Florida Mountains

This portion of the site is devoted to the effort to document the flora of the Florida Mountains and surrounding areas in central Luna County, New Mexico. This geologically complex range is one of several sky islands in the southwestern part of the state, each with its own interesting flora. Despite its location in the northern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert, the range contains a fascinating diversity of plants with more than 600 species documented thus far. The flora of the range has been defined primarily through the efforts of Richard Worthington from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) who collected in the area forty-seven times between 1973 and 1997. His collections are summarized in his Inventory of the Flora of the Florida Mountains, Luna County, New Mexico; El Paso Southwest Botanical Miscellany No. 4 (1998). Moss (24), Liverwort (3), and Lichen (57) populations were included.

Over the past nine years our efforts in Deming have been directed towards expanding the number of species recognized and photographing as much of the flora as possible. Currently, the fern flora is well defined and about one-third of the angiosperm flora is represented on the site. Field work continues.


Alphabetical By Species

By Family