Missouri Exotic Pest Plants

Adding a specimen to our database

If a species is present in a county not indicated on our distribution map, we would like to update our database. We need a voucher specimen before we can alter the distribution map. All current distributions are taken from Steyermark's 1963 (blue dots), and 1999 (dark green dots) floras of Missouri. All new county distributions submitted to this page will be marked by red dots on the map of the counties, with voucher information (including your name, unless you request otherwise) listed on map page.

A voucher specimen is easy to make:

--collect a piece of the plant (10" x 18" or less) with flowers or fruit (this helps with species determination)

--press the specimen in newspaper

--dry it enough to avoid molding (we can do the final drying)

--mark your name and collection number on the outside of the newspaper. Inside the newspaper include a slip of paper with the following information:

Date; species; location (a good enough description that someone else could find the site using only the label information), GPS coordinates (not required, but very helpful), and your name and collection number (#1 is fine if you are new to field collecting). See example. Ship to the address below.

We will verify the identity of the specimen and deposit it in the Missouri Botanical Garden herbarium (MO). Sorry, specimens cannot be returned.

Please send plants to: