Draft:Flora of Colorado

The Flora of Colorado is well known, with scientific description and collection of its plants beginning in the early 19th century and being largely completed a century later.

The first collector of plants to reach Colorado was the medical doctor with the Stephen H. Long Expedition of 1820, Edwin P. James. The expedition crossed over the South Platte River heading into Colorado on 23 June 1820 and headed toward Fort Smith in Arkansaws on 12 August. In between

The flora of Colorado is well documented and rich in diversity because it spans three floristic regions, the North American Prairies Province of the North American Atlantic Region, the Great Basin Floristic Province of the Madrean Region, and the Rocky Mountain Floristic Region. There are approximately 2677 species and 645 varieties or subspecies recorded as growing in Colorado.

Herbs and woody angiosperms
There are species of herbaceous or woody flowering plants in 114 plant families that are recorded by botanical sources as growing in Colorado as of 2023. The table follows POWO for the scientific names of plants and their distribution with the exception of where Jennifer Ackerfield's Flora of Colorado is cited for information about distribution in Colorado. The state statuses are from NatureServe where available. Information about introduced status is POWO when there is no citation and following Ackerfield when there is a separate citation. Introduced plants are marked with an "I" in the last column and highlighted in green.

Navigate to families by common name: • Acoruses

• Amaranths

• Amaryllises

• Arrowgrasses

• Arums

• Asparaguses

• Asphodels

• Balsams

• Barberries

• Beechs

• Bellflowers

• Birches

• Bittersweets

• Broomrapes

• Buckbeans

• Buckthorns

• Buckwheats

• Bunchflowers

• Buttercups

• Butterworts

• Cactuses

• Caltrops

• Carnations

• Carpetweeds

• Cashews

• Catbriers

• Cattails

• Chickweeds

• Chile-nettles

• Cleomes

• Coontails

• Currants

• Daisies

• Devil's-claws

• Ditch-grasses

• Dogbanes

• Dogwoods

• Elms

• Evening-primroses

• False-Pimpernels

• Figs

• Fig-marigolds

• Figworts

• Flaxs

• Forget-me-nots

• Four o'clocks

• Frog's-bits

• Gentians

• Geraniums

• Ginsings

• Gourds

• Grapes

• Greasewoods

• Heathers

• Hemps

• Honeysuckles

• Hydrangeas

• Irises

• Kramerias

• Leadworts

• Leaf-flowers

• Lilies

• Lizard-tails

• Loosestrifes

• Lopseeds

• Madders

• Mallows

• Meadowfoams

• Mignonettes

• Milkworts

• Mints

• Morning-glories

• Mustards

• Nettles

• Nightshades

• Nitres

• Oleasters

• Olives

• Orchids

• Parsleys

• Peas

• Phloxs

• Pickerel-weeds

• Plantains

• Pond-weeds

• Poppies

• Primroses

• Purslanes

• Quassiases

• Rockflowers

• Rock-roses

• Roses

• Rues

• Sandalwoods

• Saxifrages

• Sea-heaths

• Soapberries

• Spiderworts

• Spurges

• St. John's Worts

• Star-grasses

• Stonecrops

• Sundews

• Tamarisks

• Trumpet Vines

• Verbenas

• Vibrnums

• Violets

• Water-lilies

• Watermilfoils

• Water-plantains

• Waterworts

• Willows

• Wood-sorrels

Navigate to family by scientific name: • Acoraceae

• Aizoaceae

• Alismataceae

• Amaranthaceae

• Amaryllidaceae

• Anacardiaceae

• Apiaceae

• Apocynaceae

• Araceae

• Araliaceae

• Asparagaceae

• Asphodelaceae

• Asteraceae

• Balsaminaceae

• Berberidaceae

• Betulaceae

• Bignoniaceae

• Boraginaceae

• Brassicaceae

• Cactaceae

• Campanulaceae

• Cannabaceae

• Caprifoliaceae

• Caryophyllaceae

• Celastraceae

• Ceratophyllaceae

• Cistaceae

• Cleomaceae

• Commelinaceae

• Convolvulaceae

• Cornaceae

• Crassulaceae

• Crossosomataceae

• Cucurbitaceae

• Droseraceae

• Elaeagnaceae

• Elatinaceae

• Ericaceae

• Euphorbiaceae

• Fabaceae

• Fagaceae

• Frankeniaceae

• Gentianaceae

• Geraniaceae

• Grossulariaceae

• Haloragaceae

• Hydrangeaceae

• Hydrocharitaceae

• Hypericaceae

• Hypoxidaceae

• Iridaceae

• Juncaginaceae

• Krameriaceae

• Lamiaceae

• Lentibulariaceae

• Liliaceae

• Limnanthaceae

• Linaceae

• Linderniaceae

• Loasaceae

• Lythraceae

• Malvaceae

• Martyniaceae

• Melanthiaceae

• Menyanthaceae

• Molluginaceae

• Montiaceae

• Moraceae

• Nitrariaceae

• Nyctaginaceae

• Nymphaeaceae

• Oleaceae

• Onagraceae

• Orchidaceae

• Orobanchaceae

• Oxalidaceae

• Papaveraceae

• Phrymaceae

• Phyllanthaceae

• Plantaginaceae

• Plumbaginaceae

• Polemoniaceae

• Polygalaceae

• Polygonaceae

• Pontederiaceae

• Portulacaceae

• Potamogetonaceae

• Primulaceae

• Ranunculaceae

• Resedaceae

• Rhamnaceae

• Rosaceae

• Rubiaceae

• Ruppiaceae

• Rutaceae

• Salicaceae

• Santalaceae

• Sapindaceae

• Sarcobataceae

• Saururaceae

• Saxifragaceae

• Scrophulariaceae

• Simaroubaceae

• Smilacaceae

• Solanaceae

• Tamaricaceae

• Typhaceae

• Ulmaceae

• Urticaceae

• Verbenaceae

• Viburnaceae

• Violaceae

• Vitaceae

• Zygophyllaceae

Graminoids
There are species of graminoid, flowering plants with a grass like growth habit, in 3 plant families that are recorded by botanical sources as growing in Colorado as of 2023. The table follows POWO for the scientific names of plants and their distribution with the exception of where Jennifer Ackerfield's Flora of Colorado is cited for information about distribution in Colorado. The state statuses are from NatureServe where available. Information about introduced status is POWO when there is no citation and following Ackerfield when there is a separate citation. Introduced plants are marked with an "I" in the last column and highlighted in green.

Edemic plants of Colorado
There are species of plant that have a natural range restricted to Colorado (endemic).

This table shows the species of plant that are nearly endemic to the state of Colorado. Plants that have more than half of their natural range in Colorado as reported by USDA PLANTS or other sources as noted.