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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #319926

Title: Berberidaceae

Author
item Whittemore, Alan

Submitted to: Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2018
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: This contribution will form a section of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada, a floristic manual produced at New York Botanical Garden to provide up-to-date information on the taxonomy, distribution, and ecological status of all plants that are wild or invasive from Maine and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, south to Virginia and northern Missouri, together with a guide for identification, aimed at professional and sophisticated amateur users. The taxonomy, distribution, and ecological status of all species of the family Berberidaceae that grow outside of cultivation in the northeast is reevaluated, based primarily on examination of herbarium specimens, and a guide for identification is supplied. Six genera and 11 species grow without cultivation in the northeast. Six of these species are native to the region, and five are introduced; one of these species is seriously invasive. Several of these species are important in ornamental horticulture in the United States, and one species is an important alternate host for the wheat rust fungus. This contribution provides up-to-date information on the biology of this family, along with identification aids. It will support accurate identification of ornamental and invasive plants and hosts of pathogens in the region. It will be used by professional land managers, educators, conservationists, and sophisticated amateur botanists and horticulturalists, insuring that work on land management, conservation, and horticulture will be based on full, accurate and up-to-date information about the basic biology and relationships of these organisms.

Technical Abstract: The family Berberidaceae is treated for Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada, a detailed floristic manual for the region produced at New York Botanical Garden to provide up-to-date information on all plants that are wild or invasive from Maine and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, south to Virginia and northern Missouri. Six genera and 11 species grow without cultivation in the northeast. Six of these species are native to the region, and five are introduced; one of these species is seriously invasive. Several of these species are important in ornamental horticulture in the United States, and one species is an important alternate host for the wheat rust fungus. This contribution will support accurate identification of ornamental and invasive plants and hosts of pathogens by botanists in the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada.