National Wetlands Inventory

Wetland Plants

Plant List MOA signed

On December 12, 2006, the last signature was added to Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The purpose is to transfer the responsibility to maintain and update the “National List of Vascular Plant Species that Occur in Wetlands” (List) from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

National List of Plant Species that Occur in Wetlands:

• 1988 Official Wetland Plant List & 1993 Supplement National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands: 1988 National Summary. Porter B. Reed; for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Soil Conservation Service. This list is referenced in the Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands, and in the Natural Resources Conservation Service's procedures to identify wetlands for the Swampbuster provision of the Farm Bill. To display U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetland indicator status for vascular plants genus, family, and/or wetland region, SEARCH: USDA/NRCS Wetland Indicator Status.

• 1996 draft revision. The 1996 National List is a draft revision of the National List of Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands: 1988 National Summary. The 1996 National List is provided to encourage additional public review and comments on the draft regional wetland indicator assignments.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has prepared a National List of Vascular Plant Species That Occur in Wetlands: 1998 National List.

Software:
• Wetland plant identification, electronic random access identification key to wetland plants. MEKA/MARSH - Multiple Attribute Recognition System for Hydrophytes - Zip file for downloading.
• Spell checking for scientific plant names and acceptance status. Sounds Like interactive online version or Zip file for downloading.

Other plant web links (Leaving FWS website):

PLANTS Identification Key Available for Use and testing for grasses

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants

Hydric Soils of the United States (NRCS/USDA)

Wetland Science Institute (NRCS/USDA)

Plants National Database (NRCS/USDA)

Biota of North America Program (BONAP)

Multiple Entry Key Algorithm (MEKA)

University of Florida Center for Aquatic Plants

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wetlands
Research Program

Training in Plant Identification
National Conservation Training Center (key word "plant")

Pickerelweed by Dave Davis

Introduction
Wetlands support a high diversity of plants far in excess of what would be predicted when considering the relative land area they occupy. Although wetlands comprise 5 percent of the land area of the continental United States, over 30 percent of the nation's vascular flora occur in wetlands.

The Service works with other agencies to develop, maintain, and distribute data and information on wetland plants and plant communities. The list of wetland plants and the software for a wetland plant identification system aid in the identification and understanding of wetland systems.