The vascular plant flora and plant communities of Erie Bluffs State Park, Erie County, Pennsylvania

Abstract

Abstract Erie Bluffs State Park in Erie County, Pennsylvania, established in 2004, occupies 219 ha along 2.25 km of Lake Erie shoreline. The park is notable for its highly erodible lakeshore bluffs, black oak sand barrens, and lakeplain swamp forests. A vascular plant inventory was undertaken and supplemented with historical collections to provide a vouchered checklist from the site now occupied by Erie Bluffs State Park. A second checklist with a list of unconfirmed records is based on unvouchered sightings from the park and specimen records from the vicinity of the park that cannot confidently be mapped within the park boundaries. The checklist includes 555 vascular taxa in 309 genera and 98 families with taxa representing the following groups: Equisetophyta (5), Lycopodiophyta (4), Pteridophyta (22), Coniferophyta (3), Liliopsida (136), and Magnoliopsida (385). Poaceae (56 species), Asteraceae (56 species), Cyperaceae (41 species), Rosaceae (36 species), and Brassicaceae (22 species) are the five large...