Document Type

Research

Keywords

Starr's Cave State Preserve, Iowa flora, floristic comparison, forest communities, prairie opening community

Abstract

Starr's Cave State Preserve is a 140 acre tract of wooded bottomlands and limestone bluffs along Flint Creek in Des Moines County, southeastern Iowa. The vascular flora of the preserve was inventoried in 1975-79. This flora consists of 339 species in 79 families. Several rare species of southern and Ozarkian distribution occur here, including four species whose status in Iowa is threatened: blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), winged monkey-flower (Mimulus alatus), winter grape (Vitis cinerea), and pagoda mint (Blephila ciliata). Twelve plant communities are found within the preserve, including 5 forest communities, 3 disturbance communities, 2 limestone exposure communities, a prairie opening community, and a streambank community. A quantitative comparison with the floras of 3 physiographically similar preserves in northern Iowa showed a 40-44% similarity among these northern preserves, and a 35-37% similarity between each of these and Starr's Cave.

Publication Date

December 1980

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

Issue

First Page

148

Last Page

158

Copyright

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Lammers, Thomas G. (1980) "The Vascular Flora of Starr's Cave State Preserve," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 87(4), 148-158.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol87/iss4/11

Download

Comments?

COinS

The Vascular Flora of Starr's Cave State Preserve

Authors