SOME UNDESCRIBED PRAIRIES IN NORTH- 

 EASTERN ARKANSAS 



ROLAND M. HARPER 



College Point, New York 



In The Plant World for February, 1914, attention was called 

 to the large prairies in the alluvial region east of Little Rock, 

 Arkansas, which seem to be unique in several respects. In the 

 latter part of August, 1915, while spending a few days in Craig- 

 head County, 80 or 90 miles northeast of the prairies previously 

 described, I was shown some smaller prairies in the same gen- 

 eral region (the coastal plain west of Crowley's Ridge), which 

 may have had a similar origin, but differ considerably in their 

 vegetation from those of Prairie and adjoining counties. 



The first (fig. 1) is about a mile and a half southwest of Gilker- 

 son (a station on the Cotton Belt Route at the foot of Crowley's 

 Ridge), and is an opening in alluvial hardwood forests, covering 

 only a few acres. The vegetation is fairly dense and about knee- 

 high, but the flora is very meager, the only plants identified at 

 the time being Crotonopsis linearis and Ambrosia hidentata, 

 with a sprinkling of Vernonia fasciculata (?), Baptisia leucantha 

 (?), Aristida sp., Fimbristylis autumnalis, and Diodia teres. Scat- 

 tered around the edges of the opening, and showing plainly in 

 the illustration, are trees of Quercus palustris, while a little 

 farther back in the forest Quercus pagodaefolia, Ulmus alata 

 and Quercus Phellos prevail. Grasses, and plants with wind- 

 distrihuted seeds, are much scarcer than in the average prairie, 

 and the mode of dissemination of the two commonest herbs is 

 not certainly known. Fire is probably a rare occurrence here. 

 In Georgia the Crotonopsis is chiefly cojifined to rock outcrops, 

 where fire is almost impossible, and the Diodia is also found in 

 similar habitats, though more common as a roadside weed.i 



1 In this connection see Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 40: 390 (footnote). August, 

 1913. 



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