Recognition of the value of native plants continues to grow. Senate Resolution 109 of the 117th Congress, which designates April 2021 as National Native Plant Month, passed with bipartisan support on March 25. The resolution “recognizes the benefits of native plants to the environment and economy of the United States.” See Text – S.Res.109 – 117th Congress (2021-2022) for the full resolution and the actions taken for passage.
What is a native plant? The resolution states that “native plants are indigenous species that have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, and habitat.”
On its Why Native Plants Matter webpage, the National Audubon Society defines native plants as “those that occur naturally in a region in which they evolved.”
According to the Native Plants webpage of the National Wildlife Federation, “A plant is considered native if it has occurred naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or habitat without human introduction.”
And under the Frequently Asked Questions section of The PLANTS Database, from the United States Department of Agriculture, the response is that “In PLANTS, native means naturally occurring at the time of Columbus. Introduced plants arrived later, invariably with human assistance, from some other part of the world.”
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