PLANTS is a national and international standard for plant information, providing scientific data for over 35,000 plant and lichen species occurring in the United States and its possessions. PLANTS provides scientific information to the following NRCS areas: National Resources Inventory (NRI), Ecological Site Description development (ESD), Soil Survey activities, Conservation Effects Assessment Project activities (CEAP), Resource Conservation Act support (RCA), and state and local offices, as well as the non-NRCS users identified in the Purpose section below. PLANTS provides distribution maps for plant genera, species, subspecies, and varieties occurring without cultivation in the United States and it possessions, as well as Canada and parts of Greenland and France. The PLANTS floristic area is divided into the following regions: Alaska (AK), Canada (CAN), Greenland (GL), Hawaii (HI), Lower 48 States (L48), Navassa Island (NAV), Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) (PB), Puerto Rico (PR), St. Pierre and Miquelon (SPM), and U.S. Virgin Islands (VI). Each plant occurrence record is associated with location and nativity data. For each location record a minimal mapping unit is provided, which usually is a county or county equivalent (e.g., parish), but it is sometimes a state or state equivalent (e.g., province). For GL, NAV, and SPM the minimal mapping unit is the region itself. Each plant occurrence also has a nativity status (i.e., native or introduced) associated with it. On the PLANTS website two kinds of maps present plant distribution data: primary (zoomable map present on General tab) and thumbnail (present on Subordinate Taxa tab). Three colors are used to indicate nativity status: green for native, blue for introduced, and orange for native and introduced. Lighter shades of these three colors are used on the primary map in higher resolution zooms when there are no county or county-equivalent records for a region. The documentation for the distribution data is provided in the Sources tab.

Purpose: Collecting geospatial data on plant occurrences and nativity is critical for ensuring that the plant distributions presented in PLANTS are current and scientifically accurate. Having up-to-date and scientifically accurate plant distributions in PLANTS is essential for proper conservation planning carried out by NRCS, as well as the conservation activities conducted by non-NRCS PLANTS users, including other federal agencies, state and local governments, academics, non-profits, private companies, and private citizens.

Creation Date: 2000 - Present

Publication Date: 20181011

Revision Date: 20240118

Refresh Cycle: The data are presented as live.

Version: 3.0.0

Change Log: Updated with live data from plants database.

Report Service Errors

PLANTS is a national and international standard for plant information, providing scientific data for over 35,000 plant and lichen species occurring in the United States and its possessions. PLANTS provides scientific information to the following NRCS areas: National Resources Inventory (NRI), Ecological Site Description development (ESD), Soil Survey activities, Conservation Effects Assessment Project activities (CEAP), Resource Conservation Act support (RCA), and state and local offices, as well as the non-NRCS users identified in the Purpose section below. PLANTS provides distribution maps for plant genera, species, subspecies, and varieties occurring without cultivation in the United States and it possessions, as well as Canada and parts of Greenland and France. The PLANTS floristic area is divided into the following regions: Alaska (AK), Canada (CAN), Greenland (GL), Hawaii (HI), Lower 48 States (L48), Navassa Island (NAV), Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) (PB), Puerto Rico (PR), St. Pierre and Miquelon (SPM), and U.S. Virgin Islands (VI). Each plant occurrence record is associated with location and nativity data. For each location record a minimal mapping unit is provided, which usually is a county or county equivalent (e.g., parish), but it is sometimes a state or state equivalent (e.g., province). For GL, NAV, and SPM the minimal mapping unit is the region itself. Each plant occurrence also has a nativity status (i.e., native or introduced) associated with it. On the PLANTS website two kinds of maps present plant distribution data: primary (zoomable map present on General tab) and thumbnail (present on Subordinate Taxa tab). Three colors are used to indicate nativity status: green for native, blue for introduced, and orange for native and introduced. Lighter shades of these three colors are used on the primary map in higher resolution zooms when there are no county or county-equivalent records for a region. The documentation for the distribution data is provided in the Sources tab.

Purpose: Collecting geospatial data on plant occurrences and nativity is critical for ensuring that the plant distributions presented in PLANTS are current and scientifically accurate. Having up-to-date and scientifically accurate plant distributions in PLANTS is essential for proper conservation planning carried out by NRCS, as well as the conservation activities conducted by non-NRCS PLANTS users, including other federal agencies, state and local governments, academics, non-profits, private companies, and private citizens.

Creation Date: 2000 - Present

Publication Date: 20181011

Revision Date: 20240118

Refresh Cycle: The data are presented as live.

Version: 3.0.0

Change Log: Updated with live data from plants database.

Report Service Errors