47 forest plants from A-Z

Forests in this country are mostly so-called commercial forests, the trees are used as timber for houses and furniture or as firewood. It is often forgotten that this is an amazing ecosystem that is home to a wide variety of flowering and green plants (and animals too). But not every forest is the same, not only the trees vary, but all the plants in the forest.

How are forest plants classified?

On the one hand, forests are divided into deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests according to the type of trees. Other forest plants can also be classified according to their height. If you look at the forest like a house, then the root area forms the basement, so to speak, in which various animals live, green plants are not to be found there. The bottom layer forms the ground floor. Lichens, mosses and mushrooms (probably the most commonly consumed plants in the forest) grow here. The first floor with numerous plant species is called the herb layer. It is about 1.50 meters high. Herbs, grasses, ferns and flowering plants can be found here. The shrub layer on the second floor is very species-rich, with a height of up to around five metres. The tree layer forms the attic.

vegetation of the soil layer

The soil usually has much more life than meets the eye at first glance. In addition to insects and microorganisms, you can also find beautiful forest plants on the forest floor.

mosses

Cypress or sleeping moss(Hypnum cupressiforme)

• used to be dried and used as a pillow filling
• very rich in form and variable in appearance

Gooseneck star moss(Mnium hornum)

• 2 to 5 cm high
• likes to spread like a lawn

Mushrooms

toadstool(Amanita muscaria)

• toxic, narcotic
• in deciduous and coniferous forests
• like birch and spruce

death cap mushroom(Amanita phalloides)

• deadly poisonous
• in deciduous forests

chestnut bolete(Boletus badius)

• edible
• preferred in coniferous forests (spruce and pine)

chanterelle(Cantharellus cibarius)

• edible
• mossy soils in deciduous and coniferous forests

mushroom(boletus edulis)

• edible
• in deciduous and coniferous forests

forest mushroom(Agaricus silvaticus)

• edible
• in coniferous forests, preferably with spruce

Low flowering plants

elf flower, sock flower (epimedium)

• Height: 20 to 35 cm
• Leaves: ovate to ovate-lanceolate, serrate margin, basal or distributed on stem
• Blossoms: white, yellow or pink, dainty, fourfold
• heyday: early summer

Ordinary hazel root, witch smoke, envy herb, glandular herb (Asarum europaeum)

• Location: preferably in deciduous and mixed forests
• Leaves: Roundish to kidney-shaped, hairy underneath
• Blossoms: pitcher-shaped, brown-red, with 3 tips
• heyday: March to May
• Particularities: evergreen, smells slightly peppery

wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)

• Location: preferably in mixed and coniferous forests
• Height: 5 to 15 cm
• Leaves: grass-green, tripartite, clover-like pinnate, taste sour
• Blossoms: white or pink
• heyday: April to June

growth of the herbaceous layer

Not only do many creatures hide here, but also many plants in the forest. If you go for a walk in the forest with your eyes open, you will discover a lot.

grasses

wire hairbrush(Deschampsia flexuosa)

• sweet grass
• grows on acidic and lean soils

Common trembling grass(Braz media)

• sweet grass
• lean soil
• found in clearings

ferns

(Forest) lady fern(Athyrium filix femina)

• deciduous
• Fronds 30 cm to 1 m long

Common Thorn Fern(Dryopteris carthusiana)

• fronds up to 90 cm long

True Male Fern(Dryopteris filix-mas.)

• green until winter
• Fronds 30 cm to 1 m long

flowering plants

common heather, heather, (Calluna vulgaris)

• Location: prefers sparse (pine) forests, heathland
• Height: 30cm to 1m
• Leaves: small, leathery, close-fitting scales
• Blossoms: dense racemose inflorescences with white, pink or purple flowers
• heyday: Late summer to fall
• Particularities: evergreen dwarf shrub, woody

blueberry, Blueberry, Bickberry, Cranberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)

• Location: in pine and mixed forests
• Height: Dwarf shrub, 10 to 60 cm
• Leaves: Grass green, 2 to 3 cm long, ovate to elliptic, slightly serrate to finely toothed
• Blossoms: greenish to reddish
• heyday: April May
• Fruit: black-blue berries up to 1 cm in size, solitary, slightly flattened, edible

red foxglove, fox herb, forest bells (digitalis purpurea)

• Location: prefers light coniferous forest
• Height: up to 2 m high
• Leaves: Basal rosette in the first year, later basal leaves up to 20 cm long
• Blossoms: red-purple flowers in racemose inflorescences
• heyday: June to August, only in the second year
• Particularities: deadly poisonous in all parts of the plant, even in small amounts!

