Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 147(1): 94–116, 2020. The Spontaneous Vascular Plant Flora of New York’s Central Park 1 Daniel Atha, 2, 7 Regina V. Alvarez, 3 Ken Chaya, 4 John-Paul Catusco, 5 and Eric Whitaker 6 2 Center for Conservation Strategy, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 3 Science Department, Dominican College, Orangeburg, NY 4 New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 5 Van Cortlandt Park, City of New York Parks and Recreation, Ranaqua, 1 Bronx River Parkway, Bronx, NY 10462 6 Landscape Management Department, Central Park Conservancy, New York City, NY Abstract. This work details the spontaneous vascular plant flora of New York City’s Central Park for the period 2013 to 2017. We divided the 341-ha (843-acre) park into 36 zones and used a modified timed-meander sampling method to collect herbarium specimens and silica-dried samples (for DNA analysis) of spontaneous, naturalized plants. We collected each new species until we ceased to find any species that had not been previously encountered in any zone. We collected 1,468 specimens, representing 438 species and two subspecific taxa from 262 genera and 89 families, and a number of cultivated species not analyzed is this work. We find that 45% of the flora are native (198 species) and 54% (240 species) are nonnative. Three species are of unknown native status (,1%). The largest families are Poaceae (56 species), Asteraceae (55), Rosaceae (27), Fabaceae (20), and Polygonaceae (17). The largest genera are Persicaria (8 species), Carex (7), Acer (7), Cyperus (6), Rubus (6), and Eragrostis (6). Seven species are ranked as rare, threatened, or endangered by New York Natural Heritage Program. Thirty-six species are listed as prohibited or regulated invasive species by New York State. Four species new for New York State were collected in Central Park during this study. We documented 76 additional species since the last inventory of 2007. The percentage of native species has increased by 5% since 2007. The data suggest that management efforts focused on controlling invasive species and planting and supporting native species have been effective. The spontaneous, naturalized flora is 1 We commend the Central Park Conservancy for their exemplary stewardship of Central Park and thank the present and former staff, in particular Douglas Blonsky and Neil Calvanese, as well as the New York Botanical Garden, particularly Gregory Long, for funding and supporting this project. We are grateful to Kelly O’Donnell and Lisa Brundage for organizing the 2013 Macaulay Honors College BioBlitz in Central Park, the event that provided the catalyst for our study. We are grateful to the staffof the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium at NYBG for curating the specimens and online information, including images of the specimens. We thank Meryl Rubin for her technical support with specimen processing and database management. We thank the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation for approval to collect and do research in Central Park. We thank Jelisa Oliveras (NYBG intern) and Marissa Vaccarelli (Fordham intern) for going through the Brooklyn herbarium collection and pulling out all Central Park plants. Thank you to Rob Naczi for determining Sedges, Juncus, and Dichanthelium. We thank Russell Fredericks and John Dillon of the Central Park Conservancy for always being receptive to our recommendations relating to our findings. We thank Matthew Brown and Tina Nelson for directing our attention to additional old Central Park specimens and Richard Kruzansky for taking the time to help us verify the information on those specimens. We also thank computer scientist Yibing Han for developing a collection map used to illustrate and analyze our methods. Thank you to John McBride and Bob Scheuerman for allowing us access to the Central Park Zoo and for accompanying us on a productive and fun day.In addition, we would like to express our appreciation for the keen eyes and good company of our field surveyors, participants of the 2013 Central Park BioBlitz: Aiton Eliach, Alex Hodges, Allan Wong, Amy Gage, Andrea Buteau, Andrea Gaskin, Annie Schwartz, Betsy Marzahn-Ramos, Bill Kearny, Bill Berliner, Bob Weinreb, Bonnie Ralston, Brie Berry, Carlos Alfredo Sa ´nchez, Carry Reed, Chris Krivanek, Chris Madden, Christina Colon, Christine Seita, Christopher Lee, Dan Feeser, Dan Protess, Daniel LaMarca, Deborah Atha, Diane Schaub, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Elizabeth Kaledin, Ella Baron, Eric Kreilick, Erickson Lantigua, Fabrice Rochelemagne, Gregory Stout, Harry Hogan, Huning Zhang, Janna Passuntino, Jasmine Da Costa, Jason Leggett, Jay Wen, Jerry Heinzen, Joe Gamache, John Seirup, Josh Galiley, Julian Campbell, Julie Rankin, Kaitlyn Schwalje, Keiron Lindsay, Kim-Nora Moses, Linda Stillman, Lisa Foderaro, Lisa Kozlowski, Lisa Synoradzki, Marcus Kronforst, Maria Hernandez, Marie Winn, Matthew Wills, Melanie Macchio, Michael Nee, Michael O’Grady, Mimi Gunderson, Molly Lemeris, Molly Rouzie, Nicole Sexton, Pete Provenzale, Raymond Duggan, Rebecca Panko, Richard Abbott, Richard Lieberman, Sandra Bruening, Sara Cedar Miller, Sarah Skubel, Shanna Blanchard, Steve Swanson, Suzanne Charle ´, Taylan Morcol, Terrance Ruane, Terri Carta, Terri Coppersmith, Thomas Hopper, Tim Boyd, Tom Kain, Veronica Lucchese, Virginia Carter, Wallace Wentink, Zihao Wang. 7 Author for correspondence: datha@nybg.org doi 10/3159-TORREY-D-19-00024 ÓCopyright 20XX by the Torrey Botanical Society Received for publication May 22, 2019, and in revised form August 1, 2019; first published February 17, 2020. 94