The Flora of Virginia Project

Welcome! Here you will find out about the project, meet the botanists and staff behind this work, and learn of the project status - how far we are progressing in our writing, illustrations, and publishing.

You will find links to related sites that may be of interest to you.
As our support grows, you can come back here to meet our board, technical committee, authors, staff, and illustrators.
Please come back frequently! We will update the site periodically as the project progresses. This update was made on June 5 , 2006.

Here are some of the exciting updates on the progress of The Flora of Virginia Project:

A contract with the University of Virginia Press to publish The Flora of Virginia by 2011-2012 has been offered
The Flora of Virginia will be a one volume manual for plant identification of 3800 native and naturalized species occurring in Virginia
The manual will feature 1435 core species illustration and 35 illustrated plates to assist in identification of species of difficult genera
- More than 450 of the core illustrations have been completed with 200 more scheduled for completion by the end of this year
Preparation of the contents of the manual is making progress
- Dichotomous keys to identify genera and species of one half of the 204 families of vascular plants in Virginia are completed The first stage of writing species descriptions is completed for one half of the 3800 species; work on genus descriptions has begun
- The second stage of species descriptions using herbarium specimens is underway
Fund raising is continuing to make progress
- Approximately $525,000 of the $2,200,000 Project budget has been raised in direct and in-kind contributions
- A professional grant writer is now under contract
Outreach to let people and groups know about the project and to raise funds continues
- Presentations to groups, articles in newspapers and magazines (the May issue of Southern Living in the Mid-Atlantic supplement included an article on the Flora of Virginia Project and Marion Lobstein in “Finding Virginia’s Flora”)

*How You Can Support the Flora of Virginia* Project** You can support the Flora of Virginia Project by making a contribution of any amount.
Flora of Virginia Donor Categories
White Oak	$100,000 and above
Sweet bay magnolia	$50,000 to $99,999
Great laurel	$10,000 to $49,999
Virginia bluebell	$1,000 to $9,999
Spring beauty	below $1,000
Donors of $1,000 and above will receive a first edition of The Flora of Virginia and have their name inscribed in the book. Donations may be made in multiple year pledges. Donations to the Flora of Virginia Project, a 501(c) (3) organization, are tax-deductible as permitted by law. Make checks payable to: The Flora of Virginia Project and mail to: The Flora of Virginia Project P.O. Box 512 Richmond, VA 23218-0512

VA flora logo The Project

The Flora of Virginia Project has been initiated to prepare and publish a comprehensive manual of Virginia's 3700+ native and naturalized plant taxa, from oaks to cattails, ferns to pines, kudzu to coneflowers. Designed as a book with an accompanying web site, this Flora will serve the urgent needs of scientists, students, and citizens interested in plants and their habitats in Virginia. Access to this information provides a deeper understanding of Virginia's plants and ecosystems, and increases our ability and desire to conserve the Commonwealth's plants and environments they inhabit. Development of the Flora, the first in Virginia's modern history, already has the support of a broad spectrum of Virginia organizations, institutions, and individuals.

Who might use this flora?

Students and teachers of environmental and biological sciences

Conservation groups such as The Nature Conservancy and Virginia Outdoors Foundation

Industry including environmental consultants and wetlands biologists

State and local government agencies, land planners

Foresters, park and wildlife resources personnel

Amateur botanists and interested citizens

Members of the Virginia Native Plant Society

Gardeners and others with a general interest in plants

Why we need this flora

There is no modern Flora of Virginia

In 1743, Flora Virginica was published, our first attempt at a complete account of the plant life of Virginia. Though based on the work of Gloucester's John Clayton and groundbreaking for its day, the work actually encompasses only a small portion of the state's flora and is in a form impractical for modern use.

In the late 18th century, Dr. James Greenway, a botanist who lived in Dinwiddie County, produced his own, new flora. Though the work's merit was acknowledged by Thomas Jefferson, it was never published and may be lost.

Other references are limited

Those interested in Virginia's plant life, including professionals, avocational botanists, students, and conservationists, have been forced to look elsewhere. The Floras of West Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina help some, but all lack critical components to make them accessible to Virginia's botanical community and aspiring botanists. Confounding this, these works were produced prior to an explosion in field and genetics research, rendering them even less valuable.

Addison's leatherflower (Clematis addisonii) from Montgomery County, Virginia. This species' worldwide range is restricted to only four Virginia counties. It's distribution is further restricted to areas within those counties that are underlain by dolomite of the Elbrook formation.© Hal Horowitz.

