Contents
This list is a result of many years of collaborative
effort of individuals, organizations, and institutions interested
in the preservation of New Jersey's flora. Information presented
in this report was compiled by David B. Snyder using the Natural
Heritage Database.
Introduction
The purpose of this list is to provide the most up
to date information on the status of New Jersey's endangered
and plant species of concern and to document the precarious
existence of many of our native plants. It is hoped that this
list will be used to facilitate the conservation and protection
of New Jersey's endangered and plant species of concern.
In 1989 the New Jersey Legislature declared that "plant species
have medicinal, genetic, ecological, educational, and aesthetic
value to the citizens of New Jersey" and directed the Division
of Parks and Forestry in the Department of Environmental Protection
to develop and adopt a list of plant species that are endangered
in New Jersey (Endangered Plant Species List Act, N.J.S.A.
13:1B-15.151 et seq.). The Act defined an endangered plant
species as "any native plant species whose survival in the
State or the nation is in jeopardy..." Rules detailing procedures
and setting criteria by which plant species would be determined
as state endangered were formulated, and a list of state endangered
plants was then proposed (N.J.A.C. 7:5C-1.1 et seq.). The
Endangered Plant Species List was adopted on June 4, 1990
and most recently revised January 17, 1995.
The Department of Environmental Protection, through its Natural
Heritage Database, is responsible for monitoring the status
of many additional plant species that are not included on
the official Endangered Plant Species List. As codified in
the Endangered Plant Species rules (N.J.A.C. 7:5C-3.1), this
list of Plant Species of Concern includes those species not
listed as endangered but whose status are monitored by the
Natural Heritage Database. By combining the lists of Endangered
Plant Species and Plant Species of Concern, this present list
includes all plant species that are considered to be of conservation
concern in New Jersey. Taxa are listed alphabetically by scientific
name, followed by a common name and codes indicating its global
and state rank, federal, state, or other status. These codes
are explained in Appendix I.
Plant species included on the following list differ in their
degree of rarity and immediacy of threats to existing populations.
A number of the species on this list are rare throughout their
range (a few of these species are known only from New Jersey).
The conservation of these species is a global priority, and
unless protected, it is possible that some of these endangered
plants may become extinct. The majority of the remaining species
on this list are more frequent elsewhere in their range, but
rare in New Jersey. This is largely because New Jersey is
at the geographical limit of their range or because suitable
habitat is either rare or has been destroyed or greatly altered
through human actions. The conservation of these species is
therefore of high state significance.
This listing of endangered and special concern species is
dynamic: species new to the state are occasionally discovered,
historically ranked species are rediscovered, and species
are determined to be rarer or more frequent than previously
documented. Existing populations may be reduced in size by
disease, predation, or unknown causes. Species are lost because
their critical habitats are destroyed or irreversibly altered
by direct or indirect human actions, such as changes in hydrology,
fire suppression, and invasion by aggressive, nonnative species.
Consequentially, the list will continue to change as new data
are obtained through ongoing research and field inventories.
Users of this list are encouraged to report the location
of any species included on it, as well as to recommend additions,
deletions, or status changes. In most instances, reports documenting
significant habitat for a species will be incorporated into
the computerized portion of the Natural Heritage Database.
Reports on species ranked S3 that do not have official State
or Federal status may not be initially computerized in the
Natural Heritage Database, but will be used when the status
of the species is reassessed. To report locations for any
the listed species, please use the Rare Species Reporting
form.
Nomenclature
Nomenclature of this list follows (with a few exceptions)
Kartesz & Kartesz's (1980) A Synonymized Checklist of the
Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland or
Gleason & Cronquist's (1991) Manual of Vascular Plants of
Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada, second edition.
Nomenclature for sphagnum mosses largely follows Andrus' (1980)
The Sphagnaceae of New York State. Because the primary objective
of the list of Endangered and Plant Species of Special Concern
is to identify New Jersey's declining plant species, some practical
decisions have been made, primarily for clarity of communication.
Infraspecific names generally have not been included unless
more than one infraspecific taxa occurs in New Jersey, each
having a different level of conservation concern. Taxa for which
there exists reasonable agreement that they are of hybrid origin,
have been deleted from the list. In general, Gleason and Cronquist's
(1991) nomenclature has been preferred, since this is the only
comprehensive regional manual currently available in which new
nomenclature is attached to a description of the taxa. Users
of this list should be aware that changes in nomenclature have,
in some cases, resulted in some very rare New Jersey plants
now bearing a name which in earlier manuals are applied to different
taxa, some of which are frequent or common in New Jersey. |
