At the presentation, from left: Steve Young (Virginia Native Plant Society), Walter Tejada (Arlington County Board Chairman), and Alan Ford (Virginia Native Plant Society).
Arlington — Steve Young, vice president of the Virginia Native Plant Society’s Potomac chapter, presented a copy of the Flora of Virginia to the Arlington County Board at the Board's Dec. 17 meeting. The Flora of Virginia, published in 2012, is the first comprehensive reference book on Virginia’s plants since 1762. The product of an 11-year effort, the book is nearly 1,600 pages long. It describes 3,164 species of plants native to or naturalized in Virginia.
Co-authors of the book include Chris Ludwig, chief biologist with the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, Alan Weakley, professor of biology at the University of North Carolina, and John Townsend, staff botanist with the Natural Heritage Program.
Other VNPS chapters, as well as individual members, are donating the book to libraries, nature centers, museums, aquaria, and high schools throughout Virginia.
For more information about the Virginia Native Plant Society, visit vnps.org. To learn more about the Flora Project, including how to order a copy of the Flora of Virginia, visit www.floraofvirginia.org.