DEVELOPMENT OF CURRENT LIST 



The Fish and Wildlife Service recognized that accessory lists of hydrophytes 

 (plant species that occur in wetlands) and hydric soils would need to be 

 developed to apply the wetland classification system accurately and consistently 

 in the field. The scientific names of the plant species included in the major 

 wetland plant lists and manuals were collected and merged into a single 

 computerized list with those species on the National List of Scientific Plant 

 Names (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1971) that had emergent, floating, or 

 submergent life forms. This initial list of 1,626 species, completed in March 

 1976, was obviously incomplete, and was especially deficient in plant species 

 from the western United States and the Alaska, Caribbean, and Hawaii regions. 

 Dr. Donovan Correll, Fairchild Tropical Garden, Miami, Florida, reviewed this 

 initial list in 1977 and suggested many additional species for inclusion. Dr. 

 Correll's additions were combined with the initial list, and a draft list of 

 4,235 species was developed in 1977. This draft list, although plagued by 

 problems of plant nomenclature and synonymy, was remarkably complete, considering 

 the small amount of time which had been spent on its development. 



Review and refinement of this draft list has continued since 1977. Initial tasks 

 were to maintain and improve computer storage and retrieval of the draft list 

 information, align the listed species with a national taxonomic treatment, and 

 subdivide the species according to their fidelity to wetlands. The importance 

 of the development of an accurate National List of Plant Species That Occur in 

 Wetlands to the Federal community and the need to substantiate the occurrence 

 of these plant species in wetlands from the botanical literature led the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service to begin development of the Annotated National Wetland Plant 

 Species Data Base. This textual data base documents the taxonomy, distribution, 

 and ecology of each species based on a synthesis of almost 300 National and 

 regional wetland plant and botanical manuals representing the major State and 

 regional floras. Computer storage of the Annotated National Wetland Plant 

 Species Data Base allowed for the efficient maintenance of the initial National 

 List and creation of early draft regional subdivisions of the National List . 

 Data collection for the Annotated National Wetland Plant Species Data Base for 

 all plant species was completed in 1987, but incorporation of this information 

 into a single data base on the National Wetlands Inventory minicomputer remains 

 to be accomplished. The species data base is presently stored on a 

 microcomputer. Information on the data base and preliminary species listings 

 or data reports from the Annotated National Wetland Plant Species Data Base can 

 be obtained from the National Wetlands Inventory, St. Petersburg, Florida. 



The Soil Conservation Service, through a contract to the Smithsonian Institution, 

 produced a revised National List of Scientific Plant Names in 1982 (U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture 1982.) This national treatment provided a standard 

 nomenclature for the National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands , 