Virginia's students need access to information about our plant life

The lack of a Flora is a particularly difficult problem for anyone interested in learning botany and specifically about Virginia plants. With no definitive source to turn to, many aspiring amateur botanists are discouraged, curbing the growth in knowledge about Virginia's environment. A modern, accessible Flora will engender a greater interest in our plant life. In short, a good Flora will provide fertile soil to grow a "new crop" of botanists. The format and text of this work will be designed for use by our educators to introduce the plants of Virginia to its citizens while greatly enriching the knowledge of our more advanced botanists.

A modern Flora of Virginia facilitates sound decisions

The absence of a Flora is not only a problem for the scientific and student community, it is a problem for all of the Commonwealth's citizens. Without a modern Flora of Virginia, our comprehension of Virginia's vegetation and its landscape is far from perfect, leading to less informed conservation, land use, and business decisions.

With an accurate, up-to-date work, scientists and natural resource professionals from all sectors can work together to provide reliable information about Virginia's plant life. This information will be made available to land planners, politicians, legislators, courts, business leaders, and other decision makers who shape our world through zoning, regulation, environmental legislation, open space land conservation, and myriad other actions. Furthermore, a modern Flora will be used as a reference for schools and communities who wish to inventory their plant life, design conservation plans or conduct vegetation restoration activities.

The Flora will promote conservation

Without enlightenment about the natural world, it is difficult to inspire citizens to protect the environment. Combating the environmental challenges of pollution, population growth, habitat alteration, and invasive species requires a well-informed public and scientific community.

By helping Virginians recognize and appreciate the plants that surround them, the Flora will engender a deeper respect for the beauty and diversity of the Commonwealth's plants, a respect that is vital to the conservation of the plant life that sustains us all.

The goals of the Flora of Virginia project

This Project is devoted to produce the Flora of Virginia, gathering the legacy of more than three centuries of Virginia botanists into a modern work. The Flora of Virginia will open the natural world to a new generation of botanists, natural resource managers, and natural historians who can further expand our knowledge and contribute to the conservation of our rich natural heritage. This Project will:

Provide a guide to the identification, habitat, status, and distribution of Virginia's plants for professional and avocational users;

Assimilate and build on the rich tradition of botanical exploration in Virginia;

Incorporate current genetic-based information in addition to traditional taxonomic approaches; and

Increase interest in the appreciation and conservation of Virginia's flora.

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) photographed in western Virginia. This spring wildflower is most common in rich forests. Among the earliest of blooming spring wildflowers, each April it heralds a dizzying display which includes violets, trilliums, larkspurs, lady's-slipper, and, spring beauties. Note the scientific name that commemorates Virginian and third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson. ©Kenneth Lawless

The manual

The centerpiece of the Project is a manual in book format to be used in the field, classroom, and library as a key reference to Virginia's plants. It will draw from the best of existing flora manuals, provide innovative illustrations of key characteristics, and offer a wealth of new information about ecology and distribution. With 3700+ plant species, space is at a premium. The goal is to be complete while keeping the text succinct to allow the book to serve as a field manual. Some of the outstanding features will include:

Illustrations of each plant and its distinguishing characteristics. The work will have over 3000 illustrations with scale measures.
Modern nomenclature and cross-referenced plant names. The species name chosen for the Flora of Virginia will be referenced to other key regional works.
Virginia-specific habitat and distribution. Habitat notes provided with each species will come from a broad spectrum of literature sources amended by the authors and a consortium of the state's best botanists who will contribute information to the project. Distribution information will come from range maps produced by the Virginia Botanical Associates.
Simple, succinct genus and species descriptions. While brief, these descriptions will clearly describe the genera and species and will be derived from fresh material as well as herbarium specimens.
Dichotomous keys. The Flora of Virginia will include field-tested keys with simple, easily-seen characters whenever possible.

The website

The manual will be accompanied by a website that enhances its utility through color photographs and auxiliary natural history information about the plants. While providing additional space for vast amounts of information available about Virginia's plants, the website will also introduce the Flora of Virginia into our citizens' homes and our students' classrooms.

