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.

  1. Borders of the region are primarily political, not natural. Consequently, few ecoregions in their entirety are encompassed by the region of coverage.
  2. 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.
  3. Much of the region has been glaciated. Glaciations have made much of the region uninhabitable by plants until relatively recently (relative to geologic time).
  4. 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