Locality: (37.648600, -112.836760)
Abstract: In 2005–2006, the National Park Service’s Northern Colorado Plateau Network received funding to develop a revised checklist of the vascular plant flora of Cedar Breaks National Monument. This entailed a thorough review of existing literature, re-examination of specimens from the Cedar Breaks National Monument herbarium and other state and national museum collections, and additional field work to corroborate unverified species reports and locate new species. Based on this study, 345 vascular plant taxa have been confirmed or reliably reported as occurring in the monument (338 are known from validated herbarium specimens and 7 from unvouchered literature reports). Another 40 species formerly considered part of the monument flora have now been shown to be falsely reported. The current flora of Cedar Breaks National Monument represents 9.6% of the known flora of Utah and 21.5% of the flora of the Utah High Plateaus ecoregion. At least 18 of these species were formerly candidates for potential listing under the Endangered Species Act or are considered species of concern by the state’s natural heritage program. Introduced plants make up 5.2% of the monument flora (18 species) but none are considered noxious weeds by the State of Utah. Further surveys in Cedar Breaks National Monument are likely to find additional new species (217 are known from similar habitats outside the monument boundary), especially among fall-flowering, weedy, or wetland taxa. Further floristic studies will be needed if the Ashdown Gorge Wilderness Area ultimately becomes part of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Please note: The current display of this checklist includes updates from 2011 and 2012.
Notes: 6,155 Acres
