These have all been bandied about considerably over the past several years, often to justify a specific intent, yet they do have precise meanings that we can agree on when we use them.

The slide below clarifies these terms.

Native=naturally occurring, usually meant in the time that human beings have lived in the area, at least modern human beings.

When most people say native they mean the above. Biologically speaking “native” means either endemic or indigenous- see below.

Some endemic plants are obviously so because they naturally occur(ed) in a very specific place where no other plants could have such as on isolated islands. These plants often have a very striking appearance that differs considerably from anything we take them to be like (ie related to). Island endemism often produces gigantism for example and takes other rapid developments genetically.

Indigenous is naturally native over a large area. Think for example of widespread plants like Aspen, Ponderosa Pine, Western Sage etc. These are all native in the sense that they naturally occur here, and indigenous because they naturally occur elsewhere.

Naturalized is self-explanatory and is most often a result of people moving plants around. Naturalized plants are non-natives and oftentimes are also “escapes “ that can become weedy.

I cannot think of a single endemic tree in Colorado. All of our native trees are indigenous and a few are non-native and naturalized (ie Siberian Elm, Russian Olive, Tamarisk etc.)