New Jersey also contains a variety of natural regions which includes a shady coastal zone, the hilly and wooded Allegheny zone, and the Pine Barrens in the south. The trees that are found commonly in New Jersey are birch, beech, hickory, black locust, red maple, and 20 varieties of oak. Common shrubs including the spicebush, staggerbush, and mountain laurel are also found in abundance in New Jersey. Vast stretches beneath pine trees are covered with pyxie, a small creeping evergreen shrub. Common wild flowers include butterflyweed, meadow rue, black-eyed Susan, and the ubiquitous eastern (common) dandelion. Among rare plants are floating heart, Candy's lobelia, and pennywort. The American chaffseed and small whorled pogonia are listed as threatened or endangered in 2003.
The whitetailed deer, woodchuck, gray and red foxes, raccoon, black bear, opossum, striped skunk, eastern gray squirrel, eastern chipmunk, and common cottontail are the native animals of New Jersey. The herring gull, sandpiper, and little green and night herons are common shore birds, while the red-eyed vireo, hermit thrush, English sparrow, robin, cardinal, and Baltimore oriole are frequently sighted inland. Rare animals include the whippoorwill, eastern hognose snake, hooded warbler, northern red salamander, and northern kingfish. Four species of turtle, the Indiana bat, bald eagle, roseate tern, shortnose sturgeon, and three species of whale were listed as threatened or endangered in 2003.