Spanning the Southern and Central Appalachians, the Blue Ridge Parkway offers an exceptional glimpse of Appalachian flora, which is world renown for its diversity. Over 1,400 species of vascular plants are known to occur in the park, though this number may approach 2,000 species as the park begins an extensive inventory of all plants and animals. The flora of the Blue Ridge Parkway is diverse for a number of reasons, such as climatic variability, large north-south geographic range, diverse geologic substrate, and many different micro-habitats. Because of the wide range in elevation from high peak to low valley, the park visitor can enjoy a tremendous variety of wildflowers and blooming shrubs throughout the spring, summer, and fall months. While the summer wildflowers are blooming in the valleys, the spectacular spring wildflowers are just beginning to bloom on the high peaks.