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INTRODUCTION
This Check List of the Plants of New Jersey has
been compiled by updating and integrating the catalogs prepared by such
authors as Nathaniel Lord Britton (1881 and 1889), Witmer Stone (1911),
and Norman Taylor (1915) with such other sources as recently-published
local lists, field trip reports of the Torrey Botanical Society and the
Philadelphia Botanical Club, the New Jersey Natural Heritage
Program’s list of threatened and endangered plants, personal
observations in the field and the herbarium, and observations by other
competent field botanists.
The Check List includes 2,727 species and hybrids,
a botanical diversity that is rather unexpected in a small state like
New Jersey. Of these, 1,949 are plants that are (or were)
native to the state - still a large number, and one that reflects New
Jersey's habitat diversity. The balance are plants that have
been introduced from other countries or from other parts of North
America. The list could be lengthened by several hundred
species by including non-persistent garden escapes and obscure waifs
and ballast plants that have not been seen in New Jersey since the
nineteenth century, but it would be misleading to do
so.
The Check List should include all the plants that
are truly native to New Jersey, plus all the introduced species that
are naturalized here or for which there are relatively recent records,
as well as many introduced plants of very limited occurrence.
But no claims are made for the absolute perfection of the
list. Plant nomenclature is constantly being
revised. Single old species may be split into several new
species, or multiple old species may be combined into one. In some
cases, taxonomic changes have made it almost impossible to be certain
of the identity of plants noted in the old literature. Errors
are made in trip reports, and mislabeling of herbarium specimens is not
unknown. Some of the introduced species of limited occurrence
are probably no longer present in the state, and there are no doubt
recent introductions that have gone unrecorded.
In the list, an "X" after an entry indicates a
native species that is known to be extirpated from the state.
An "H" indicates a native plant that historically was found in New
Jersey, but has not been seen in recent years; most of these species
probably have also been extirpated, although occasionally one is
relocated. An "AN' indicates that the species is alien,
having been introduced into New Jersey from someplace other than the
remaining continental United States or Canada, and is to some degree
naturalized here. An "NN" indicates a North American species
that was not originally native to New Jersey but has been introduced
and naturalized here from someplace else in the continental United
States or Canada.
An "AO" after an entry indicates that the species
is alien and occasionally found growing without cultivation, but is
probably not truly naturalized; this is a catch-all category for a
variety of garden escapes and marginally persisent or very local
introductions. An "NO" indicates a species that is not native
to New Jersey but is occasionally introduced here from elsewhere in
North America, but is probably not naturalized. Where no
letters follow an entry the species is native to New Jersey and is
believed to still be present.
The scientific nomenclature in the Check List is
generally from the National PLANTS Database, Version 3.5.
Some synonyms have been included in parentheses; these are generally
from Gleason and Cronquist's Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern
United States and Adjacent Canada, 2nd Edition (1991). In general, only
full species are included in the Check List, but some hybrids and
varieties have been included to facilitate comparison with previous
versions of this Check List.
Some non-professional users will no doubt object
to the use of scientific names as the basic unit of the Check List, but
professionals may well question the English names. The
English names have been gleaned from various sources, with
preference being given to names used in standard field guides where
they apply. But since most of our plants have no generally
accepted English names, many names given are more or less free
translations of the scientific names. Such names have been
included only for the sake of uniformity, and to placate those people
who find a name like "Kalm's Lobelia" easier than "Lobelia kalmii".
To view the list, click here.
A lengthy pdf file; you will need adobe acrobat or another pdf
reader to read this. If you do not have it, you may download
your free reader here.
If you have a 56k connection, you may prefer to download the list as a Microsoft
Word document in a zip file. You must have Winzip or a similar
program. You may download Winzip here or 7-Zip here; Winzip is an evaluation
version (which you may use indefinitely) and 7-zip is freeware.
Used with permission of Karl Anderson.
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