The 2008 print edition of Island Life included an extensive treatment of the flora of Martha’s Vineyard. But in the intervening years, plant taxonomy and nomenclature have changed significantly. And our knowledge of the plant life of the Vineyard has expanded with the discovery of a number of species previously unknown here. Fortunately, our partner organization the Polly Hill Arboretum has undertaken an ambitious program to study and document the island’s flora, searching for new species, documenting known ones, refreshing historical records, and building and curating a state-of-the-art herbarium collection that will be an invaluable resource for generations of naturalists and biologists.

Rather than attempting to update the material from the original Island Life, we have been invited to link to Polly Hill’s own flora web page. You can use the buttons below to access their site, as well as a searchable catalog of herbaria specimens (with digitized specimen photos) maintained by the Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria.

Links in the sidebar to the left will take you to the plant material from the original Island Life, including a magisterial essay on Vineyard flora supplied by the late Stephen Spongberg and an essay of Vineyard mosses by Dr. Norton G. Miller. Although we have not updated this material to reflect new discoveries or current taxonomy, it remains valuable to the general naturalist or the student of Vineyard plant life.