Plants - Threatened And Endangered U.s. Plant Species

Table 11.1 shows the 745 U.S. plant species listed under the Endangered Species Act as of March 2006. The vast majority of the plants (80%) have endangered status, while the other 20% are threatened. Nearly all of the plants have recovery plans in place. Because several species of imperiled plants are often found in the same ecosystem, many recovery plans cover multiple plant species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses four broad categories for plant types—conifers and cycads, ferns and allies, lichens, and flowering plants. A breakdown of listings by type is as follows:

• Conifers and cycads—three species
• Ferns and allies—twenty-six species
• Lichens—two species
• Flowering plants—714 species

Because the status of most plant species has not been studied in detail, many more plants are probably in danger of extinction than appear on these lists.

Just over $21 million was spent under the Endangered Species Act on threatened and endangered plants during fiscal year 2004. The ten plants with the highest expenditures are listed in Table 11.2. Flowering plants accounted for 97% of the total expenditures. Although plants comprise a slight majority of the total number of species listed under the ESA, they receive far less funding than animal species. Expenditures for plant species during fiscal year 2004 amounted to less than 2% of the total $1.4 billion spent that year.