Native plant is a term to describe plants endemic (indigenous) or naturalized to a given area in geologic time.
This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area (e.g. trees, flowers, grasses, and other plants). In North America a plant is often deemed native if it was present before colonization.
Some native plants have adapted to very limited, unusual environments or very harsh climates or exceptional soil conditions. Although some types of plants for these reasons exist only within a very limited range (endemism), others can live in diverse areas or by adaptation to different surroundings.
Research has found that insects depend on native plants.
Read more about Native Plant: Environmental Conditions, Native Plant Movement
Famous quotes containing the words native and/or plant:
“Would it not be worth while to discover nature in Milton? be native to the universe? I, too, love Concord best, but I am glad when I discover, in oceans and wildernesses far away, the material of a million Concords: indeed, I am lost, unless I discover them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Evolution was in a strange mood when that creation came along.... It makes one wonder just where the plant world leaves off and the animal world begins.”
—John Colton (1886–1946)