The top of Camelback Mountain is a unique forest called a scrub oak shrubland. Wind-dwarfed gray birch, quaking aspen, pitch pine, and scrub oak cover the mountaintop, with no tree more than 20 feet tall.
Lowbush blueberry, sweet fern, and mountain laurel grow under the short trees.
Down slope, the forest offers more shade with mixed hardwoods including oak, maple, and hickory trees.
Portions of South Trail are lined with blueberry and mountain laurel, which bloom in mid-June.
On the north side of the mountain, North Trail Lower Loop follows the old railroad grade and passes through a rock cut, offering hikers a glimpse of a hemlock and rhododendron glen, which is surprisingly cool on hot summer days.
Rhododendron blooms in late July.