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ABSTRACT
Within Florida, 407 plant species have been classified as endangered, and 114 as threatened. A process and methodology has been developed to identify and designate these species, and to assign numerical ratings that reflect the degree to which they are at risk. The process is here described, and the designated species are listed in ranked order to reflect the relative degree of endangerment of each. A list of 10 species believed to be extirpated is appended.
INTRODUCTION
The state of Florida is blessed by a wealth of interesting plants, many of them subtropical and part of the Caribbean flora and thus found nowhere else in the United States, while others are endemic and thereby truly unique. But the state is also beset by an ever-growing human population that unceasingly intrudes upon and displaces these rare native species. The progressive loss of the habitat essential to these plants has stimulated both scientific investigation and legal and administrative efforts to remedy or at least to mitigate the loss of these valued components of the distinctive Florida biota.
The Program
Since the early 1970s, the protection and preservation of endangered plants and animals has become a national goal. As a first but essential step toward this objective, determinations must be made as to which species are indeed endangered, which are threatened, and which are merely rare but not declining in frequency. But with estimates that up to 10% or more of the biota may be endangered (Ward 1979), the numbers of species that justify being classified as endangered can greatly exceed the resources available for their protection.
A process and methodology has been developed in Florida by which plant species may be determined that are appropriate for classification as endangered or threatened, and that within these classes the relative degree of endangerment may be objectively assigned. A listing of these endangered and threatened species is provided here, with a numerical rating that permits recognition of the relative degree of rarity of each (Appendix 1).
Legal Basis
This listing is the product of a program mandated by the Florida Legislature (Section 581.185, F. S.), and administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Its personnel, in addition to support staff of the Department, are...