Coastal Plain Vascular Plant Endemics: Phytogeographic Patterns

Papers on the phytogeography of the North American coastal plain are poorly represented in the botanical literature, despite the fact that the coastal plain is one of the continent's major floristic provinces. Some authors have discussed plant distribution and/or endemism for local regions, but none have treated the coastal plain as a whole. We synthesized data from many sources and have compiled lists of all endemic families, genera, species, and infraspecific taxa. Analysis of these lists, and of county-level range maps, yields recurring patterns of species distributions. We define and map 27 such patterns and list representative taxa for each. The boundaries of many of these patterns appear to circumscribe centers of endemism. We discuss underlying reasons for the high diversity and endemism in the coastal plain, as well as the geographical derivation of the endemics, the age of the flora, and the role of past geological events.