Washington Natural Heritage Program Field Guide to Selected Rare Plants
How to use this Field Guide
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Introduction
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources' Natural Heritage Program (WNHP) and the Spokane District of the U.S.D.I. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) entered into a challenge cost-share agreement in 1997 to prepare a field guide containing fact sheets for 40 rare species of vascular plants. This guide was expanded in 1999, 2000, 2004, and 2005, and currently includes 370 vascular plants, 11 mosses and one lichen.
We hope to continue building this field guide over time to eventually include all plant species considered rare in Washington, including mosses, lichens, and fungi.
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Intended Audience
- Field personnel
- Individuals responsible for planning land management activities and projects
The individual species' treatments are designed to help in the identification of species and their habitats. The information also enables planners and managers to determine how rare the species are and identify management issues.
The WNHP and BLM hope to expand this guide to cover additional rare vascular plant species, rare non-vascular species such as mosses and lichens, select rare animal species, and plant communities. Expansion plans are dependent upon funding availability.
Completion of this field guide was made possible through a challenge cost-share agreement between the Washington State Department of Natural Resources' Natural Heritage Program and the Spokane District of the U.S.D.I. Bureau of Land Management.
The photographic images used in this guide came from numerous sources and are used with permission; credits are noted with each image. A majority of the illustrations are from Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. They have been reproduced here with permission of the University of Washington Press. The illustrator is acknowledged with each illustration.
A majority of the references cited are included on each individual species' online fact sheet. However, there are two exceptions, both of which are general vegetation references for Washington. Because they are general references, and because they are cited so frequently on each fact sheet, the full citations are provided below instead:
Daubenmire, R. 1970. Steppe vegetation of Washington. Wash.
Agric. Exp. Stn. Tech. Bull. 62. 131p.
Franklin, J.F. and C.T. Dyrness. 1973. Natural vegetation of
Oregon and Washington. U.S.D.A. Forest Service General
Technical Report PNW-8. 417p.
This field guide is designed to serve two purposes. Its primary function is to provide an online reference, allowing users to quickly obtain specific information for a species on an as-needed basis, with minimal printing. For those requiring print references, these descriptions are presenteded as .PDF files that can be printed and stored for future reference. We are no longer maintianing the HTML versions of the rare plant descriptions.
Species Information
To find a species, click 'Alphabetical List' in the navigation bar above and then select the species name from the list.
Each species treatment includes information on identification, phenology, range, habitat, ecology, state status, inventory needs, threats, and references. There are also pictures of the plant and its habitat as well as a line drawing and a distribution map.
Printing Information
Species descriptions are presented as .PDF files so you can print all pages for a species as seen in the print version of the field guide. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print these descriptions.
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Field Guide to Selected Rare Vascular Plants of Washington
Washington Natural Heritage Program and U.S.D.I. Bureau of Land Management