Reviews the current status of plant conservation in the southwestern U.S., citing specific cases from surveys, and genetic, demographic, and ecological studies. In addition, broad issues affecting the paradigms of conservation of rare plants species in an ecosystem management context are reviewed. Contents: public involvement in plant conservation; demography; genetics; issues concerning rarity and preserving biodiversity; reproductive and pollination biology; autecology; strategies for protection in an ecosystem context; and surveys and monitoring. 40 papers. Illus.

These contributed papers review current research findings related to the demographic, monitoring, reintroduction, ecological and genetic studies done on southwestern rare plant species.

Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Sept. 25-28, 2000, at Flagstaff, AZ. The conference convened more than 150 individuals working for state, federal, academic, and private agencies. This report includes some of the 51 oral and poster presentations given at the conference. They are organized by theme: plant conservation strategies in the Southwest; demography and monitoring; autoecology, ecology, and genetics; threats to rare plants; and factors influencing the distribution of rare plants. Illustrated with tables, graphs, and photos.

Unusual soils, compared to surrounding common soils, act as edaphic habitat islands and often harbor rare plants. These edaphic elements can be disjuncts or endemics. Two rare wild buckwheats from southeastern Arizona that grow on Tertiary lacustrine lakebed deposits have been found to be a disjunct, and an endemic. Eriogonum apachense from the Bylas area is determined to be a disjunct expression of E. heermannii var. argense, a Mojave Desert taxon from northern Arizona and adjacent California and Nevada, not a distinct endemic species. At a historical location of E. apachense near Vail, Arizona, a new species of Eriogonum, also in subgenus Eucycla, was discovered growing on mudstones of the Oligocene Pantano Formation. It was also recently found on outcrops of the Plio-Pleistocene Saint David Formation above the San Pedro River near Fairbank, Arizona.