Locality: (40.503470, -109.053340)

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 Dinosaur National Monument. This entailed a thorough review of existing literature, re-examination of specimens from the Dinosaur National Monument herbarium and other state and national museum collections, and additional field work to corroborate unverified species reports or locate new species. Based on this study, 756 vascular plant taxa have been confirmed or reliably reported as occurring in the monument (705 are known from validated herbarium specimens and 51 from unvouchered literature reports). Another 123 species formerly considered part of the monument flora have now been shown to be falsely reported. The Utah portion of Dinosaur National Monument contains 484 species (13.5% of the state flora), and the Colorado segment contains 592 species (18.8% of the entire Colorado flora). Only one plant species from Dinosaur National Monument is listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act: Ute ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), but at least 79 other species are either former candidates for listing, identified as sensitive by the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, or tracked as species of concern by state natural heritage programs. Introduced plants make up 10.3% of the monument flora (78 species), of which 22 species are considered noxious weeds by the states of Utah and Colorado. Further surveys in Dinosaur National Monument are likely to find additional new species (359 are known from similar habitats outside the monument boundary), especially among late-season flowering, weedy, or wetland taxa. This checklist includes updates from 2011-2012.

Notes: 210,278 Acres