Vascular plant flora of Pipe Spring National Monument: 2008 update

Fertig, Walter

Over the past decade, the National Park Service has funded several research projects to better document the vascular plant flora of Pipe Spring National Monument (PISP) in northern Arizona. These studies have included new field surveys, review of pertinent literature, and re-examination of plant specimens from the PISP herbarium and other selected regional herbaria to correct misidentifications and update nomenclature. At the conclusion of the 2007 field season, the flora of Pipe Spring stood at 277 vascular plant taxa, of which 215 were represented by specimen vouchers and 62 were reliably reported (without vouchers) from the scientific literature. Another 41 species were listed as potentially occurring in the monument based on records from the vicinity. In our summary report, Jason Alexander and I suggested that additional surveys were still needed at Pipe Spring. In particular, a large number of weeds, spring annuals, cultivated plants, wetland species, and late summer/fall-flowering taxa seemed to be under-represented in the monument flora. Nearly a third of the plant species from Pipe Spring (112 taxa) remained unvouchered or had not been relocated since 1970 and were considered historical. Based on these recommendations, PISP chief of natural resources Andrea Bornemeier requested a follow-up survey in 2008 to identify new plant species for the monument and to collect vouchers for taxa that were previously reported or historical. This report summarizes the discoveries made in the 2008 field season and serves as an addendum to the 2008 annotated checklist.

Vascular plant flora of Pipe Spring National Monument: 2008 update

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