Our Mission
The Pennsylvania Native Plant Society advocates conservation of native plants and their habitats and promotes the increased use of native plants in the landscape.
PNPS Background
The Pennsylvania Native Plant Society had a beginning in 1979, when, through initiatives of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and the Pennsylvania Legislature, a movement was begun to recognize the rare and endangered plants of Pennsylvania and to set up organized efforts to produce a list of such plants and implement legislation for their study and protection. Through the efforts of Paul Wiegman, Edgar T. Wherry and Carl Keener such a list was prepared in 1979 and updated frequently in subsequent years. To facilitate continuous management of data on the Pennsylvania flora and its rare, threatened and endangered components, the Rare Plant Committee was formed of any botanists with special interest in the flora of Pennsylvania who cared to join, and, from its inception, the Rare Plant Committee was designated a committee of the "Pennsylvania Native Plant Society." Membership of the Committee and the Society were the same, and it consisted of volunteers who joined because they had botanical contributions to make or desired to be on a "Pennsylvania botanical information network."
The only meetings were the annual meetings of the Rare Plant Committee, and 8 issues of a newsletter, The Truffula Seed, appeared between 1981 and 1986. General membership in the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society was not solicited until 1993, when a small group of botanically-dedicated Pennsylvanians, recognizing, among other things, the historical importance of Pennsylvania botany, joined together to transform the Society into a general-membership native plant organization which is now a Pennsylvania Non-Profit Corporation with headquarters in State College, Pennsylvania.
PNPS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Click here for a copy of our Bylaws.
What is a native plant?
A native plant is one that occurs naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or habitat without direct or indirect human intervention. We consider the flora present at the time Europeans arrived in North America as the species native to the eastern United States. Native plants include all kinds of plants from mosses and ferns to wildflowers, shrubs, and trees.
Because native plants are adapted to the growing conditions where you live, they are often easier to grow, require less maintenance such as watering, and are less susceptible to challenging conditions than non-native plants. Many Non-native plants are also invasive, and threaten to crowd out our native plant species. Incorporating native plants in your home landscape will encourage birds, pollinators, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
Read more.
Because native plants are adapted to the growing conditions where you live, they are often easier to grow, require less maintenance such as watering, and are less susceptible to challenging conditions than non-native plants. Many Non-native plants are also invasive, and threaten to crowd out our native plant species. Incorporating native plants in your home landscape will encourage birds, pollinators, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
Read more.
