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NatureServe Explorer

Primary source
NatureServe
A continental conservation-status reference for plants, animals, and ecosystems, publishing per-subnation native flags and conservation ranks (G/N/S) for US states and Canadian provinces via a single-call public JSON API.
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What you'll find here
Per-subnation native vs introduced flag (finer than state-list intersections)
Conservation rank (G/N/S) at global, national, and subnational granularity
Stable elcode + ELEMENT_GLOBAL UID for cross-source pinning
Canadian province coverage symmetric with US state coverage
Specific data we draw from it: native flag per subnation, exotic / introduced flag per subnation, rounded G-Rank / N-Rank / S-Rank, elcode (NatureServe Element Code), ELEMENT_GLOBAL UID, distribution completeness flag.
Good to know
Conservation rank context. S-Ranks (S1 critically imperiled → S5 secure, plus SH/SX historical / extirpated) are state-level conservation status; surface alongside native flag rather than collapsing them together.
Distribution completeness. NatureServe self-reports completeness per record; flag the partial-coverage case in disclosure copy when the field is false.
How to cite this source
Cite the species page via the API-supplied nsxUrl (relative path under https://explorer.natureserve.org). Include retrieval date in the page-citation block.
License
NatureServe Explorer Terms of Use require attribution; factual data (state lists, ranks) is not itself copyrightable, but the data set + species page links back to NatureServe are required. Photos and narrative text on explorer.natureserve.org are NOT ingested by the adapter - only the structured speciesSearch JSON.
Caution
NatureServe data is rank- and presence-oriented, not horticultural - it tells you what grows where, not how to grow it. Pair with NC State Extension or LBJ for cultivation guidance. Native status is a snapshot of post-Columbian distribution per NatureServe methodology; "exotic in vermont, native in connecticut" is real and expected for some species.
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