210 



PUinIs — Our Liviiii; Resoiiixt's 



Table 2. Historical documentation 

 of New York flora. 



For further information: 



Norton G. Miller 



New York State Museum 



Biological Survey 



Albany. NY 12230 



■ R.S. Mitchell, unpublished dala: N,G IWiller, unpublished data 



■■ Of this number, some 300 species are now placed in synonymy in the 



light of modern laxonomic research 

 "■ This number has been reduced by four, to reflecl species eliminated 

 from the list as a result of changes in laxonomic status, discovery of 

 incorrectly identified plants, and faulty literature reports 



likely points of introduction, and more adventive 

 (see glossary) mosses will almost certainly be 

 discovered as field exploration continues. 



The numbers of vascular plants and mos.ses 

 considered rare in New York are substantial. In 

 conformity with New York State Heritage 

 Program designations, we tallied the number of 

 species in the following categories: SI (5 or 

 fewer sites). S2 (6-20 sites), and SH (no site ver- 

 ified within the past 15 years). By these criteria, 

 roughly a fourth of New York's native vascular 

 plants (435 species: 22%) and mosses (119 

 species: 26%) are rare. Of the native species, we 

 consider 69 of the vascular plants and 3 of the 

 mosses extirpated because most have not been 

 observed within New York this century. 



Trends 



For the past 70 years, an average of 1 1 

 species of vascular plants per year were newly 

 documented for New York. Since 1980 the num- 

 ber of native vascular plants added to the flora 

 has been I per year, while the number of exotic 

 species has been over 200. For mosses, a less 

 well-known group of plants, one additional 

 native species per year on average was discov- 

 ered between 1957 and 1994. Although the 

 steepest increase in knowledge of both groups 

 occurred in the I800"s and early 1900"s, signifi- 

 cant infomiation on plant diversity continues to 

 accumulate at a steady rate, as the ranges of 

 species in the state become better known. 



Although there is a long history of botanical 

 exploration in New York state, many areas still 



have not been surveyed adequately. Poorly known 

 regions include parts of the Allegheny Upland of 

 central and western New York, the Champlain 

 Valley, and portions of the Adirondack Mountain 

 region and adjacent districts. The Hudson 

 Highlands area, previously poorly explored, is 

 being intensively studied by botanists from the 

 New York State Biological Survey. 



In the last decade. 1 1 New York plant species 

 considered extiipated have been discovered at 

 new sites, including Spluii^iuini angennanicum 

 Melin, a rare peat moss, and prairie smoke 

 {Geitm tviflontm Pursh), an herb thought extir- 

 pated by Torrey in 1843 and rediscovered in the 

 I980's. Nine additional species thought extiipat- 

 ed and over 50 species designated "critically 

 imperiled" by New York State Heritage Program 

 criteria were reclassified into less sensitive cate- 

 gories as new information became available, 

 thereby lessening the urgency of conservation 

 measures. Of about 70 extiipated species, some 

 have been lost because of expanding population 

 centers, but many have been lost because of wet- 

 land drainage and increased forest cover that 

 altered their specialized, often calcareous habitats. 



We predict that one or two native species per 

 year will continue to be added to the vascular 

 plant and moss floras of New York state through 

 new discoveries. By contrast, previously undoc- 

 umented non-native vascular plants will be 

 added at an annual rate some 20-fold greater than 

 that of the native flora. Inventories and as.sess- 

 ments of liverworts, fungi, lichens, and terrestri- 

 al, aquatic, and marine algae, are much less 

 advanced in New York than those for the vascu- 

 lar plants and mosses, which deserve attention as 

 well. 



References 



House, H.D. 1924. Annotated list of the ferns and flowering 



plants of New York state. Bull, of the New York Slate 



Museum 254. 159 pp, 

 Ketchledge. E.H. 1957. Checklist of the mosses of New York 



State, New York State Museum Bull. 363. 55 pp. 

 Ketchledge, E.H. 1980. Revised checklist of the mosses of 



New York State. New York State Museum Bull. 440. 19 



pp. 

 Mitchell. R.S. 1986. A checklist of New York State plants. 



New York State Museum Bull, 458. 272 pp. 

 Peck, C.H. 1866, List of the mosses of the state of New- York. 



Pages 42-70 in 19th Annual Report of the Regents of the 



University of the State of New York on the Cabinet of 



Natural History. (Additions published in succeeding 



reports through 1912.] 

 Torrey. J. 1843. A flora of the state of New-York. 2 vols. 



Carroll and Cook Printers. Albany. 484 and 572 pp. 