Stinking Hellebore(Helleborus foetidus)

• Location: Oak and beech forests, forest edges, likes slightly calcareous soil
• Height: until about. 60 cm
• Leaves: unpleasant smell
• Blossoms: light green, occasionally with a slightly reddish edge, in clusters, hanging, appear as early as autumn
• heyday: late winter, early spring
• Particularities: subshrub, poisonous

deadnettle(lamium)

• Height: 20 to 80 cm
• Leaves: opposite, hairy, bluntly crenate to coarsely toothed
• Blossoms: Lip flowers, upper lip arched, lower lip multilobed, white, yellow, pink to purple
• heyday: depending on the variety from April until the first frost

forest goat's beard(Aruncus dioicus)

• Height: 80cm to 1.5m
• Leaves: Leaves up to 1 m long, in twos or threes in threes or fives, sharply toothed
• Blossoms: white, small, spiked partial inflorescences arranged on overhanging whole inflorescences
• heyday: June to July

wild burgundy, Many-flowered claret (Polygonatum multiflorum)

• Height: usually 30 to 60 cm, rarely up to 1 m
• Leaves: Dark green above, grey-green dusting underneath, alternate, in two rows, ovate to elliptical, 5 to 17 cm long
• Blossoms: white with green tips, 6 to 7 mm long, odorless, inflorescences with 3 to 5 flowers
• heyday: May to June
• Fruit: dark blue to black berries, frosted, 7 to 9 mm in size
• Particularities: Toxic in all parts of the plant

growth of the shrub layer

The shrub layer is usually more pronounced in sparse forests and almost non-existent in dark coniferous forests. Forest edges and clearings are particularly rich in species.

blackberries(Rubus sectionio rubus)

• in sparse forests

hazelnut(Corylus avellana)

• in sparse forests, at forest edges

raspberries(Rubus idaeus)

• at forest edges and in clearings

dog rose(Rosa canina)

• in sparse forests and at the edges of forests

blackthorn(Prunus spinosa)

• at forest edges
• is considered a butterfly plant

Black elder(Sambucus nigra)

• on forest clearings
• unripe berries are poisonous
• ripe ones should only be eaten when heated

rowanberry(Sorbus aucuparia)

• small apple-like fruits
• important food plant for many animals
• in all forests, preferably at the edge of the forest

hawthorn(Crataegus)

• in sparse deciduous and pine forests
• edible fruits

The tree layer

The tree layer is formed by the different deciduous and coniferous trees, probably the most important plants in the forest. Spruce and beech in particular can be found here, but also pine, fir, oak, maple and larch and, increasingly, Douglas fir.

Native conifers

douglas fir(Pseudotsuga menziesii)

• foreign conifer (is grown in forests in Europe)
• up to 50 m high
• Crown: conical, similar to spruce
• Tribe: cylindrical, straight
• Bark: smooth, grey, with resin bumps, later reddish to dark brown, thick bark, deeply fissured
• needles: soft, green on top, 2 light stripes underneath, flat, aromatic fragrance
• cones: 5 to 10 cm long, hanging, light brown

Spruce(Picea abies)

• up to 50 m high
• Crown: slender, conical
• Tribe: columnar
• Bark: grey-brown to red-brown, thinly scaly
• needles: dark green, square, perched around the twig
• cones: hanging, 10 to 16 cm long

Jaw(Pinus sylvestris)

• up to 40 m high
• Crown: umbrella-like
• Tribe: mostly straight
• Bark: thick gray-brown bark below, thin, reddish-yellow and flaking on top
• needles: 3 to 7 cm long, on short shoots, blue to grey-green
• cones: ovoid, grey-brown, short-stalked

larch(Larix decidua)

• up to 50 m high
• Crown: slightly conical
• Bark: deeply furrowed, grey-brown, red inside
• needles: soft, light green, in clusters on short shoots, golden yellow in autumn, needleless in winter
• cones: 3 to 4 cm long, ovate, brown, erect

(silver) fir (Abies alba)

• up to 50 m high
• Crown: rather flattened, like a stork's nest
• Trunk: straight
• Bark: whitish to silver-grey, finely fissured
• Needles: Underside with 2 white longitudinal stripes, upper surface dark green, flat
• Cones: only in the top area, erect, 10 to 15 cm long

Native deciduous trees

sycamore(Acer pseudoplatanus)

• up to 30 m high
• Bark: smooth, brown-grey, later flaking off in light brownish flat scales
• Leaves: long-stalked, opposite, 5-lobed (like 5 fingers), pointedly indented
• Fruit: composed of 2 winged round nuts

Norway maple (Acer platanoides)

