From the FNA site "Scope of the Work - Flora
of North America North of Mexico is a synoptic floristic account of the
plants of North America north of Mexico: the continental United States
of America (including the Florida Keys and Aleutian
Islands), Canada, Greenland (Kalâtdlit-Nunât), and St. Pierre and
Miquelon. The flora is intended to serve both as a means of identifying
plants within the region and as a systematic conspectus of
the North American flora. "
In a talk with one of the authors I recall the rationale for excluding Mexico was the number of species still being discovered there and that including it would add another 10,000 + species. Given that the work is mostly volunteer it would be insensible to expect an author to not only be familiar with plants native to the US, but also include the species in Mexico. They do mention the number of spp in Mexico like FOC does in Asia. The treatments on Quercus, Pinus, Zephyranthes, Allium, Penstemon, Hymenocallis, Manfreda, Arisaema, Mitchella, and so on would be very useful to collectors, but not to botanists or wildflower enthusiasts in general. There are many shared relationships between the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala and the southeastern US in many areas besides the flowering plants such as the bryoflora, animals, and fungi.
Aaron Knoxville, TN
--- On Fri, 3/26/10, Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote:
From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
Subject: [pbs] Flora of North America
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Friday, March 26, 2010, 1:02 PM
At 02:19 PM 3/25/2010, you wrote:
>"The Flora of North America seems to stop at the Mexico-USA border.
>Where are all our experts when you need one?"
We had a talk about the Flora of North America at our native plant
society December meeting by one of the women who was instrumental in
starting this project and is still working on it. Most of the work is
being done by volunteers. They probably had their hands full without
including Mexico. It's a very large project that is taking a long
time. I came away from her talk impressed with all the time these
dedicated people were spending and that years later many of the
original volunteers were still involved. She is currently out of town
but when she gets back I'll ask her why Mexico was not included.
Once again I'll give a plug to Jane McGary's (editor) Bulbs of North
America which although it mainly deals with bulbs from Canada and the
United States does include some Mexican plants as well.
Mary Sue