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Plant Diversity by State and Province
Traditionally, biologists have measured plant-species diversity by counting the number of native or indigenous species in a particular area. Native species are those that have become distributed across the landscape in response to climatic episodes and adaptation to site conditions and related land formations. In North America, natives are generally defined as plants that occurred here just prior to European settlement; this distinction is made because of the large-scale changes in the flora that have resulted since that time and the accompanying introduction of nonnative plants.
The following is a list of the estimated numbers of native species of vascular plants in North America north of Mexico. The data was provided by Dr. John Kartesz of the Biota of North America Program of the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
| State, territory, or province | Native species |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 3000 |
| Alaska | 1368 |
| Arizona | 3600 |
| Arkansas | 2263 |
| California | 5589 |
| Colorado | 2667 |
| Connecticut | 1914 |
| Delaware | 1756 |
| Florida | 3285 |
| Georgia | 3127 |
| Hawaii | 1504 |
| Idaho | 2451 |
| Illinois | 2379 |
| Indiana | 2151 |
| Iowa | 1685 |
| Kansas | 1807 |
| Kentucky | 2124 |
| Louisiana | 2494 |
| Maine | 1778 |
| Maryland | 2323 |
| Massachusetts | 2116 |
| Michigan | 2188 |
| Minnesota | 1865 |
| Mississippi | 2407 |
| Missouri | 2190 |
| Montana | 2247 |
| Nebraska | 1596 |
| Nevada | 2909 |
| New Hampshire | 1686 |
| New Jersey | 2276 |
| New Mexico | 3377 |
| New York | 2527 |
| North Carolina | 2939 |
| North Dakota | 1219 |
| Ohio | 2148 |
| Oklahoma | 2399 |
| Oregon | 3212 |
| Pennsylvania | 2372 |
| Rhode Island | 1490 |
| South Carolina | 2638 |
| South Dakota | 1516 |
| Tennessee | 2444 |
| Texas | 4663 |
| Utah | 2976 |
| Vermont | 1723 |
| Virginia | 2730 |
| Washington | 2484 |
| West Virginia | 1914 |
| Wisconsin | 1969 |
| Wyoming | 2302 |
| Puerto Rico | 2453 |
| Virgin Islands | 1028 |
| Alberta | 1676 |
| British Columbia | 2386 |
| District of Franklin | 346 |
| District of Keewatin | 536 |
| District of MacKenzie | 1035 |
| Greenland | 520 |
| Labrador | 767 |
| Manitoba | 1407 |
| New Brunswick | 1295 |
| Newfoundland | 1068 |
| Nova Scotia | 1255 |
| Ontario | 2356 |
| Prince Edward Island | 794 |
| Quebec | 2065 |
| Saskatchewan | 1309 |
| St. Pierre-et-Miquelon | 531 |
| Yukon Territory | 1081 |