When it’s finished, the Flora of Virginia Project will provide something lacking since Jamestown was settled—a comprehensive guidebook that describes and illustrates the state’s approximately 3,700 native flowers, trees, ferns, shrubs, grasses, and vines.

Native species occur in the region in which they evolved. Plants develop over geologic time in response to the climate, soils, rainfall, drought and frost of a region and their interactions with other species in the area.  Alien species are not original members of the regional flora. They are usually brought in from distant regions and could have a detrimental effect on their new landscape. In some cases, alien plants become invasive, displacing native species and disturbing the cycles of insects and other creatures that rely on native plants for food and shelter.