This is a list of plants that are endemic to the Appalachian Mountains of North America.
Significance The Appalachian Mountains of Eastern North America are a biodiversity hotspot. Like other mountains, the Appalachians have high rates of endemism because they create isolated "islands" of unique habitat conditions distant from other, similar habitats. The high elevations of the Appalachians functioned as refugia at the end of the last ice age, and house many relict taxa that were more widespread in Southeastern North America when the climate was cooler. Together with the rugged, heterogenous topography and mild, wet climate, these factors make the Appalachians one of the most biodiverse temperate regions in the world.
List Abies fraseri - Fraser fir.Endemic to high elevations of the Appalachian mountains.
Aconitum reclinatum - trailing white monkshood.
Actaea podocarpa - mountain bugbane.
Ageratina luciae-brauniae - endemic to sandstone rockhouses in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Ageratina roanensis
Allium allegheniense
Allium keeverae
Allium oxyphilum
Ambrosia porcheri- exists only in Pickens County and Greenville County of South Carolina.
Amorpha glabra - Appalachian indigo-bush. It grows in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Anemone minima - tiny anemone.
Angelica triquinata
Astilbe crenatiloba
Blephilia subnuda
Borodinia serotina- shale-barrens rockcress. It is found only in Virginia and West Virginia.
Boykinia aconitifolia
Bryodesma tortipilum - twisted-hair spikemoss, found only in a narrow range from western North Carolina to north Georgia.
Buckleya distichophylla- piratebush. It is a hemiparasitic shrub that is only found in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
Calamagrostis cainii
Campanula divaricata- small bonny bellflower.
Cardamine clematitis
Cardamine flagellifera
Cardamine micranthera- small-anther bittercress, found only in Virginia and North Carolina.
Cardamine rotundifolia
Carex aestivalis
Carex austrocaroliniana
Carex austrolucorum
Carex biltmoreana
Carex fraseriana
Carex fumosimontana
Carex manhartii
Carex misera
Carex radfordi
Carex roanensis
Carex ruthii
Clematis addisoni
Clematis albicoma
Clematis coactilis
Clematis morefieldii
Clematis terminalis
Clematis vinacea
Clematis viticaulis - Millboro leather flower. It is found only in Bath, Augusta, and Rockbridge counties of the U.S. state of Virginia.
Clethra acuminata- mountain pepperbush.
Clinopodium talladeganum
Clintonia umbellulata- white clintonia. It is found in the Appalachian mountains, from as far south as Georgia to as far north as New York.
Conradina verticillata
Convallaria pseudomajalis - American lily-of-the-valley. It is found in the Southern Appalachians, in mountain forests at elevations between 700 and 1,500 feet.
Convolvulus sericatus
Corallorhiza bentleyi -Bentley's coralroot. It is found only in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.
Coreopsis latifolia
Crataegus austromontana
Crataegus buckleyi
Crataegus pallens
Cuscuta rostrata
Dicentra eximia
Dichanthelium appalachiense
Diervilla rivularis
Diervilla sessilifolia
Diphylleia cymosa
Draba ramosissima- branched draba or rocktwist. It is found in the central area of the southern Appalachian mountains, mainly on rocky outcrops of limestone or mafic rocks.
Eriogonum alleni
Eubotrys recurva- mountain fetterbush. It is common at higher elevations of the southern Appalachian mountains.
Eutrochium steelei - Appalachian Joe Pye weed.
Eurybia chlorolepis - Mountain wood aster. It is found in the red spruce-Fraser fir forests of the high elevation Appalachian mountains.
Eurybia saxicastelli- Rockcastle aster. It is found only in Tennessee and Kentucky.
Eurybia surculosa
Galium latifolium
Gaylussacia orocola
Gaylussacia ursina
Gentiana austromontana- Appalachian gentian. It is found only in mountainous areas of West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, with populations in Roan Mountain State Park and Cherokee National Forest.
Gentiana decora
Gentiana latidens
Geocarpon cumberlandensis
Geum geniculatum
Geum radiatum
Glyceria nubigena
Gymnocarpium appalachianum - Appalachian oakfern.
