Alaska State Plant Listings

Vegetation References

(Dominant plant species present in each vegetation type are listed in Appendix C)

AK 1 Hemlock-spruce forest (Tsuga-Picea)
AK 2 Spruce-birch forest (Picea-Betula)
AK 3 Black spruce forest (Picea)
AK 4 Muskeg (Eriophorum-Sphagnum-Betula)
AK 5 Alder thickets (Alnus)
AK 6 Cottonsedge tundra (Eriophorum)
AK 7 Watersedge tundra (Carex)
AK 8 Dryas meadows and barren (Dryas-Carex-Betula)
AK 9 Aleutian meadows (Calamagrostis-Anemone)
AK10 Aleutian heath and barren (Empetrum-Vaccinium)

Native Plants for Landscape Use in Alaska

Ferns

Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Botrychium lunaria (Moonwort)
Botrychium virginianum (rattlesnake fern)
Cystopteris fragilis (fragile fern)
Dryopteris dilatata (wood fern)
Dryopteris fragrans (fragrant fern)
Gymnocarpium dryopteris (oak fern)
Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern)
Woodsia ilvenis (rusty woodsia)

Forbs (perennials)

Achillea borealis (northern yarrow)
Achillea sibirica (Siberian yarrow)
Aconitum delphiniifolium (northern monkshood)
Actaea rubra (red or western baneberry)
Anaphalis margaritacea (pearly everlasting)
Anemone multifida (early thimbleweed, cut-leaf anemone, Pacific anemone)
Anemone narcissiflora (narcissis-flowered anemone)
Anemone parviflora (windflower)
Anemone richardsonii (yellow anemone, Richardson’s anemone)
Angelica lucida (wild celery)
Antennaria spp. (pussytoes)
Aquilegia formosa (scarlet or crimson columbine)
Arab is lyrata (lyre-leaf rockcress)
Armeria maritima (sea pink, thrift)
Arnica alpina (alpine arnica)
Arnica frigida (fridgid arnica)
Arnica lessingii (Lessing’s arnica)
Artemesia arctica (Arctic wormwood)
Artemesia borealis (Northern wormwood)
Artemesia frigida (prairie sagebrush, frigid wormwood)
Artemesia Tilesii (common wormwood)
Aruncus dioicus var. vulgaris (sylvan goat’s beard)
Aster sibiricus (Sibirian or arctic aster)
Astragalus alpinus (alpine milk vetch)
Boykinia richardsonii (Alaska boykinia, bear flower)
Caltha palustris ssp. palustris (marsh marigold, cowslip)
Campanula rotundifolia (harebell)
Cerastium Beeringianum (Bering Sea chickweed)
Clintonia uniflora (bride’s bonnet, queen cup, bead lily)
Cnidiurn cnidifolium (Cnidium cnidifolium)
Cornus canadensis (bunchberry, dwarf dogwood)
Corydalis pauciflora (coydalis)
Cypripedium passerinum (Northern white, sparrow’s egg, or Franklin’s lady slipper)
Delphinium glaucum (larkspur)
Dodecatheon frigidum (northern shooting star)
Dodecatheon jeffreyi (Jeffrey’s shooting star)
Draba nivalis (draba)
Drosera rotundifolia (round leaf sundew)
Dryas integrifolia (Entire Leaf Avens)
Dryas octopetala (mountain dryas, white mountain avens)
Epilobium angustifolium (fireweed, willow herb)
Epilobium latifolium (dwarf fireweed)
Erigeron acris (blue fleabane)
Erigeron compositus (alpine daisy)
Erigeron peregrinus (coastal fleabane)
Fragaria chiloensis (coast strawberry)
Galium boreale (Northern bedstraw)
Galium triflorum (sweet-scented bedstraw)
Gentiana glauca (glaucous gentian)
Geranium erianthum (northern cranesbill)
Geum Rossii (Ross’ Avens)
Hedysarum alpinum (Eskimo potato)
Hedysarum Mackenzii (wild sweet pea)
Honckenya peploides Iris setosa (wild iris, blue flag)
Linnaea borealis (twinflower)
Linum lewisii (wild blue flax)
Luetkea pectinata (Alaska spiraea, partridge foot)
Lupinus arcticus (arctic lupine)
Lupinus nootkatensis (Nootka lupine)
Maianthemum dilatatum (false lily-of-the-valley)
Maianthemum stellatum (starry Solomon’s seal)
Melandrium apetalum (bladder campeon)
Menyanthes trifoliata (buckbean, bog bean)
Mertensia paniculata ( bluebells, lungwort, languid lady, chiming bells)
Mimulus guttatus (golden monkey flower)
Mimulus lewisii (Lewis monkey flower, great purple monkey flower)
Minuartia arctica (arctic sandwort)
Minuartia obtusiloba (cushion sandwort)
Minuartia rubella Myosotis alpestris (Alpine forget-me-not)
Nuphar polysepalum (yellow pond lily)
Osmorhiza berteroi (mountain sweet cicely)
Oxyria digyna (mountain sorrel)
Oxytropis campestris ( Northern oxytrope)
Oxytropis deflexa (small-flowered oxytrope)
Oxytropis maydelliana (Maydell’s oxytrope)
Oxytropis viscida (sticky oxytrope)
Papaver alaskanum (Alaska poppy)
Papaver Macounii (Macoun’s poppy)
Pedicularis groenlandica (elephant heads)
Penstemon gormanii (Yukon beardtongue, Gorman penstemon)
Plantago maritima
Plantanthera obtusata (small Northern bog orchid)
Polemonium acutiflorum (tall Jacob’s ladder)
Polemonium pulcherrimum (alpine Jacob’s ladder, skunk leaf)
Polygonum alaskanum (wild rhubarb)
Polygonum bistorta
Potentilla arguta (white cinquefoil, prairie cinquefoil, tall cinquefoil)
Potentilla Egeddi (silverweed)
Potentilla nivea (villous cinquefoil)
Potentilla palustris (marsh cinquefoil, marsh fivefinger)
Pulsatilla patens ssp. multifida (pasque flower, wild crocus)
Pyrola asarifolia (pink pyrola, wintergreen)
Pyrola grandiflora (large-flowered wintergreen)
Pyrola secunda (sidebells pyrola)
Ranuculus Gmelini (creeping crowfoot)
Ranuculus hyperboreus (dwarf creeping buttercup)
Ranuculus lapponicus (lapland buttercup)
Rumex arcticus (Arctic dock)
Sanguisorba stipulata (Sitka burnet)
Saxifraga bronchialis (yellow spotted saxifrage, matted saxifrage)
Saxifraga cespitosa (tufted saxifrage)
Saxifraga oppositifolia (purple mountain saxifrage)
Sedum rosea (rosewort, roseroot)
Senecio pseudoarnica (seabeach senecio)
Sibbaldia procumbens (sibbaldia procumbens)
Silene acaulis (moss campion)
Solidago multiradiata (northern goldenrod, mountain goldenrod)
Spiranthes Romanzofiana (hooded ladies’ tresses)
Stellarian longipes (long stalk starwort, stellaria)
Streptopus roseus (rosy twisted stalk)
Tellima grandiflora (fringe cup)
Thalictrum sparsiflorum (few-flowered meadow rue)
Tiarella trifoliata var. unifoliata (sugar scoop, western foam flower)
Trientalis europaea (star flower)
Tofieldia coccinea (false asphodel)
Tolmiea menziesii (piggyback plant, youth-on-age, thousand mothers)
Valeriana capitata (Capitate Valerian)
Viola canadensis (Canada violet)
Viola glabella (smooth yellow violet)
Viola lansdorfii (Alaska violet)

