Vascular plants and plant habitats of Brush Creek Island, Lewis County, Kentucky, U.S.A.

Authors

  • Rudolphe A. Gelis Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies, Cosanga, Napo and Biology Department, Berea College
  • Ralph L. Thompson Hancock Biological Station, Murray State University, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and Forestry Department, Berea College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v15.i2.1166

Keywords:

Brush Creek Island, flora, habitats, invasives, Lewis County, Kentucky, Ohio River

Abstract

A descriptive survey of the vascular flora and plant habitats of Brush Creek Island, a 6.7-ha Ohio River island in Lewis County, Kentucky, was conducted during 1995–1996 and 2012. Brush Creek Island (BC), one of three Ohio River islands politically a part of Kentucky, is currently under private ownership and projected as a future part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Two major habitats in 2012 were Vegetated Unconsolidated Shoreline and Bottomland Hardwood Forest, a final sere of Late Old Field and Immature Bottomland Hardwood Forest. Two additional 1996 habitats, a seasonal Riverine Emergent Wetland and Late Old Field, were altered through fluvial action and secondary succession processes by 2012. An annotated list consists of 330 species in 220 genera from 82 families. Taxa are composed of one Monilophyte, four Magnoliids, 76 Monocots, and 249 Eudicots. Ninety-three taxa (28.2%) are non-native adventive or naturalized spe-cies. Forty-eight taxa (54%) are classified as Kentucky invasive plants. A total of 189 species (57.3%) are hydrophytes. Ninety-five native or non-native taxa (28.8%) are Lewis County distribution records.

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Published

2021-12-10

How to Cite

Gelis, R. A. ., & Thompson, R. L. . (2021). Vascular plants and plant habitats of Brush Creek Island, Lewis County, Kentucky, U.S.A. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 15(2), 587–605. https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v15.i2.1166