Vascular flora of J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida, U.S.A.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to collect and document the vascular plant species at the 2104-hectare J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida. Vascular plant species were collected at two-month intervals from May 2014 to October 2017 during which we identified 319 species in 251 genera in 93 families. The Poaceae (41 spp.), Fabaceae (30 spp.), and Asteraceae (33 spp.) were the largest families. The most species rich genera were Euphorbia (8 spp.), Cyperus, Tillandsia (7 spp.), and Ipomoea (6 spp.). Eighty species; 25 percent of the flora, were non-native. One rare species occurred at the study site.