Grasses/Grass-like plants

Agropyron boreale
Agropyron macrourum
Agropyron pauciflorum
Agropyron Violaceum
Agrostis alaskana
Agrostis borealis
Agrostis exerata
Agrostis scabre
Beckmannia syzigachne
Bromus Pumpellianus
Bromus sitchensis
Calamagrostis canadensis
Calamagrostis inexpanse
Calamagrostis lapponica
Calamagrostis purpurascens
Carex aquatilis
Carex Bigelowii
Carex dioica
Carex Lyngbyaei
Carex maritima
Carex macloviana
Carex mertensii
Carex microchaeta
Carex rostata
Carex saxitilis
Carex scirpoidea
Deschampsia caespilosa
Deschampsia beringensis
Dupontia Fischeri
Elymus arenarius
Elymus innovatus
Eriophorum angustifolium
Eriophorum russeolum
Eriophorum Scheuchzeri
Festuca altaica
Festuca brachyphylla
Festuca rubra
Glyceria pauciflora
Hierochloe alpina
Hierochloe odorata
Hordeum brachyantherum
Juncus alpinus
Juncus arcticus
Juncus biglumis
Juncus casteneus
Juncus ensifolius
Juncus triglumis
Luzula arcuata
Luzula multiflora
Luzula parviflora
Poa alpigena
Poa arctica
Poa eminens
Poa lanata
Poa paucispicula
Poa stenantha
Puccinellia borealis
Puccinellia Langeana
Puccinellia nutkaensis
Scirpus microcarpus
Scirpus validus
Triglochin maritimum
Triglochin palustris
Trisetum spicatum

