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The Washington Natural Heritage Program (WNHP) has developed six categories to describe the endangerment status of state-rare plants. The categories include Endangered, Threatened, Sensitive, Possibly Extirpated from or Extinct in Washington, Review, and Watch. The first four categories are intended to convey the relative degree of threat that individual taxa are under in Washington and, consequently, the level of concern and protection each should receive (WNHP 1997). The latter two categories replace the combined Monitor lists of earlier years. Definitions of the categories (WNHP 1997) are listed below:

• Endangered. This status is assigned to each vascular plant taxon in danger of becoming extinct or extirpated in Washington within the near future if factors contributing to its decline continue. Populations of these taxa are at critically low levels or their habitats have been degraded or depleted to a significant degree.

• Threatened. This status is assigned to each vascular plant taxon that is likely to become endangered in Washington within the near future if factors contributing to its population decline or habitat degradation or loss continue.

• Sensitive. This status is assigned to each vascular plant taxon that is vulnerable or declining and could become endangered or threatened in the state without active management or removal of threats.

• Possibly Extinct or Extirpated in Washington. Based on recent field searches a number of plant taxa are considered to be possibly extinct or extirpated from Washington. Taxa in this group are all high priorities for field investigation. If found, they will be evaluated and assigned to an appropriate status category.

• Review. This category consists of two groups of taxa from which more information is needed to accurately assess their status. Group 1 includes taxa for which more field work is needed to assess their rarity and the degree to which they are threatened. Group 2 includes taxa with unresolved taxonomic questions. The WNHP is actively seeking information (both site-specific and species-specific) on these taxa.

• Watch. This status is assigned to each vascular plant taxon that is more abundant and/or less threatened in Washington than previously assumed. Although the WNHP does not focus on these taxa, information about them is still gathered and stored in our information system.

Included in the tables below is the federal endangerment status of each species. Many of the species designated as endangered or threatened in Washington state are also listed as endangered, threatened, or a species of concern by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Definitions of these federal categories are:

• Endangered. A species may be classified for protection as "endangered" when it is in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

• Threatened. A "threatened" classification is provided to those animals and plants likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of their ranges.

• Concern. This category is intended to be composed of species whose conservation standing is of concern to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but for which status information is still needed.

• Candidate. A candidate species is one in which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has sufficient information on file to consider for listing as threatened or endangered.

ENDANGERED WASHINGTON TAXA
 

Scientific Name	Common Name	Federal Status	Global Distribution
Artemisia campestris ssp. borealis (Asteraceae)	northern wormwood	Concern	OR, WA
Aster jessicae (Asteraceae)	Jessica's aster	Concern	ID, WA
Astragalus pulsiferae (Fabaceae)	Ames' milk-vetch	Concern	CA, WA
Astragalus sinuatus (Fabaceae)	Whited's milk-vetch	Concern	WA
Castilleja levisecta (Scrophulariaceae)	golden paintbrush	Threatened	BC, WA
Cypripedium parviflorum (Orchidaceae)	yellow lady's-slipper	N/A	much of North America
Delphinium leucophaeum (Ranunculaceae)	pale larkspur	Concern	OR, WA
Eriogonum codium (Polygonaceae)	Umtanum desert buckwheat	Concern	WA
Hackelia venusta (Boraginaceae)	showy stickseed	Concern	WA
Lesquerella tuplashensis (Brassicaeae)	Whitebluffs bladderpod	Concern	WA
Liparis loeselii (Orchidaceae)	twayblade	N/A	mostly east of the Rocky Mts; disjunct in WA
Lobelia kalmii (Campanulaceae)	Kalm's lobelia	N/A	CO, ID, MT, WA and northern tier of states, all Canadian Provinces
Lomatium bradshawii (Apiaceae)	Bradshaw's lomatium	Endangered	OR, WA
Lupinus sabinii (Fabaceae)	Sabin's lupine	N/A	OR, WA
Lupinus sulphureus var. kincaidii (Fabaceae)	Kincaid's sulfur lupine	Concern	OR, WA, BC
Oxytropis campestris var. wanapum (Fabaceae)	Wanapum crazyweed	Concern	WA
Rubus nigerrimus (Rosaceae)	northwest raspberry	Concern	WA
Sidalcea hirtipes (Malvaceae)	hairy-stemmed checker-mallow	N/A	OR, WA
Sidalcea nelsoniana (Malvaceae)	Nelson's checker-mallow	Threatened	OR, WA
Sidalcea oregana (Malvacea)	Wenatchee Mt. checker-mallow	Proposed Endangered	WA

THREATENED WASHINGTON TAXA 

Lists of WNHP-designated sensitive, possibly extirpated or extinct, review, and watch species can be found electronically on the WNHP web site.

REFERENCES

Washington Natural Heritage Program (WNHP). 1997. Endangered, Threatened, and Sensitive Vascular Plants of Washington - with Working Lists of Rare Non-Vascular Species. Department of Natural Resources. Olympia.

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