Although simple, they can serve many purposes. They can stimulate others to point out the omissions, preferably by depositing specimens of additional species in a nearby herbarium and informing the keeper of the checklist of the addition. They can challenge individuals to learn more species as they try to see every species on a list. They can be used to compare the species diversity and similarity of two regions or trails. The validity of any checklists depends on its reliablity and completeness.
Completeness is harder to judge.
Those connected to this page are known to be incomplete. The county level checklists are based on the first edition of Welsh et al. and do not take into account the additions included in the second edition, nor specimens in the Intermountain Herbarium. The trail checklists were compiled by students in a class during the summer of 1998. These students were taking their first plant identification class and, not unnaturally, focussed on the conspicuously flowering species. The student identifications have been verified and the documenting specimens will be deposited in the herbarium later this summer.