Vascular Plants

Lake Thoreau is home to a multitude of plant species, with over 550 species currently identified and catalogued in the USM Herbarium in the Biological Sciences Collections Building at Lake Thoreau. USM biology faculty members and graduate students are still continuing to find species and add them to the collection, which we estimate is well over 570 species.

Danielle Cotton, a USM Master's student, completed the first species list of the vascular plants found at Lake Thoreau in 2010.  Since then, frequent prescribed fires have transformed the longleaf pine understories and over 200 additional species have been found.  Dr. Mike Davis, Dr. Mac Alford, and Master's student, Will McFarland, recently published the Lake Thoreau flora in the Journal of the Botanical Institute of Texas.  

Lake Thoreau Vascular Plant Species List