The vascular flora and plant communities of Lawther-Deer Park Prairie, Harris County, Texas, U.S.A.

Authors

  • Jason R. Singhurst Wildlife Diversity Program and Landscape Ecology Program, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
  • Jeffrey N. Mink
  • Katy Emde Houston Chapter of Native Prairie Association of Texas
  • Lan Shen Houston Chapter of Native Prairie Association of Texas
  • Don Verser Houston Chapter of Native Prairie Association of Texas
  • Walter C. Holmes Department of Biology, Baylor University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v12.i2.976

Abstract

Field studies at the Lawther - Deer Park Prairie Preserve, an area of approximately 21 ha (51 acres) of the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes vegetation area, have resulted in a description of the vegetation associations and an annotated checklist of the vascular flora. Six plant community associations occur on the property: (1) the Upper Texas Coast Ingleside Sandy Wet Prairie; (2) Eastern Gamagrass - Switchgrass - Yellow Indiangrass Herbaceous Vegetation; (3) Gulf Cordgrass Herbaceous Vegetation; (4) Texas Gulf Coast Live Oak - Sugarberry Forest; (5) Little Bluestem - Slender Bluestem - Big Bluestem Herbaceous Vegetation, and (6) Natural Depressional Ponds. The checklist includes 407 species belonging to 247 genera and 86 families. Forty-six species are non-native. The best-represented families (with species number following) are Poaceae (84), Asteraceae (68), Cyperaceae (33), and Fabaceae (19). West Gulf Coastal Plain (eastern Texas and western Louisiana) endemics include Helenium drummondii, Liatris acidota, Oenothera lindheimeri, and Rudbeckia texana. One Texas endemic, Chloris texensis, a Species of Greater Conservation Need, is present. Other noteworthy species are Andropogon capillipes, Digitaria texana, and Platanthera nivea.

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Published

2018-11-20

How to Cite

Singhurst, J. R., Mink, J. N., Emde, K., Shen, L., Verser, D., & Holmes, W. C. (2018). The vascular flora and plant communities of Lawther-Deer Park Prairie, Harris County, Texas, U.S.A. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 12(2), 721–733. https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v12.i2.976