Native Plants of the Gainesville Ridges
The rich communities of native plants in the Hall County region highlight Georgia’s ranking as fourth
in the United States for native plants per square mile and rare-threatened endangered species.
Evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs of winter, ephemeral wildflowers of spring, summer meadowlands of summer, and brilliantly colored leaves and flowers promise beauty and interest
for all seasons.
​
The urban forest of oak-hickory-pine, prairie, wetland ecosystems of Linwood Nature Preserve harbors
a plethora native plant species that were pushed into the Gainesville Ridges of the Chattahoochee River over two million years ago.
​
Northern invaders from four upper zones of the Appalachia, Ridges and Valleys, Blue Ridge and Upper Piedmont had the DNA to adapt and thrive in the soil, hydrology, climate and terrain and are found growing in nature no further south than the Hall County border.
White Pine
Pinus strobes
Mountain Laurel
Kalmia latifolia
Galax
Galax urceolata
​
Colonial botanists’ discoveries - Early 19th Century naturalists scoured Colonial forests for plants to fill the royal gardens of Europe with native plants that thrive today in the Linwood Nature Preserve--William Bartram, Mark Catesby, Andre Michaux, John James Audubon.
​
Catesby’s Trillium Trillium catesbaei
Painted Buckeye Aesculus sylvatica
Carolina Lily Lililum michauxii
​
Vulnerable Species fall victim to clearcutting when the top layer of humus and fungi is scooped up from the forest floor with the fungi they need for survival over hundreds of years.
​
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia
Running Ground Pine Lycopodium clavatum
Cranefly Orchid Tipularia discolor
​
Rare-Threatened-Endangered species can be found in protected pockets of the forest with careful and frequent observation, especially during their season.
