Geographic Regions

There are 71 geographic regions used within the Taxonomic Data Center.  These include the 50 states and the District of Columbia of the United States, Puerto Rico, a commonwealth in union with the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States, as well as Nassau Island, a US possession in the Caribbean.  Canada is also included and is divided into 15 regions.  The Danish possession of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) and the French province of St. Pierre and Miquelon (islands off the south coast of the Island of Newfoundland) are also included.  In keeping with customary Canadian botanical usage, there are two instances where major political subdivisions are further divided for the purpose of showing distributions.  They are (1) the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, where the offshore portion of the province (the Island of Newfoundland) is indicated separately from the mainland portion of the province (Labrador); and (2) Canada’s Northwest Territories, here treated as the three administrative districts of Keewatin, Mackenzie, and Franklin.