Ten areas in the southern Appalachians surpass 5,500 ft (1,680 m), with maximum elevation ranging from 5,520 ft (1,682 m) to 6,684 ft (2,037 m). These high elevation areas might be viewed as a series of high elevation islands of northern community types. A total vascular flora of 342 species has been documented for these areas, with species richness on the separate areas positively correlated with size of the area, number of peaks, maximum elevation, and number of community types present. Rare species categories were more strongly correlated with area than was total species richness. A log/log plot of the species-area relations for the eight largest areas had a slope of .28 (similar to values reported for insular areas) when all ten areas were included the slope was .12 (similar to values reported for continental areas). The two smallest areas (Mt. Pisgah and Whitetop) had higher species richness than predicted from their size alone. An hypothesis is developed that explains this pattern and the patchy distribution of rare plants among the ten areas.