For our students

The manual and website will provide a particularly powerful tool to bring Virginia's plant life to its students. These resources will be aligned with Virginia's Standards of Learning and cataloged in the Environmental Resources Directory. They will also be incorporated as references into the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement for meaningful field experiences, and linked to the "Virginia Naturally" and "Knowledge" websites, among others used in classrooms and community programs supporting lifelong learning about the environment. As the project grows, other opportunities to incorporate the Flora of Virginia into environmental education initiatives will be found.

Fameflower (Talinum sp.) photographed in Franklin County, Virginia. The identity of this particular fameflower has been debated. It may be a southern species known as Menge's fameflower (Talinum mengesii), or a species new to science. © Hal Horowitz.

How the Flora of Virginia project is accomplishing its mission

In 2001, The Flora of Virginia Project incorporated as a Virginia non-stock corporation entitled The Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc. Its Federal 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status was filed in January 2002.

The Foundation held its first board meeting on August 25, 2001, passed its by-laws, elected officers and selected members for its board of directors. Board meetings are held quarterly. The Board of Directors currently includes Joslin Gallatin, Michael Lipford, Marion Lobstein, J. Christopher Ludwig, Chip Morgan, Ann Regn, Thomas Smith, Nicky Staunton, Donna Ware and Suzanne Wright. The Foundation has an Audit and Finance Committee, Development Committee, and Flora Advisory Board.

Currently, staff for the project serve on a volunteer basis, though they will be paid as funds become available. J. Christopher Ludwig serves as the project's Executive Director and co-author. Alan Weakley works as the project's other co-author. Joslin Gallatin works as fundraiser, and Marion Lobstein as organization liaison.

About the Directors and Project staff:

Joslin Gallatin, Fundraiser and Member of the Board of Directors

(j3gallatin@aol.com)
Joslin Gallatin is the immediate past-president of the Foundation of the State Arboretum at the University of Virginia's Blandy Experimental Farm. In her fundraising capacity, substantial private funds were raised for the Arboretum's programs and projects, and the first State appropriation was obtained to support the Arboretum. Ms. Gallatin is Co-Chair of the Foundation's Development Committee.

Nancy Ross Hugo, Member of the Board of Directors

(nancyh@lewisginter.org)
Nancy Ross Hugo is Education Manager at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond. She is also a free lance writer whose work has appeared in national gardening, forestry, and natural history magazines. Her weekly column “Earth Works” appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch for eight years and her monthly “Habitat” column appeared in Virginia Wildlife magazine for ten. She is the author of Earth Works: Readings for Backyard Gardeners (Upress of Virginia, 1997).

Michael Lipford , Member of the Board of Directors

(mlipford@tnc.org)
Michael L. Lipford is Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy of Virginia and has served in that capacity since 1991. He has also served as the Mid-Atlantic Division Vice President for the past four years. From 1986-1991 he served as Director of the Division of Natural Heritage in the Virginia Department of Conservation and prior to that as Assistant Professor of Biology at Dabney Lancaster Community College.

Marion Lobstein, Member of the Board of Directors, Organization liaison

(mblobstein@earthlink.net)
Marion Lobstein has been a professor of Biology at Northern Virginia Community College for 28 years and teaches Field Botany at the University of Virginia's Blandy Experimental Farm. Ms. Lobstein serves the Foundation as liaison to key groups including the Virginia Academy of Science and the Virginia Association of Biological Education. She serves as Co-Chair of the Foundation's Audit and Finance Committee.

J. Christopher Ludwig, Executive Director, President of the Board of Directors

(chris.ludwig@dcr.virginia.gov)
J. Christopher Ludwig is currently Chief Biologist for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Division of Natural Heritage. From 1988 to 1998, he served as Botanist at the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage. In addition to serving as the Foundation's Executive Director and President of the Board of Directors, he serves as Co-Chair of the Flora Advisory Board and will co-author the Flora of Virginia.

Chip Morgan, Vice President and Member of the Board of Directors

(dahnechip@aol.com)
Chip Morgan is a member of the Science and Education Advisory Board for the Wintergreen Nature Foundation. Since 1995, he has been an active volunteer at Wintergreen, teaching and leading field trips in local geology and botany.

Ann Regn, Member of the Board of Directors

(amregn@deq.virginia.gov)
Ann Regn is Director of the Virginia Office of Environmental Education at the Department of Environmental Quality. Ann works with the VA Dept of Education to align programs with academic standards. She is a former board member of the Virginia Native Plant Society and founder of the Jefferson Chapter. In 2002 she was named "Environmental Educator of the Year" by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Thomas Smith, Member of the Board of Directors

(tom.smith@dcr.virginia.gov)
Thomas Smith is the Director for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Natural Heritage Division since 1991. Mr. Smith served as inventory manager for the Division from 1990 to 1991, and prior to that was the Director/Plant Ecologist for the Eastern Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program.

