These plant listed on this page may be used to help people in the Northwoods region of the state identify their shoreland types. For all other locations, we suggest you contact DNR officials, UW-Extension staff or other local professionals for help in identifying native communities for your shoreland type. In North central Wisconsin areas of wet mucky soil often support bog vegetation. While these areas are usually not suitable for building, development pressures are now reaching even these dark tannin-stained lakes. The vegetation in a bog is particularly fragile and hard to restore.
Soils are mucky or an accumulation of peat.
The canopy within a bog is usually quite open, supporting scattered tamarack and black spruce trees. A sparse canopy means that a lot of sunlight penetrates to the lower vegetation. The shrub layer can be dense or sparse and is usually less than about three feet tall. Species such as bog rosemary, bog laurel, leatherleaf and Labrador tea are typical bog shrubs. The ground layer in a bog is usually covered with a carpet of sphagnum moss with forbs such as pitcher plant, cranberry, cotton grass and dragonmouth orchid.