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Intermountain Flora: Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U. S. A. Volume Two. Part A. Subclasses Magnoliidae-Caryophyllidae

In the 1960s, the New York Botanical Garden launched an ambitious project to create an illustrated flora of the vascular plants of the Intermountain region of the western U. S. A. modeled after the multi-volume Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest (1955–1969). The area to be covered extended from southeastern Oregon to western Wyoming, southern Nevada, and northern Arizona and included the Great Basin, Snake River Plain, Wasatch Mountains, and Colorado Plateau. The only previous flora of the region was Ivar Tidestrom’s 1925 Flora of Utah and Nevada which was well out of date and long out of print. Interest in the Intermountain area has always been keen due to the large number of endemic taxa, particularly in the Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, and Onagraceae, and genera such as Eriogonum, Penstemon, Phacelia, and Cryptantha. The first volume in the series appeared in 1972 and included an overview of the vegetation, geology, phytogeography, and botanical history of the Intermountain region, as well as keys and species descriptions for the gymnosperms, lycophytes, and ferns. Each species was illustrated by a set of line drawings highlighting the growth form and pertinent leaf or reproductive structures. Additional features included a list of synonyms and type specimens, references, and supplemental information on habitat, range, taxonomic problems, and interesting facts on cultivation or life history. The original authors were Arthur Cronquist, Arthur and Noel Holmgren, and James Reveal. In later years, Patricia Kern Holmgren became a coauthor. Rupert Barneby authored the volume devoted to the Fabales in 1989 and other specialists (such as Richard Spellenberg, Daniel Atha, Donald Pinkava, Wendy Hodgson, Andrew Salywon, Marc Baker, Charles Butterworth, and Robert Dorn) have contributed treatments of selected genera or families. Four decades after the first volume appeared, the eighth and final installment of the Intermountain Flora was published in 2012. Volume Two Part A (the series was originally slated for 6 volumes and was not issued in chronological order) covers 611 species, 147 genera, and 31 vascular plant families in the subclasses Magnoliidae, Hamamelidae, and Caryophyllidae of Cronquist’s 1981 Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants. Some of the larger or more ecologically significant families in this volume include the Ranunculaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, Polygonaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Amaranthaceae, and Cactaceae. Over one hundred recent name changes or revisions in rank have been incorporated, and 34 typifications were published in this volume, mostly addressing problems in Polygonaceae and Cactaceae. As with earlier volumes, each species is illustrated by a high quality original line drawing. Many of the species of Caryophyllales have not previously been illustrated in national or regional floras. The organization of families in volume 2A does not quite follow the current classification of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG III). When the Intermountain Flora series began forty years ago, the authors adopted Cronquist’s then-new classification system recognizing 11 subclasses of Magnoliopsida and Liliopsida. In recent volumes, the authors have attempted to use APG III concepts when possible, such as segregating Sarcobataceae from Chenopodiaceae and splitting Montiaceae and Portulacaceae. In other instances, the authors maintain an older family (such as Chenopodiaceae separate from Amaranthaceae) but provide a detailed rationale for the decision or discuss differences among contemporary classifications in the introduction to each family. Fortunately, most of the families and orders covered in volume 2A are still recognized as natural groups by APG III. The biggest exception is the Fagales, now considered part of the eurosid I clade rather than Cronquist’s somewhat unnatural Hamamelidae. It should be remembered that the primary intent of the Flora is to aid in identification of the plant taxa of western North America. Other references are available to define modern taxonomic relationships, which undoubtedly will continue to be modified in the years to come. The Intermountain Flora may be too large to take into the field (although hopefully a single-volume manual will be produced akin to the Hitchcock and Cronquist’s 1973 Flora of the Pacific Northwest), but it is a model of what the ideal regional flora should include: thorough descriptions, userfriendly keys, and outstanding illustrations. Following the death of Arthur Cronquist and Arthur Holmgren in 1992, Noel and Pat Holmgren steered the final four volumes of the Flora to completion. For their efforts the Holmgrens were recently honored by ASPT with the Asa Gray award. Noel and Pat are currently working on a supplement to the Intermountain Flora (expected in 2013) which will include a key to all of the families, a cumulative index, and brief summary of the flora project. Then it will be off to new projects, or perhaps a well-deserved rest after more than forty years of research on the flora of the Intermountain west.