• up to 30 m high
• Bark: blackish, finely fissured, not flaking
• Leaves: 5 to 7 lobes, blunt incision (round), toothed
• Fruit: composed of 2 winged flat nuts

ash(Fraxinus excelsior)

• up to 40 m high, but mostly 15 to 20 m
• Crown: mostly light
• Tribe: long and straight
• Bark: first greenish, then gray to grey-brown, with reticulations
• Leaves: opposite, imparipinnate, mostly 11 serrate leaflets
• Fruit: small winged nuts, mostly single-seeded, oblong, yellow-brown, in hanging, tufted panicles

hornbeam(Carpinus betulus)

• up to 25 m high
• Tribe: strong indentations
• Bark: silver grey, smooth
• Leaves: in two lines, alternate, pointed-ovoid, sharply doubly serrated, folded along the parallel lateral veins
• Fruit: small nuts, one-seeded, in loosely hanging catkins

European beech (Fagus sylvatica)

• up to 40 m high
• Tribe: long, straight
• Bark: smooth, silver-grey
• Leaves: alternate, in two rows, smooth or slightly wavy margins
• Fruit: triangular beechnuts, shiny brown, prickly shell

pedunculate oak (Quercus robur)

• up to 35 m high
• Crown: irregular, loose
• Tribe: relatively short, branched early
• Bark: first silver-grey, smooth and shiny, from about 30. year grey-brown and deeply fissured
• Leaves: alternate in clusters, 4 to 5 rounded lobes on both sides
• Fruit: cylindrical acorns, in bowl-shaped cups, 1 to 3 each on a long stalk

sessile oak (Quercus petraea)

• up to 40 m high
• Crown: irregular
• Tribe: long
• Bark: first silver-grey, smooth and shiny, from about 30. year grey-brown and deeply fissured
• Leaves: alternate, evenly distributed, 5 to 7 rounded lobes on both sides
• Fruit: cylindrical acorns, in cup-shaped cups, in clusters (3 to 7) on a short stalk

Special plants in the deciduous forest

So-called early bloomers can be found in many deciduous forests. They bloom in the spring, before the trees sprout and the dense foliage darkens the forest. Native early bloomers are a very important food source for insects as they provide the first nectar of the year.

Early flowering plants

wild garlic, wild garlic, forest or dog garlic (Allium ursinum)

• preferred location: moist soil and beech forests
• Height: 20 to 30 cm
• Leaves: green, upper surface slightly darker than underside, lanceolate, stalked
• Blossoms: white, radially symmetrical flowers in flat umbels
• heyday: April to May
• Particularities: edible wild vegetables, related to onion, chives and garlic, taste slightly garlic-like

wood anemone(Anemone nemorosa)

• Height: 11 to 25 cm
• Leaves: stalked, finger-shaped, appear only after flowering
• Flowers: 6 to 8 petals, white, slightly pink on the outside, usually only one flower per plant, rarely 2
• Flowering time: March to April/May

Common butterbur(Petasites officinalis)

• Height: during flowering approx. 10 to 40 cm, later up to 1.20 m
• Leaves: Roundish, initially small with a gray woolly hairy underside, later up to 60 cm in diameter and smooth, similar to coltsfoot but much larger
• Blossoms: numerous dense reddish-white to red-purple flowers, compound racemose inflorescence
• heyday: March to May

Lesser Celandine, Figwort(Ficaria verna, Ranunculus ficaria L.)

• Height: 10 to 20 cm
• Leaves: undivided on long stalks, heart-shaped to kidney-shaped
• Blossoms: yellow, star-shaped, diameter 1.5 to 6 cm, solitary
• heyday: March to May
• Particularities: Poisonous in all parts, young leaves edible as weeds before flowering

woodruff, Fragrant bedstraw (Galium odoratum)

• Height: 5 to 50 cm
• Leaves: Whorled on the stem, narrowly elliptic or elongate-lanceolate, rough edge
• Blossoms: small and white, several flowers per plant, terminal inflorescence
• heyday: variable depending on location, around April to May or June
• Particularities: is used as a medicinal and aromatic herb, the main component of the woodruff punch

Plant species in the coniferous forest

Different plants grow in coniferous forests than in deciduous forests. Shade plants in particular feel at home here. This is due to the low incidence of light, because most conifers have needles all year round. The only exception to the native conifers is the larch, which sheds its needles in autumn. In addition, the soil in coniferous forests is usually more acidic, the falling needles rot much more slowly than leaves, which means that the humus layer is relatively thick. Wood sorrel, mosses and ferns can be found here, as well as common foxglove and heather in clear areas.

Learn more about W for juniper