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The swampbuster provision of the Food Security Act of 1985 requires the Soil Conservation Service to make wetland/converted wetland determinations based on the presence of hydric soils and hydrophytic vegetation. This is necessary to assist the United States Department of Agriculture program agencies in determining producer eligibility for USDA program benefits. The material contained in this illustrated wetland guide will enable persons, regardless of their botanical background, to be able to identify the plants included in this guide.

Three hundred species of vascular plants were chosen for inclusion in this guide after consultation with the Ecological Science and Planning Staff of the Soil Conservation Service Southern Regional Technical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. A decision was made to exclude most species that are true aquatics that live in water, because they are obvious wetland species. Also excluded were those species that most people readily recognize, such as cattail.