The Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities' Horticulture and Natural Resources Section surveyed the vascular flora of Alexandria from 2002 - 2009.  In addition, the team searched herbaria for historical collections that reflected taxa native to the City.  These surveys and collections yielded more than 800 native vascular plants representing 366 genera and 128 families.  Currently available is the Flora Project in pdf form, a graphic presentation called "Vanishing Flora of Washington and Vicinity" which introduces the Flora Project, and a map of Alexandria's surficial geology.  Check back for an upcoming searchable database of flora found in Alexandria.

City of Alexandria Natural Resource Specialist/Plant Ecologist Rod Simmons and old-age Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) at Alexandria National Cemetery.

Geologist Tony Fleming surveying Alexandria's geology

Field Thistle (Cirsium discolor) and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Photo by R.H. Simmons

• City of Alexandria Flora & Natural Communities 
• City of Alexandria Geology & Soils 

City of Alexandria Flora & Natural Communities

• Native Vascular Flora of the City of Alexandria, Virginia
• Map of Old Place Names and Remnant Natural
  Areas in Alexandria and Vicinity 
• Vanishing Flora of Washington and Vicinity
  April 2012
• City of Alexandria Herbarium 
• Annals of the City of Alexandria Herbarium:
  Local Range Extensions in Orchidaceae
• Annals of the City of Alexandria Herbarium:
  Ancient Outliers of the Fall Line Flora
• Annals of the City of Alexandria Herbarium: Small Stream Forests of the Fall Line and Coastal Plain
• City of Alexandria Noteworthy Collections
• Hydrogeology of Barcroft Bog 
• Invasive Exotic Plants That Threaten Parks and
  Natural Areas in Alexandria
• Non-Native Invasive Plants of Arlington County, Virginia
• Invasive Plant Species in Delaware
• Spring Flowering Native Plants of
  Washington, D.C. and Vicinity

City of Alexandria Geology & Soils

• Geology Map
• City of Alexandria Surficial Geology Key 
• Geologic Atlas of the City of Alexandria Overview
• Plate 1 Explanation Data Sources
• Plate 2 Explanation Cross Section
  Colors and Symbols
• Plate 3 Explanation Bedrock Map
• Plate 4 Explanation Potomac Formation Map Print
• Plate 5 Explanation Table
• Plate 6 Explanation Urban Hydrology
• Plate 1 & 2 Geologic Data Expanded Explanation
• Plate 3 Bedrock Geology and Topography Expanded Explanation
• Plate 4 Potomac Formation Expanded Explanation 
• Plate 5: Surficial Geology and Landforms—Expanded Explanation
• Plate 6 Hydrogeology Expanded Explanation 

 

Vegetation Ecologists Gary Fleming and Karen Patterson, of Virginia DCR Natural Heritage Program, measuring ancient American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)	Botanist Mark Strong examining White-tinged Sedge (Carex albicans) and other woodland plants	Arlington County Natural Resource Specialist Greg Zell assisting with inventory of old-age Oak-Heath Forest.

 

 

 

 

 

   

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

State Botanist John Townsend, with Virginia DCR Natural Heritage Program, surveying flora.	Maryland State Botanist Chris Frye examining sedge (Carex spp.) specimens.	Botanist John Parrish studying Hawthorn species (Crataegus spp.) in Alexandria.	Brent Steury, Natural Resources Program Manager with the National Park Service, documenting crabapple species (Malus spp.) along the GWMP in Alexandria.