Maryland Native Plants List | 48 Native Plants of Maryland

Here is a detailed Maryland Native Plant List you must check out. This includes groundcovers, flowers, and perennials as well!

If you are looking for Maryland Native Plant List to plan your garden, we have compiled the best ones below!

Look at the list of European Native Plants here

Maryland Native Plant List

1. Cardinal Flower

Botanical Name: Lobelia cardinalis

The Maryland native perennial features long stalks of tubular flower clusters on lance-shaped green foliage. It is natively found in wild ditches, river banks, and roadsides.

Find out the best Perennial Flowers in Georgia here

2. Christmas Fern

Botanical Name: Polystichum acrostichoides

Christmas ferns show off beautiful lush and glossy fronds throughout the year. This ornamental evergreen is widely grown for groundcovers and landscaping purposes across the land.

3. Butterfly Milkweed

Botanical Name: Asclepias tuberosa

Butterfly milkweed is a bushy perennial that produces clusters of bright orange-yellow flower clusters from May to September. The plant needs 5-6 hours of direct sunlight to thrive well.

4. Great Blue Lobelia

Botanical Name: Lobelia siphilitica

The plant produces tall spikes of light to dark blue flowers attracting a hoard of butterflies. The perennial is commonly found in wet and marshy lands from late summer to early fall.

5. Wild Bergamot

Botanical Name: Monarda fistulosa

The perennial grows clusters of purple, white, pink, or lavender blooms on aromatic, mint-like foliage. Wild Bergamot is widely found in the woodlands and meadows across the state.

Learn about Growing Bergamot here

6. Rudbeckia

Botanical Name: Rudbeckia hirta

Native to Maryland, this perennial features striking yellow flower stalks with dark brown centers. Their minimum care requirements make them great for garden borders and cut flowers.

7. Turk’s Cap Lily

Botanical Name: Lilium superbum

The Maryland native produces tall stalks of droopy reddish-orange flowers with brown spots. The plant needs full sun and a little acidic moist soil to thrive well.

8. Golden groundsel

Botanical Name: Packera obovata

This rosette-forming perennial boasts showy stalks of bright yellow daisy-like blooms on dark green heart-shaped foliage. Golden Groundsels are common in home gardens as they attract beneficial pollinators.

9. New York Ironweed

Botanical Name: Vernonia noveboracensis

The violet flowerheads on lance-shaped green leaves are a living magnet for butterflies and birds in the wetlands, marshy plots, and pastures of Maryland.

10. Fire Pink

Botanical Name: Silene virginica

The five-petalled dark red flowers are great for attracting pollinators and are common in the rocky garden borders, dry slopes, meadows, and open woodlands.

11. Bluewood Aster

Botanical Name: Symphyotrichum cordifolium

Bluewood Aster features beautiful daisy-like flowers in shades of blue. The wildflower thrives in dry, well-draining plots under partial sun.

Here’s a list of Floridan Native Plants

12. Heuchera

Botanical Name: Heuchera

Alumroot produces short flower stalks of bell-shaped green flowers. The blooms take a yellowish to purple tint if exposed under the full sun.

13. Joe Pye Wood

Botanical Name: Eutrochium spp.

The plant blooms tiny pink to purple blooms in large clusters on lance-shaped, serrated green foliage. The plant does not appreciate the harsh afternoon sun.

14. Eastern Columbine

Botanical Name: Aquilegia canadensis

The droopy, trumpet-shaped blooms bear red-yellow petals with a long nectar-bearing, making them a prominent sight on the rocky slopes of Maryland.

15. False Blue Indigo

Botanical Name: Baptisia australis

Beautiful racemes of blue flowers appear on gray-green foliage throughout summer, followed by green pea-like pods that take a darker hue by fall.

16. Foxglove Beardtongue

Botanical Name: Penstemon digitalis

This clump-forming bushy perennial grows clustered of bell-shaped, white flower spikes on glossy foliage. Foxglove Beardtongue makes for pretty cut flowers.

17. Rosemallow

Botanical Name: Hibiscus

The five-petalled flowers come in shades of pink, purple, and white with contrasting centers. The shrubby variety reaches an impressive height of 6-7 feet tall.

18. Little Bluestem

Botanical Name: Schizachyrium scoparium

An ornamental grass with dense bluish-green fine foliage, Little Bluestem takes a rustic burgundy hue with white seed tufts by fall.

19. Blue Sedge

Botanical Name: Carex flacca

Noted for its soft-blue, sedge-forming foliage, Blue Sedge is a common sight along the coastlines and moorlands of Maryland.

Look at the Best Shrubs for Containers here

20. Wool Rush

Botanical Name: Scirpus cyperinus

This dense, clump-forming perennial features basal green leaves and erect stems. White-green flower heads appear in summer, turning to cinnamon brown on maturity.

21. Yellow Indiangrass

Botanical Name: Sorghastrum nutans

Yellow Indiangrass varies in height from 3-8 feet and forms clusters of blue-green foliage that turn yellowish by fall. The yellow flower spikes with white fringes double the charm.

Looking for Grass Like Plants for Container Gardening? Click  here

22. Foamflower

Botanical Name: Tiarella cordifolia

This herbaceous perennial with pretty creamy white flower spikes and lush foliage is a common sight in the gardens of Maryland.

23. Pussytoes

Botanical Name: Antennaria plantaginifolia

The tiny tufted, white flowerheads resemble a cat’s feet, hence the name. Clustered pink to white flowers appear from mid to late Spring.