Shrubs (deciduous)

Alnus crispa (mountain alder)
Alnus incana (river alder)
Amelanchier alnifolia (Saskatoon, western serviceberry, Juneberry)
Arctostaphylos alpina (alpine bearberry)
Arctostaphylos rubra
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (bearberry, kinnikinnik)
Artemisia frigida (prairie sagewort, fringed sagebrush)
Betula nana (dwarf arctic birch, bog birch)
Cornus stolonifera (red-twig dogwood, red-osier dogwood)
Elaeagnus commutata (silverberry, wild olive, wolf willow)
Empetrum nigrum (crowberry, mossberry)
Ledum palustre
Myrica gale (sweet gale)
Potentilla fruticosa (bush cinquefoil)
Ribes laxiflorum (trailing black currant)
Ribes triste (Northern red currant)
Rosa acicularis (prickley rose)
Rosa nutkana (Nootka rose)
Rubus arcticus (nagoonberry, dewberry)
Rubus chamaemonrus (cloudberry)
Rubus idaeus (red raspberry)
Rubus spectabilis (salmon berry)
Salix alexensis
Salix arbusculoides
Salix arctica (arctic willow)
Salix bebbiana (Bebb willow, long-beaked willow)
Salix lanata
Salix lasiandre
Salix planifolia
Salix reticulata
Sambucus racemosa (elder)
Shepherdia canadensis (buffaloberry)
Spiraea stevenii (Alaska spiraea, Beauverd’s spiraea)

Vaccinium parvifolium (red huckleberry)
Vaccinium uliginosum (alpine blueberry, bog blueberry)
Viburnum edule (moosewood viburnum, highbush cranberry)

Shrubs (evergreen)

Juniperus communis (common juniper)
Juniperus horizontalis (creeping juniper, creeping savin)
Kalmia polifolia (swamp laurel, bog laurel)
Ledum groenlandicum (Labrador tea, muskeg tea)
Phyllodoce empetriformis (pink mountain heather)
Rhododendron lapponicum (Lapland rosebay)
Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lingonberry)

Trees (deciduous)

Betula occidentalis (mountain birch, water birch)
Betula papyrifera (paper birch)
Larix larcina (tamarack)
Populus balsamifera ( balsam poplar)
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Populus trichocarpa (black cottonwood)

Trees (evergreen)

Abies lasiocarpa (alpine fir)
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (Alaska cedar, yellow cedar, Nootka cedar)
Picea glauca (white spruce)
Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce)
Picea mariana (black spruce)
Pinus contorta (Lodgepole or scrub pine)
Taxus brevifolia (western yew, Pacific yew)
Thuja plicata (western red cedar)
Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock)
Tsuga mertensiana (mountain hemlock)

Federally Listed Endangered Species

Aleutian shield-fern (Aleutian holly-fern) (Polystichum aleuticum)

Alaska Noxious Species

Because the noxious weed lists have continually changed since we gathered them in 1994, we are not including them at this time. Not all States have noxious weed lists. Those that do, do not use the same standards of importance and are not comparable. States typically have included plants that interfere with agriculture (Canada thistle), or cause human health problems (poison ivy). Some States are now including a category of plants that invade and degrade the environment (purple loosestrife). Check with your State’s Agriculture Department or Weed Scientist listed below. The noxious weed list can be used two ways on roadsides: 1) check to not inadvertently plant these invasive plants, and 2) note the plants you are legally responsible to control. Many States now check adjacent State lists to avoid planting their neighbors’ problem plants. Because weeds do not respect political boundaries, and because by their very nature weeds continue to adapt and expand, monitoring and controlling invasives at State borders is a wise part of vegetation management.

Department of Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture
PO Box 949
Palmer, AK 99645

Wayne Vandre, U. of A.
Alaska Cooperative Extension
2221 E. Northern Lights Blvd. #118
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 279-6575

Alaska Resources

Alaska Natural Heritage Program
707 A Street, Ste. 208
Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 257-2702
(907) 258-9139 (fax)

The Nature Conservancy Field Office
421 West First Avenue, Ste. 200
Anchorage, AK 99501

Alaska Native Plant Society
PO Box 141613
Anchorage, AK 99514

Department of Environmental Conservation
410 Willoughby Avenue
Juneau, AK 99801
(907) 465-5000

Stoney J. Wright
Plant Materials Center
Dept. Of Natural Resources
HC 02, Box 7440
Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 745-4469

Georgeson Botanical Garden
University of Alaska
309 O’Neil Resources Building
West Tanana Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775

Gathered from the United States Department of Transportation