Flora of North America Association

Flora of North America Association
Name	Flora of North America Association
Abbreviation	FNA
Formation	1993
Headquarters	St. Louis, Missouri
Region served	North America
Leader title	President

Flora of North America Association is a collaborative consortium established to produce a comprehensive account of native and naturalized plants across North America. The Association brings together botanists, taxonomists, ecologists, herbaria, and conservation organizations to compile authoritative treatments for floristic research, conservation planning, and education. Its work intersects with major botanical institutions, government agencies, and international conservation programs.

History

The Association was founded in 1993 with roots in collaborations among the Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution, New York Botanical Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and university herbaria such as Harvard University Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Toronto. Early support and intellectual exchange involved figures and institutions linked to projects like the United States Department of Agriculture plant databases, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and the Natural History Museum, London. The initiative grew alongside large-scale floristic efforts including the Jepson Manual Project, Gray Herbarium, Tropicos database, and international programs like the Convention on Biological Diversity and partnerships with the Royal Society and National Science Foundation. Influential collaborations connected editors and contributors from universities such as University of Michigan, University of Washington, Cornell University, Yale University, Duke University, University of Florida, University of British Columbia, and McGill University.

Mission and Objectives

The Association’s mission aligns with goals promoted by institutions including the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Nature Conservancy to document plant diversity for conservation and science. Objectives include producing peer-reviewed floristic treatments comparable to standards set by the Flora Europaea and the Flora of China projects, supporting taxonomic clarity akin to efforts by the International Association for Plant Taxonomy and coordinating data exchange with repositories such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility and Integrated Taxonomic Information System. The Association's work supports regulatory and policy frameworks including coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian biodiversity strategies promoted by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Publications and Projects

Major outputs have included multi-volume floras, identification keys, and online taxonomic treatments building on models from the Flora of North America North of Mexico series, the Flora of China, and the Flora Neotropica. The Association has collaborated with scholarly publishers and periodicals such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Systematic Botany. Projects integrate specimen data from collections like the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium (NY) and Harvard University Herbaria (GH), and link to databases such as Biodiversity Heritage Library, Consortium of Midwest Herbaria, and the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria. The Association has supported floristic checklists, monographs, and distribution maps used by organizations including the USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Canadian Wildlife Service, and academic initiatives at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Kew Gardens research programs.

Organization and Governance

The Association’s structure mirrors governance models seen at the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and boards at institutions like the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Botanical Society of America. Leadership comprises an elected executive committee drawn from university departments such as University of California, Davis, University of Arizona, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with editorial panels reflecting expertise associated with grants from the National Science Foundation and partnerships with agencies like the Natural Resources Canada. Meetings and symposia have been hosted at venues including the Missouri Botanical Garden, Royal Ontario Museum, and international conferences such as the International Botanical Congress and meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Membership and Partnerships

Membership and contributor networks include curators and researchers from herbaria at Field Museum, Denver Botanic Gardens, Mount Holyoke College Herbarium, and university programs at University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Institutional partners have included conservation NGOs like BirdLife International, research infrastructures such as Atlas of Living Australia (for methodological exchange), and policy partners including United Nations Environment Programme initiatives. Collaborative agreements and data-sharing memoranda mirror those used by networks such as the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities and technical partnerships with platforms like iNaturalist.

Impact and Contributions

The Association’s outputs have informed floristic inventories, conservation assessments used by agencies like the IUCN Red List, land-management decisions by the Bureau of Land Management, and restoration planning in projects supported by the National Park Service and NatureServe. Its taxonomic treatments have been cited in regional floras, environmental impact assessments filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and academic research published in journals such as Taxon, American Journal of Botany, and Journal of Biogeography. The Association has fostered capacity-building through workshops tied to programs at Kew and training linked to graduate programs at institutions like University of California, Los Angeles and Michigan State University.

Category:Botanical organizations