The Vascular Flora of the Hempstead Harbor Shoreline Trail Natural Area, Long Island, New York

The Hempstead Harbor Shoreline Trail is located in the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County, Long Island NY. Restoration of the site, concentrating on the removal of alien species, began in September 2001. This flora provides a baseline record of the species present at the onset of restoration. This study is exclusively based upon voucher collections made by the author from September 1998 through October 1999 records the flora of several different habitats including successional woodlands, salt marsh, disturbed clearings, and old field successional areas found at the site. Listed are 60 families, 131 genera, and 168 species. The largest families are the Poaceae (27 species), Asteraceae (25), Fabaceae (9) and Rosaceae (8). Together, these four families comprise roughly 41% of the species present. Three species, Cenchrus tribuloides L., Suaeda linearis Elliot (Moq), and Agastache scrophulariifolia (Willd.) Kuntze. found on site have been designated as rare in NYS.