image of the lake in Central Park

Flora of Central Park

NYBG Staff and Regina Alvarez

The Flora of Central Park is a collaboration between The New York Botanical Garden, the Central Park Conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The up-to-date botanical inventory will aid on-going restoration, conservation, education and recreation programs and document the flora for scientific, ecological and conservation studies.

Activities include the collection of herbarium specimens, data analysis and public outreach.

Outcomes include the following:

  • A complete inventory of the park, peer-reviewed and published ten years after the previous study
  • Rapid response to threats from emerging invasive plant species
  • Original content for Central Park plant apps
  • Training opportunities for interns, park staff, technicians and citizen-scientists
  • Teaching opportunities for educators at all levels
  • A website with photographs, maps, voucher specimens and collection details
  • A permanently archived set of voucher specimens documenting the flora
  • A complete DNA library of all documented species

The Central Park Conservancy is gratefully acknowledged for their generous financial and technical support.

More information:
Related project: New York City EcoFlora
New York Times: A mission to catalog hidden life in Central Park

  • The Central Park Flora Project recognizes thirty-six zones within the park. Each point on the collection map indicates where a species was collected, not necessarily all the places that species occurs in the Park.

    Central Park is located on the Island of Manhattan (New York County) in southeast New York State. The Park’s 843 acres occupy 5.8 percent of the island.

    Learn More

  • The Project has documented 452 species of flowering plants growing wild in Central Park (as of October 2016).

    Learn More

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