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We found 126 references to the effects of fire on 172 federally listed plants (26% of the plant species in these categories) and 36 references to the effects of fire on other rare plants (including some C2 plants). Of the total of 165 references, 39 are unpublished documents and 9 are personal communications. The albeit limited number of references revealed that the number of relevant articles has been increasing since the 19708 and most rapidly since the late 1980s (Table 1). We found only three articles on threatened, endangered, or C 1 species that were published before 1980. After 1980, the number of pertinent studies increased, probably in response to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P,L. 93-205 [87 stat. 884]) and the subsequent development of recovery plans. The total number of publications was greater in the 19908 (57) than in the 1980s (33). We also compared the number of references describing the effects of fire on endan- gered, threatened, and category-one plants in each state with the number of plant species in these categories currently or historically occurring in each state (Table 2; Figs. 1 and 2). Although the preservation and management of botani- cal diversity requires an understanding of the relation of fire to plants, the variety of responses documented in this bibliography suggests that the role of fire in creating, maintaining, and destroying rare plants and their habitats can be complex and elusive. For ,xample, long-term moni- toring is necessary to establish the role of fire in succession and other vegetative processes (Owen and Rosentreter 1992; *Sutter 1994; D. Soblo, The Nature Conservancy, Columbia, South Carolina, personal communication); a minimum of 3 years may be needed to study and predict rare plant population dynamics (Menges 1986); and fire intensity, extent of burn, and season of burn must be measured to determine the variability of fire behavior (Pavlovic 1994). Fires may be detrimental to some species in spring but beneficial in summer or fall or vice versa (*Lesica 1992; D. Gori, The Nature Conservancy, Tucson, EFPECfS OF FiRE ON THREATENED AND ENDANGERED PLANTs 3 Arizona,.personal communication). Similarly, anthropo- genic disturbances, such as mowing or grazing, can mimic a historical fire regime if they occur with the correct frequency and intensity but can also be destructive (Pavlovic 1994). Some authors (Campbell et at. 1991; Hardin and White 1992; *Gordon 1992a, 1992b) simply stated that a plant species occurs in a fire-adapted community. Be- cause fire occurs in nearly aU terrestrial environments at some time or another, we suspect that information about the effects of fire on plant communities may be important for the general management of endangered species. Al- though all plants are adapted to environmental stresses, plant morphology may provide additional information about adaptation to fire. For example, species with thick bark, hard-coated seeds, or fire-resistant foliage may benefit from fire during part of their life cycles (Agee 1994). For each bibliographic entry, we summarized the in- formation on the effects of fire, unless an abstract or other written summary was available. The nature of each summary is identified as AA (author's abstract of the publication), PA (partial abstract of the publication), AS (researcher's summary of the unpublished material), or PS (researcher's partial summary of the unpublished material). The absence of a designation denotes our summary of a publication, unpublished material, or re- cord. Additionally, we summarized the available informa- tion on the effects of fire on the species covered by this bibliography in a table that lists each species, its status, associated references, and known or suspected responses to fire (Table 3). This summary is not a comprehensive listing of rare species affected by fire, and the listed responses are not meant to be definitive information on the effects of fire on species. We refer readers to the original sources for more detailed information, Table 1. Number of references by year and decade to the effects of fire on federally listed endangered, threatened, or category-one plants. Decade Sources Year Pre 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994" 19705 19705 1980s 1990s Printed articles 0 2 4 9 4 4 3 4 3 9 16 12 14 6 2 33 57 including government publications Unpublished 2 2 0 2 7 6 5 6 20 papers Personal 6 6 communication Total 2 4 9 4 4 4 6 5 9 18 19 20 18 2 39 84 a Exclusive of references that became available after 31 August.