Nicky Staunton, Member of the Board of Directors

(nstaunton@earthlink.net)
Nicky Staunton, president of the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) for three terms of office, is recently retired after 25 years with a non-profit organization. She has been an avocational botanist and botanical illustrator for twenty years. Ms. Staunton was a partner in a 3-year botanical survey of the Woodbridge, Va. U.S. Army base now known as Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. She serves as Co-Chair of the Foundation's Development Committee.

Donna Ware, Secretary and Member of the Board of Directors

(dmware@wm.edu)
Donna Ware served as Curator for the Herbarium at the College of William and Mary for 30 years and currently serves as Research Associate Professor. Dr. Ware is a member of the Virginia Academy of Science's Flora Committee and the Virginia Botanical Associates.

Alan Weakley, Co-author

(weakley@unc.edu)
Alan Weakley was Botanist with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, followed by six years as Southeastern Regional Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, and two years as Chief Ecologist for NatureServe in Arlington, Virginia. In June 2002, he became Curator of the UNC Herbarium. He has been developing a guide to the Flora of the Mid-Atlantic states for the past 15 years, and has been active in plant systematics, plant ecology, and conservation in the southeastern United States throughout his career. Mr. Weakley will be a co-author of the Flora of Virginia and serves as Co-Chair of the Flora Advisory Board.

Suzanne Wright, Member of the Board of Directors

(wrightca@erols.com)
Suzanne Wright is currently serving as the Horticulture Chairman for The Garden Club of Virginia. She is an avid gardener and has been a member of The Petersburg Garden Club for 25 years. Ms. Wright is a member of The Wintergreen Nature Foundation as well as Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

Queen lady's-slipper (Cypripedium reginae) photographed in Minnesota. This spectacular native orchid is quite rare in Virginia, known from only two extant sites.© Gary Rouse

Organizational Support for the Flora of Virginia Project

Since 1999, Project volunteers have gathered support from many key organizations. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was recently signed between the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Flora of Virginia Project. This MOA authorizes staff of the Department's Division of Natural Heritage to work on the Project, and supports the Project with additional resources.

The Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) has supported the Project in a number of ways, including publicizing the Project and soliciting its membership for volunteer and financial support. Approaching 2000 members in ten chapters across Virginia, the VNPS raised money for the publication of the first Project brochure.

With solid support from its council, Botany Section, and Virginia Flora Committee, the Virginia Academy of Science (VAS) has provided small grants to begin work on the Flora. The VAS Flora Committee is an important scientific partner for the Project.

Key support has been offered from the Virginia Botanical Associates (VBA). This private, non-profit group has developed the Atlas of the Virginia Flora, now in its third edition, which maps county distributions for every known vascular plant species in Virginia. The Flora of Virginia will integrate geographic information generated by the work of the VBA.

Additional educational and scientific groups that have expressed their support include The Nature Conservancy, the Foundation of the State Arboretum and staff of Blandy Experimental Farm, the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, the Virginia Museum of Natural History, the Science Museum of Virginia, and the Virginia Association for Botanical Education.

The private sector has been supportive as well. The law firm, Marino & Garson has provided legal assistance free of charge and, through a signed agreement, will continue its support through the life of the Project. Dominion Power is also supportive and may lend financial assistance through its grants program. Other firms and private foundations will be contacted for support as the Project develops.

The Flora Advisory Board

Alan Weakley and Chris Ludwig, co-authors of the Flora, are co-chairs of a 51-member technical advisory board that includes many of Virginia's finest botanists. The advisory board will assist in key decisions on content and format and provide crucial technical assistance to the Project such as field testing keys and descriptions, providing materials for illustrators, and possibly providing portions of the manual and website's text. Their first meeting was held on February 9, 2002.

