughly rinse it with fresh water as soon as
possible.
High salt tolerance The plant lives in/very close to salt water and
can tolerate being flooded with salt water
either occasionally or all the time.