Maryland’s Best Native Plant Program

Reptiles

Reptiles in Maryland—snakes, turtles, lizards, and skinks—depend on native plants for:

Cover and Shelter

• Dense grasses, shrubs, and leaf litter provide essential hiding spots from predators and thermal regulation.

• Rocky outcroppings and fallen logs under native plant cover offer basking and retreat sites.

Nesting Sites

• Box turtles and fence lizards often lay eggs in open sunny patches bordered by native vegetation.

• Some snakes nest in rotten logs, mulch, or warm grassy mounds near native meadows or wetlands.

Food Web Support

• Native plants attract insects (grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles), rodents, frogs, and bird eggs—key prey items for reptiles.

• Berry-producing plants support omnivorous turtles (e.g., eastern box turtle).

Native Plant Reptile Benefit

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) Cover for skinks and small snakes

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) Excellent ground cover for basking and movement

Blackberry (Rubus spp.) Food for box turtles; dense thorny cover

Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) Fruit for turtles; attracts insects for snakes

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) Berries for box turtles; excellent vertical cover

Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) Dense year-round shelter for snakes and lizards

New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus) Nectar plant that draws in insect prey

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) Insect attractor (beetles, caterpillars)

Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) Fruit source; shade-tolerant layer

False indigo bush (Amorpha fruticosa) Thicket-forming shrub for shelter and nesting

Reptile Species Habitat Use & Plant Linkages

Eastern Box Turtle Eats berries (blackberry, pokeweed), nests in open meadows

Eastern Fence Lizard Basks on rocks/logs near grassy or shrubby native plantings

Common Five-lined Skink Uses log piles, leaf litter under shrubs like New Jersey tea

Northern Brown Snake Shelters in mulch, meadows, and base of dense native grasses

Eastern Garter Snake Hunts frogs and insects in grassy gardens, native flower meadows

Black Rat Snake Climbs trees, eats birds/rodents near fruiting plants and shrubs

Eastern Mud Turtle Uses wetlands with native emergent plants like pickerelweed

Spotted Turtle Found in wetlands with sedges and native pond vegetation

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) – Wildlife & Heritage - DNR Reptiles & Amphibians Page
Maryland Biodiversity Project – Reptiles
Maryland Herpetological Society
USGS – Amphibians and Reptiles of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (https://www.usgs.gov/ → (Search for Chesapeake Bay reptiles)
Field Guide: The Reptiles and Amphibians of Maryland and the District of Columbia

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