Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve (“Buxton Woods”) is a Significant Natural Heritage Area (R1 C1) located on Hatteras Island, Dare County, North Carolina. The site is one of ten reserves within the North Carolina Coastal Reserve system. Comprising approximately 403 ha, the site spans about a third of the largest remaining contiguous tract of Maritime Evergreen Forest (Mid-Atlantic Subtype) on the Atlantic coast and contains the only occurrence of the Maritime Shrub Swamp (Dogwood Subtype) natural community in the world. Buxton Woods is home to six plant communities and numerous rare plant species.

Guide to the Vascular Flora of Buxton Woods is based on the first author’s collections, historical collections, and reports of species from the site. The illustrated guide treats 476 species in 98 families, providing keys to all vouchered or reported species and genera. Habitat, nativity status, flowering and fruiting phenology, and abundance are also incorporated, as well as relevant voucher information. The guide contains 30 color plates and nearly 400 line drawings. This is the fourth volume in a series from the Illustrated Floras of North Carolina Project (North Carolina State University Vascular Plant Herbarium and Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press), designed to be useful to both botanical specialists and a more general audience.