Page 5 - Flora+ of the Black Range

The Black Range is a marginal place. It is on the margin of several ecosystems and thus many species live or pass through this region. In the case of flora, not only is the Black Range at the edge of several geographically defined flora zones, it is a sky island, rising from the desert foothills and into the sky on all of its edges - except in the northwest, where it abuts the Gila.
The geography and topography of the Black Range create many environmental niches, and because of that the species count in this area is significant. In this checklist, there are 1,280 species which have been verified and an additional 460 species which may be found at a later date (or evidence that they have been found previously may be located).
The listing of plant collectors which follows is not a definitive listing of all who have collected in the Black Range. It is a listing of those collectors who have collected specimens which were used to verify the species for the Black Range in this checklist.
By the same token, the listing of dates is not a definitive listing of when the plant collectors were collecting in the Black Range. It is the range of dates which bracket the collection dates for the specimens used to verify the species in the Black Range.
That said, a few points from the listing are obvious:
• Scientific plant collecting started early in the Black Range (compared with settlement dates);
• There has been a steady stream of plant collectors in the Black Range;
• The expertise of the collectors was (is) significant; • Many specimens have been collected near human
settlements and along transportation corridors;
• Those interested in studying the flora of the Black
Range benefit greatly from the proximity of Western New Mexico State University in Silver City and New Mexico State University in Las Cruces; and
• Collectors, students, and botanists have been attracted to this area for well over a century - with good cause.
This checklist is, hopefully, a tool which can aid those interested in the natural history of the Black Range, especially those with a flora slant to their passion.
We are sincere in our request for corrections and additions. The aim of this project is to better our knowledge of this region and to build a set of tools which help achieve that goal.
R. A. (Bob) Barnes, Editor rabarnes@blackrange.org Hillsboro, New Mexico
Plant Collectors In The Black Range