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 Interdune 



The interdune is somewhat more protected and stable 

 than the foredune. Environmental conditions become less 

 severe farther away from the beach, thus the interdune is 

 composed of a number of plant communities. In general this 

 area has a sparse grassland appearance, with the dominant 

 species again being Ammophila breviligulata (beach grass) . 

 In open areas behind the foredune, intermixed with 

 A. breviligulata , are Artemisia stellariana (dusty miller) , 

 Solidago sempervirens (seaside goldenrod) , Euphorbia 

 polygonifolia (seaside spurge) , and occasionally Lathyrus 

 japonicus (beach pea) . Small islands of Toxicodendron 

 radicans (poison ivy) can also be found quite near the 

 foredune ridge. 



Away from the beach, at the western boundary of the 

 interdune, Hudsonia tomentosa (false heather) is the 

 dominant vegetation type in areas with limited sand 

 movement. H. tomentosa tends to form large dense mats which 

 produce a spectacular yellow carpet in the spring when it is 

 in flower. Particularly large H. tomentosa mats have formed 

 in the Dune Natural Area and between parking lots 5 and 6. 

 Other less abundant species in this community include 

 Polygonella articulata (jointweed) , Cyperus spp . (sedge) , 

 Lechea mar itima (pinweed) , Solidago sempervirens (seaside 

 goldenrod) , Andropogon scoparius (blue-stem) , and Aster 

 linar iifolius (aster) . 



The interdune is also sculptured with many depressions, 

 which provide suitable protection and enough moisture for 

 trees and shrubs to become established. The upper story of 

 vegetation in these wet swales includes Populus tremuloides 

 (trembling aspen) , Acer rubrum (red maple) , Amelanchier 

 canadensis (shadbush) , Alnus spp . (alder) , and Prunus spp . 

 (wild cherry) . The understory is usually a dense shrub 

 thicket composed of such species as Toxicodendron radicans 

 (poison ivy) , Myrica pensylvanica (bayberry) , Salix spp . 

 (willow) , Pyrus arbutifolia (red chokeberry) , Parthenocissus 

 quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) , Vaccinium corymbosum 

 (highbush blueberry) , Lyonia ligustrina (maleberry) , 

 Viburnum recognitum (arrow-wood) , Spiraea tomentosa 

 (steeple-bush) , and Ilex verticillata (winterberry) . 



In addition to these shrub thickets, a number of 

 cranberry swales can be found in hollows between the dunes. 

 The dominant species is Vaccinium macrocarpon (cranberry) , 

 which forms dense mats. Other species such as Hypericum 

 John's-wort) , Drosera intermedia (sundew) , 

 (yellow-eyed grass) , Scirpus cyper inus 

 and Juncus balticus (rush) are also found in 



