Sentence:  They passed many species they had already collected for the Millennium project — maple-leaved vibernum, <WSD>steeplebush</WSD> with spiky stalks of tiny pink flowers, black birch — as well as a particularly impressive specimen of that quintessential Staten Island forest dweller, Automobilius burnedouticus. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (species), of western North America