Overall, Great Lakes dune flora is an odd mix of geographically restricted habitat specialists and weedy generalists. Among the specialists are a number of plants and animals, some of which occur in no other habitat and in no other region of North America. Others occur wherever dunes occur in eastern North America, including marine environments along the Atlantic Ocean coast.
Among the relatively few plants able to successfully colonize active, unvegetated dunes are several drought resistant perennial grasses that produce tough, sand binding rhizomes. Especially important are marram grass (Ammophila breviligulata), the most prevalent dominant species in Great Lakes dune systems, sand reed (Calamovilfa longifolia), sand-dune wheatgrass (Elymus lanceolatus ssp. psammophilus) , crinkled hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa), and Canada wild rye (Elymus canadensis). Associated vascular plants include beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus), wormwood (Artemisia campestris), common evening-primrose (Oenothera biennis), common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), and a long list of weedy native and exotic species (Curtis 1959).
