OUR LAKE ONTARIO SAND DUNES:
AN OVERVIEW OF THEIR FLORA

This checklist includes some of the mammals and birds that are known or suspected to inhabit or visit our Lake Ontario dunes and associated shrub thickets. It does not include birds that breed and remain in the marshes, sands, and streams behind the dunes.

KEY

Communities:

1 - American beachgrass

2 - Poison ivy-dune grape-cottonwood

3 - Red maple-red oak forest

4 - Alder thicket

Abundance categories:

A - abundant

O - occasional

R - rare

COMMUNITIES

TREES

1

2

3

4

Ash, green

O

A

Beech, American

O

Cherry, pin (fire)

R

Cherry, black

O

O

O

Cottonwood, eastern

A

A

Maple, sugar

O

Maple, striped

O

Maple, red

A

A

Oak, northern red

O

A

R

Poplar, lombardy

R

R

Poplar, balsam

R

R

Willow, hybrid

R

O

O

SHRUBS

Alder, speckled (hazel)

A

Arrowwood

O

Blackberry

R

A

O

Buckthorn, European

O

O

Cherry, choke

A

A

O

Cherry, sand

R

R

Dogwood, silky

R

O

Nannyberry

O

O

Raspberry, red

A

A

O

Shadbush

O

Willow, sand-dune (heart-leaf)

 0

 0

Winterberry

A

O

VINES

Grape, riverbank (dune)

R

A

O

O

Greenbrier, bristly

O

O

Poison ivy

R

A

O

R

FERNS AND FERN ALLIES

Horsetail, field

R

O

O

Horsetail, shore

R

O

Sensitive fern

O

O

WILD FLOWERS

Bedstraw, sweet-scented

O

Beggar ticks

O

O

Bindweed, fringed

A

Blue flag, larger

R

Bouncing bet

A

O

Bugleweed, Virginia

R

O

Clotbur, beach

O

Evening primrose, common

O

O

Fleabane, daisy

O

Goldenrod, blue-stern

O

A

O

Goldenrod, Canada

A

O

R

Goldenrod, gray

A

Goldenrod, late

O

O

A

Goldenrod, rough-stemmed

A

Iris, yellow

R

Knapweed, spotted

A

Lady's tresses, nodding

R

Mayflower, Canada

O

A

O

Milkweed, common

R

O

Pea, beach

O

Sandwart, blunt-leaved

O

A

O

Sarsaparilla, wild

A

Sea rocket

R

Silverweed

O

O

Solomon's seal, star-flowered false

 O

 A

O 

Sorrel, sheep

A

Spurge, seaside

O

Touch-me-not, spotted

O

Wormwood, tall

A

A

Yarrow

O

O

R

GRASSES & GRASS-LIKE PLANTS

Beachgrass, American

A

A

Bluegrass, Canada

A

O

R

Bluegrass, Kentucky

O

Fescue, sheep

A

Hairgrass, common

O

Mannagrass, fowl

A

Reed canary-grass

A

Rush, Baltic

R

A

O

Wild-rye, Canada

O

O