24. Wild Ginger

Botanical Name: Asarum

The shade-loving perennial shows off heart-shaped, dark green leaves that appear as a deciduous groundcover in the forests of Maryland.

25. Sensitive Fern

Botanical Name: Onoclea sensibilis

Sensitive Fern features yellowish-green, triangular fronds that are highly sensitive to frost, giving it the name. The plant is a common sight in the marshy floodplains of Maryland.

Find out the Ferns with most Beautiful Fronds here

26. Green and Gold

Botanical Name: Chrysogonum virginianum

This Maryland native is a low-growing cultivar covered with clusters of yellow blooms, an ideal choice for groundcovers in moist, shade landscapes.

27. Black Chokeberry

Botanical Name: Aronia melanocarpa

This deciduous shrub blooms pinkish-white blooms in the late spring, followed by dark purple edible fruits. The plant thrives in almost all soil types, including boggy and rocky textures.

28. Black Huckleberry

Botanical Name: Gaylussacia baccata

The deciduous shrub reaches a height of 2-4 feet and is commonly found in the gardens of Maryland. The stem changes its color from light green to reddish-brown to finally darker hues on maturity.

29. Common Witchhazel

Botanical Name: Hamamelis virginiana

The irregular branches covered with yellow ribbon-shaped fringes are a wonderful addition to the Maryland landscapes.

30. Fothergilla

Botanical Name: Fothergilla

Noted for its fluffy white spring blooms and golden-crimson fall foliage, Fothergilla is a unique ornamental species found in the gardens of Maryland.

31. Hillside Blueberry

Botanical Name: Vaccinium pallidum

This low-growing shrub reaches a height of 2-3 feet and blooms pinkish-white blooms in mid to late spring, followed by tarty greenish-white berries.

Learn about Growing Blueberries in Containers here

32. Inkberry Holly

Botanical Name: Ilex glabra

The glossy oval leaves are graced with greenish-white blooms in the spring that are later pollinated to produce blue-black drupes by early fall.

33. Leucothoe

Botanical Name: Leucothoe

Leucothoe is a bushy shrub reaching up to 3-5 feet tall and is adorned with white bell-shaped flowers flushed in a purplish tint.

34. Red Chokeberry

Botanical Name: Aronia arbutifolia

The bright red berries look alluring on the multi-stemmed deciduous shrub. The dark green foliage taking its fall colors, steals the show.

35. Mapleleaf Viburnum

Botanical Name: Viburnum acerifolium

The deciduous foliage takes a colorful hue in the fall. Also, the white flower clusters followed by dark red edible fruits add to their charm.

36. Northern Bayberry

Botanical Name: Myrica pensylvanica

Northern Bayberry is known for its subtle sweet fragrance misting the air when the glossy foliage is crubled. Gray-blue berry clusters adorn the stems in summer.

37. Oakleaf Hydrangea

Botanical Name: Hydrangea quercifolia

A deciduous shrub with a mounding growth habit, Oakleaf Hydrangea looks gorgeous, featuring white flower clusters on the oak-leaf-shaped fuzzy foliage.

Looking for Landscaping Ideas with Hydrangea? Click here

38. Yaupon Holly

Botanical Name: Ilex vomitoria

Native to the coastal areas of Maryland, Yaupon Holly features glossy dark green leaves on the whitish-gray tree trunks. The shrub is home to a variety of pollinators.

39. Winterberry Holly

Botanical Name: Ilex verticillata

The dark green elliptical leaves give a striking contrast to the greenish-white flowers that are pollinated to produce bright red berries in the fall.

40. Virginia Sweetspire

Botanical Name: Itea virginica

The arching branches get covered with white bottle-brush-like flower clusters from late spring to mid-summer and look beautiful in their native place.

41. White Oak

Botanical Name: Quercus alba

Noted for its gorgeous golden-red fall foliage, White Oak has a gray bark extensively used in the furnishing industry.

Check out the Best Oak Tree Varieties here

42. Eastern Red Cedar

Botanical Name: Juniperus virginiana

The evergreen specimen reaches a height of 30-40 feet, featuring reddish-brown bark and bluish-green flower clusters in from late spring to early winter.

43. Serviceberry

Botanical Name: Amelanchier

Serviceberry features pretty white blooms in spring and edible fruits in summer. Apart from the nutty flavor, the berries are a powerhouse of medicinal benefits.

44. Green Hawthorn

Botanical Name: Crataegus viridis

Native to the Maryland coastal plains, Green Hawthorn is a tall deciduous tree with a height of 20-35 feet, crowned with green leaves that turn purple to red in the fall.

45. Flowering Dogwood

Botanical Name: Cornus florida

This small perennial features modified leaf bracts in the shades of pink and white in the spring, burgundy fall foliage, and red edible berries in early fall.

46. Eastern Redbud

Botanical Name: Cercis canadensis

Eastern Redbud is a common sight across Maryland, featuring showy pink flowers with a purplish tint that looks like a blooming crown from a distance.

Look at the Best Purple Flowering Trees in Texas here

47. Blackgum

Botanical Name: Nyssa sylvatica

Native to the Maryland forests, Blackgum is a deciduous tree noted for its glossy green, toothed foliage that turns peachy-red in the fall.

48. American Hornbeam

Botanical Name: Carpinus caroliniana

This Maryland native makes a statement in the large gardens with an impressive height of 20-30 feet. The leaves change their color from dark green to golden-yellow in the fall.

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