1. H. Stephen Adams	18. Brian Hawley	35. Jim Perry
2. J. Rex Baird	19. John Hayden	36. Greg Plunkett
3. Pat Baldwin	20. L. Michael Hill	37. Michael Renfroe
4. Allen Belden	21. Kevin Heffernan	38. T'ai H. Roulston
5. Stan Bentley	22. Hal Horwitz	39. Gary Rouse
6. Dorothy Bliss	23. Fred Huber	40. Stan Shetler
7. Rebecca Bray	24. Ken Lawless	41. Rod Simmons
8. Warren Byrd	25. Mike Leahy	42. Nicky Staunton
9. Wendy Cass	26. Marion Lobstein	43. "Mo" Stevens
10. Jennifer Clevinger	27. Darren Loomis	44. Mark Strong
11. Doug Coleman	28. Steve Martin	45. Johnny Townsend
12. Phil Coulling	29. Bill McAvoy	46. Nancy Van Alstine
13. Doug DeBerry	30. Conley McMullen	47. Brian van Eerden
14. Tom Dierauf	31. Lytton Musselman	48. Dean Walton
15. George Diggs	32. Chip Morgan	49. Irv Wilson
16. John Dodge	33. Karen Patterson	50. Rebecca Wilson
17. Ruth Douglas	34. Toni Pepin	51. Robert Wright

Gathering the Resources

Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginica) photographed in western Virginia. This late spring wildflower's generic name celebrates the Elder and Younger Tradescants who provided Europe with many new Virginia plants during Colonial times. Like many plants first discovered in or near the Commonwealth, this species' scientific name bears the species epithet virginica.© Kenneth Lawless

The Board of Directors is primarily a fundraising Board charged with obtaining the resources needed for the Project. The Total Project Cost is now estimated at around $1,700,000. There is a strong likelihood that the Project will continue past 2007 in order to update the website and provide further editions of the book. Other funds would then be needed and the Board of Directors will address that issue before 2007.

How you can help

If you would like to provide financial support to this project, please make your check out to "The Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc." and send it to:

The Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc.
P.O. Box 512
Richmond VA 23218-0512

All donations are fully tax-deductible and will be acknowledged by letter, a copy of which should be kept for tax records. Please indicate if you would like your gift to remain anonymous. To give a donation in the form of securities, please call Chris Ludwig at 804-371-6206.

Our heritage, our flora

The diverse riches of our landscape have attracted many people to the Commonwealth and from our earliest settlements to modern times, Virginia has been immersed in tradition, sacrifice, valor, and accomplishment. This Commonwealth is distinguished as a land of significance with an exemplary cultural and natural heritage. Some of North America's finest early naturalists and botanists worked the wilds of Virginia and in some respects Virginia is the birthplace of botanical study in the New World. In 1588, Thomas Harriot published accounts of the plant and animal life in the colony of Virginia. The Reverend John Bannister, a British clergy and naturalist, preceded by the Elder and Younger Tradescants introduced many Virginia plants into Europe in the 1600s.

Bannister was followed by John Clayton who came as a young man to Gloucester County. His work culminated in the two-part Flora Virginica published in 1743. Lauded by Thomas Jefferson as "America's finest botanist", Clayton was wildly respected for his botanical abilities, enough so that numerous species and the genus Claytonia bear his name. Clayton was followed by many esteemed early botanists including Custis, Collinson, Bartram, Greenway, Canby, Pursh, Kalm, Michaux, Barton, Nuttall, and, later, Kearney and Small.

In the1900s, botanical work in Virginia exploded with the development of relatively large herbaria at the College of William and Mary, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, George Mason University, Longwood College and Lynchburg College. The work of Allard, Artz, Carr, Massey, Fernald, and Long led into the work of Harvill and the modern Virginia botanists who have contributed so much to the knowledge of our modern flora. Over the last 30 years, detailed geologic information, soil maps, and aerial photography has allowed botanists to discover numerous hidden botanical hot spots where many species new to the Commonwealth and a few new to science have been found.

With the Flora of Virginia Project, we are poised and obligated to amass the legacy of our botanists into a modern Flora of Virginia. This flora can open our natural world to a new generation of botanists and natural historians who can further expand our knowledge and contribute to the conservation of our rich natural heritage. We owe them and ourselves this tool. We need this Flora now.

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) from a late summer wet meadow. The intense red of this lobelia is spectacular, particularly when the species is found growing in profusion.© Hal Horwitz

Links to related sites

There are some informative sites if you would like to know more about our Friends and Partners:

The Virginia Academy of Sciences

The Virginia Academy of Sciences Flora Committee

Blandy Experimental Farm and State Arboretum

Virginia Native Plant Society

Wintergreen Nature Foundation

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Virginia Museum of Natural History

Science Museum of Virginia

Virginia Association for Biological Education

Norfolk Botanical Garden