- According to the World Wildlife Federation, New Jersey includes both the Northeastern Coastal Forests and Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens ecoregions. These ecoregions are home to many plant species that are common to New Jersey and surrounding areas. Some examples are the oaks, which are divided into two groups. One group is the white oaks, the other the red oaks. In addition to these oaks, there are many other deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves in the winter) native to New Jersey, including maples, birches, ashes and hickories.
New Jersey is famous, from an ecological standpoint, for what are called the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In the Pine Barrens, a species of pine, an evergreen called the pitch pine, predominates. Soils are sandy and dry, making the area prone to natural fires. The pitch pine is well adapted to this area. - There are many shrubs native to New Jersey, including the highbush blueberry, several species of viburnums and a number of dogwood shrubs.
- Among the vines that occur in New Jersey are grape vines, greenbrier and bittersweet. Asian bittersweet is a non-native, invasive vine that has become a considerable nuisance in New Jersey as well as in other regions.
- Herbaceous plants are nonwoody plants. In other words, their stems do not develop hard, woody tissues like those of trees, shrubs and vines. The herbaceous plants include many wildflowers and weeds, both native and nonnative. Examples of herbaceous plants in New Jersey include the red trillium, the trout lily and the May apple.
- Considered by botanists to be at the more primitive end of the plant life spectrum, algae are ubiquitous in New Jersey. Freshwater algae occurs in ponds, lakes and streams. Because New Jersey is a coastal state, it also hosts many forms of marine algae, including various seaweeds.
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