The vascular flora and species distribution modeling of two rare species in Cloudland Canyon State Park, Dade and Walker Counties, Georgia

A floristic inventory of Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwestern Georgia was conducted between November 2023 and November 2025. Vascular plant richness was recorded during 52 site visits and was combined with existing herbarium records resulting in the documentation of 665 species and subspecific taxa, representing 361 genera in 122 families. The top three most represented families were Asteraceae (99 taxa; 14.9%), Poaceae (64; 9.6%), and Cyperaceae (52; 7.8%). Twenty-eight rare species were documented, including 10 S1 and 13 S2 species. Two hundred and thirty-four county records were documented with 209 in Dade County and 25 in Walker County. Concurrently with the floristic investigation, species distribution models were created using Maxent for two rare species: Spiraea virginiana (Rosaceae), and Lilium philadelphicum (Lilliaceae). Surveys for the target species at the modeled sites were conducted in Cloudland Canyon State Park, resulting in no new occurrences of the species.