Because the "coppice-with-standards" technique of forestry was used for several centuries (with the trees being periodically cut back and the area allowed to grow freely between cuts), Bos t'Ename has always maintained a significant level of bio-diversity. Although large numbers of trees were uprooted around 1880 in a time of severe food shortage for the clearance of new agricultural fields to feed the local population, enough protective shrubbery and hedges remained to enable rare plant species to survive. Modern reforestation programs and management plans have allowed these species to spread out again.

Below are some rare plants that can be seen in Bos t'Ename in the springtime.

Lathraea clandestina grows only in the Flemish Ardennes.

Pulmonaria officinalis is native to the Flemish Ardennes and southeastern France and was possibly imported in the Middle Ages from France by the monks of Ename as a medicinal plant.