Partial List of Endemic Plant Taxa
The following list is an accounting of the vascular plant taxa endemic to the geographic range covered by Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. This list is a work in progress. With time, we expect to provide a complete list of the endemics. In this list, we provide the names of varieties, subspecies, and species whose natural geographic distributions are restricted to the northeastern U.S. and adjacent Canada.
The number of vascular plant taxa endemic to northeastern North America is sizeable, but modest compared with the globe’s centers of endemism. The chief reasons for the relatively low rate of endemism of this region are as follows.
- Borders of the region are primarily political, not natural. Consequently, few ecoregions in their entirety are encompassed by the region of coverage.
- As a direct result of the lack of natural boundaries for the region of coverage, many species have their range limits extending beyond this region, especially southward in the Appalachian Mountains and northward along the Atlantic coast to Newfoundland.
- Much of the region has been glaciated. Glaciations have made much of the region uninhabitable by plants until relatively recently (relative to geologic time).
- The mountains present in the region are of relatively low elevation. Since elevational diversity provides habitat diversity for plants, lack of much elevational diversity means the region’s habitats are relatively homogeneous, compared with areas having higher and more extensive mountains.
Non-Flowering Plants
Isoetaceae
Isoetes mattaponica L.J. Musselman
Isoetes prototypus D.M. Britton
Lycopodiaceae
Lycopodiella margueritae J.G. Bruce, W.H. Wagner, & Beitel
Lycopodiella subappressa J.G. Bruce, W.H. Wagner, & Beitel
Flowering Plants
Alismataceae
Sagittaria montevidensis Cham. & Schltdl. ssp. spongiosa (Engelm.) Bogin
Sagittaria teres S. Watson in A. Gray
Asteraceae
Boltonia montana J.F. Towns. & Kar.-Castro
Cirsium pitcheri (Eaton) Torr. & A. Gray
Cirsium pumilum (Nutt.) Spreng. var. hillii (Canby) B. Boivin
Prenanthes boottii (DC.) A. Gray
Solidago albopilosa E.L. Braun
Solidago houghtonii Torr. & A. Gray
Solidago leiocarpa DC.
Solidago ohioensis Riddell
Solidago sciaphila E.S. Steele
Solidago shortii Torr. & A. Gray
Solidago simplex Kunth var. ontarioensis (G.S. Ringius) G.S. Ringius
Solidago simplex var. gillmanii (A. Gray) G.L. Nesom
Tetraneuris herbacea Greene
Brassicaceae
Boechera serotina (E.S. Steele) Windham & Al-Shehbaz
Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hooker var. lacustris Fernald
Cardamine maxima (Nutt.) Alph. Wood
Caryophyllaceae
Cerastium velutinum Raf. var. villossissimum (Pennell) J.K. Morton
Cyperaceae
Carex cephaloidea (Dewey) Dewey
Carex juniperorum Catling, Reznicek, & Crins
Carex lucorum Link var. lucorum
Carex ormostachya Wiegand
Carex oronensis Fernald
Carex polymorpha Muhl.
Carex schweinitzii Schwein.
Carex scirpoidea Michx. ssp. convoluta (Kük.) D.A. Dunlop
Carex scoparia Willd. var. tessellata Fernald & Wiegand
Carex tetanica Schkuhr var. canbyi Porter
Carex tincta (Fernald) Fernald
Carex tuckermanii Dewey
Dulichium arundinaceum (L.) Britton var. boreale Lepage
Eleocharis aestuum A. Haines
Eleocharis diandra C. Wright
Eleocharis fallax Weath.
Eleocharis olivacea Torr. var. reductiseta (Schuyler & Ferren) Schuyler & Ferren
Rhynchospora knieskernii J. Carey
Schoenoplectus purshianus (Fernald) M.T. Strong var. williamsii (Fernald) S.G. Smith
Schoenoplectus smithii (A. Gray) Soják var. levisetus (Fernald) S.G. Smith
Schoenoplectus smithii var. smithii
Scirpus ancistrochaetus Schuyler
Scirpus longii Fernald
Scirpus pedicellatus Fernald
Iridaceae
Iris lacustris Nutt.
Juncaceae
Juncus greenei Oakes & Tuck.
Juncus pervetus Fernald
Liliaceae
Erythronium propullans A. Gray
Linaceae
Linum medium (Planch.) Britton var. medium
Linderniaceae
Micranthemum micranthemoides (Nutt.) Wettst.
Najadaceae
Najas guadalupensis (Spreng.) Magnus ssp. muenscheri (R.T. Clausen) R.R. Haynes & Hellq.
Orobanchaceae
Agalinis neoscotica (Greene) Fernald
Pedicularis furbishiae S. Watson
Poaceae
Ammophila breviligulata Fernald ssp. champlainensis (F. Seym.) Barkworth
Calamagrostis perplexa Scribn.
Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook.) Scribn. var. magna Scribn. & Merr.
Polemoniaceae
Polemonium vanbruntiae Britton
Potamogetonaceae
Potamogeton bicupulatus Fernald
Potamogeton hillii Morong
Potamogeton ogdenii Hellq. & R.L. Hilton
Potamogeton pusillus L. ssp. gemmiparus (J.W. Robbins) R.R. Haynes & Hellq.
Polygonaceae
Eriogonum allenii S. Watson
Persicaria careyi (Olney) Greene
Primulaceae
Primula fassettii A.R. Mast & Reveal
Ranunculaceae
Clematis addisonii Britton
Clematis albicoma Wherry
Clematis coactilis (Fernald) Keener
Clematis viticaulis E.S. Steele
Trollius laxus Salisb.
Rosaceae
Potentilla robbinsiana Rydb.
Saxifragaceae
Heuchera alba Rydberg