Helianthus glaucophyllus
Heuchera aceroides
Heuchera alba
Heuchera villosa
Hexastylis chueyi
Hexastylis contracta
Hexastylis heterophylla
Hexastylis rhombiformis
Hexastylis ruthii
Hexastylis shuttleworthii
Houstonia montana
Houstonia serpyllifolia
Hudsonia montana
Hydrangea radiata
Hydrophyllum atranthum
Hymenophyllum tayloriae
Hypericum buckleyi
Hypericum graveolens
Hypericum mitchelianum
Ilex collina- Hill Holly or longstalk holly. It is found at high elevations in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Ilex montana
Iliamna corei
Isoetes tennesseensis
Isotrema macrophyllum
Krigia montana
Leptogramma burksiorum
Leucothoe fontanesiana
Liatris helleri- Heller's blazing star. It grows only on high rocky cliffs and grassy balls of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
Lilium grayi- Gray's lily.
Magnolia fraseri
Marshallia grandiflora (Presumed extinct)
Marshallia mohrii
Marshallia pulchra
Meehania cordata
Melanthium parviflorum
Micranthes careyana
Micranthes caroliniana
Micranthes micranthidifolia
Monarda austroappalachiana
Monarda brevis
Nabalus cylindricus
Nabalus roanensis
Narthecium montanum (presumed extinct in North Carolina)
Neottia smalli
Oenothera argillicola
Oenothera glauca
Oenothera hybrida
Orbexilum macrophyllum (possibly extinct)
Packera antennarifolia
Packera millefolium
Packera serpenticola
Packera schweinitziana
Paronychia argyrocoma
Paxistima canbyi
Penstemon kralii
Penstemon smallii
Phacelia fimbriata - fringed phacelia. It is found only in the southern Appalachian mountains, at elevations above 3,500 feet.
Phlox buckleyi
Phlox stolonifera
Pieris floribunda
Pityopsis ruthii
Pinus pungens
Platanthera shriveri Platanus occidentalis
Polymnia johnbeckii
Pycnanthemum beadlei - Beadle's mountainmint, found only in the Southern Appalachian mountains.
Pycnanthemum montanum
Pyrularia pubera
Ranunculus allegheniensis
Rhododendron carolinianum
Rhododendron catawbiense
Rhododendron cumberlandense
Rhododendron pilosum
Rhododendron smokianum
Rhododendron vaseyi
Ribes rotundifolium
Rudbeckia truncata
Rugelia nudicaulis
Sagittaria fasciculata
Sagittaria secundifolia
Sarracenia jonesii
Sarracenia oreophila
Scirpus ancistrochaetus
Scutellaria montana
Sedum glaucophyllum
Sedum nevii
Shortia brevistyla
Shortia galacifolia
Silphium wasiotense
Sisyrinchium dichotomum
Spiraea corymbosa
Spiraea virginiana
Solidago albopilosa
Solidago arenicola
Solidago faucibus
Solidago curtissii
Solidago glomerata
Solidago harrisii
Solidago lancifolia
Solidago roanensis
Solidago simulans
Solidago spithamaea
Stachys appalachiana
Stachys clingmanii
Stachys eplingii
Stachys glandulosissima
Stachys latidens
Stachys nelsonii
Stachys subcordata - Blue Ridge hedgenettle.
Steironema gramineum
Stenanthium diffusum
Synandra hispidula
Symphyotrichum retroflexum
Symphyotrichum rhiannon
Symphyotrichum schistosum
Taenidia montana - mountain parsley. It is found only in the mountains of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
Thalictrum clavatum
Thalictrum coriaceum
Thalictrum hepaticum
Thermopsis fraxinifolia
Thermopsis villosa
Tiarella austrina
Tiarella nautila
Trautvetteria fonticalcarea
Trillium georgianum
Trillium persistens
Trillium simile
Trillium tennesseense
Tsuga caroliniana
Vaccinium altomontanum- Blue Ridge blueberry. It is found strictly in the high elevations of the Appalachian mountains in a narrow range.
Vaccinium erythrocarpum
Vaccinium hirsutum
Vaccinium simulatum
Viburnum alabamense
Viola appalachiensis - Appalachian violet.
Viola monacanora
Viola tenuisecta
Vittaria appalachiana
Xyris spathifolia
Notes
References