The Great Basin Floristic Province[1] is a floristic province of the Madrean Subkingdom (floristic region), in the Boreal Kingdom (floristic kingdom).[1] It is located in the Western United States.
A floristic province (otherwise known as a phytochorion) is a concept defined by Ronald Good, in 1947, and refined by Armen Takhtajan, in 1986. A phytochorion is a region on earth that has a relative constant composition of plants. Takhtajan defined the Great Basin Floristic Province to extend well beyond the boundaries of the hydrographically defined Great Basin: it includes the Snake River Plain, the Colorado Plateau, the Uinta Basin, and parts of Arizona north of the Mogollon Rim. The Great Basin phytochorion is distinguished by the presence of Great Basin sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), and saltbushes in genus Atriplex.[2]
^ abLentz, David L., ed. (2000). Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian Americas. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11157-6. Retrieved 2010-09-06. The southern border of the Great Basin Province is marked by the replacement of sagebrush by Larrea and Ambrosia (creosote bush and ragweed) … floras of arid regions [within the Madrean Subkingdom] are excluded and treated with either the Boreal Subkingdom (Great Basin Province) or with the Neotropical Kingdom (Mexican Xerophylic [Sonoran] Region).
^Thorne, Robert F. "Phytogeography of North America North of Mexico". Archived from the original on 2004-03-17.