Editing Maryland (section)

===Flora===
[[File:BESusan.JPG|thumb|[[Rudbeckia hirta|Black-eyed susans]], the state flower, grow throughout much of the state.<ref name="maag-flower">{{cite web |title=Maryland at a Glance: State Symbols, Maryland State Flower—Black-Eyed Susan |publisher=Maryland State Archives |website=Maryland Manual Online |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/flower.html |access-date=May 20, 2014 |archive-date=August 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821150545/http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/symbols/flower.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
As is typical of states on the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]], Maryland's plant life is abundant and healthy. An adequate volume of annual precipitation helps to support many types of plants, including [[seagrass]] and various [[Phragmites|reeds]] at the smaller end of the spectrum to the gigantic [[Wye Oak]], a huge example of [[white oak]], the state tree, which can grow over {{convert|70|ft|m}} tall.

[[Middle Atlantic coastal forests]], typical of the southeastern [[Atlantic coastal plain]], grow around Chesapeake Bay and on the [[Delmarva Peninsula]]. Moving west, a mixture of [[Northeastern coastal forests]] and [[Southeastern mixed forests]] cover the central part of the state. The [[Appalachian Mountains]] of western Maryland are home to [[Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests]]. These give way to [[Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests]] near the West Virginia border.<ref name="ecoregions">{{cite journal|author1=Olson, D. M. |author2=Dinerstein, E. |title=Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth |journal=[[BioScience]] |year=2001 |volume=51 |issue=11 |pages=933–938 |doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2 |display-authors=etal |doi-access=free  | issn = 0006-3568 }}</ref>

Many foreign species are cultivated in the state, some as ornamentals, others as novelty species. Included among these are the [[Lagerstroemia|crape myrtle]], [[Italian cypress]], [[Magnolia grandiflora|southern magnolia]], [[live oak]] in the warmer parts of the state,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prairiefrontier.com/pages/hardiness/zone.html |title=Zone Hardiness Map through Prairie Frontier |publisher=Prairiefrontier.com |access-date=October 24, 2010 |archive-date=February 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207214803/http://prairiefrontier.com/pages/hardiness/zone.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and even [[hardy palms|hardy palm trees]] in the warmer central and eastern parts of the state.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Leeds Bozman|title=The history of Maryland: from its first settlement, in 1633, to the restoration, in 1660; with a copious introduction, and notes and illustrations|url=https://archive.org/details/historymaryland00bozmgoog|year=1837|publisher=J. Lucas & E.K. Deaver|page=[https://archive.org/details/historymaryland00bozmgoog/page/n34 24]}}</ref> USDA plant [[hardiness zone]]s in the state range from Zones 5{{spaces}}and{{spaces}}6 in the extreme western part of the state to Zone{{spaces}}7 in the central part, and Zone{{spaces}}8 around the southern part of the coast, the bay area, and parts of [[Baltimore Metropolitan Area|metropolitan Baltimore]].<ref name="Arbor Day Foundation" /> Invasive plant species, such as [[kudzu]], [[tree of heaven]], [[multiflora rose]], and [[Microstegium vimineum|Japanese stiltgrass]], stifle growth of endemic plant life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/list_terrestrial_plants.html |title=Invasive Species of concern in Maryland |publisher=Mdinvasivesp.org |access-date=October 24, 2010 |archive-date=January 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103082840/http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/list_terrestrial_plants.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref> Maryland's state flower, the [[Rudbeckia hirta|black-eyed susan]], grows in abundance in wild flower groups throughout the state.