The forest is almost entirely balsam fir.
Communities vary with elevation.
Prominent among the trees are tulip tree, and white, northern red, and black oak. Growing on shallow sand or marl, the trees were too scrawny to have been deemed worth logging. Information about eastern and western North Carolina is now available, thanks to Matthew Patterson and Robert Messick respectfully. The site is the best remnant of the forests of the Bluegrass. The herbaceous layer includes more than 170 species.