Master's Theses

Department

Biology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

This thesis represents an annotated plant list for a 30,000 acre tract of land located in the northern part of Osage county, Oklahoma, and the very southern extremities of Cowley and Chautauqua counties, Kansas. This area lies in the True Prairie with big and little bluestem (Andropogon gerardi and A. scoparius) as the dominant vegetation. Plant collections were made and plants identified during the summers of 1956 and 1957. The annotations are brief descriptions of the plants which include height, flowering period, flower color, preferred site and measurements of various plant parts which might aid in identification. There are about one-third of the plants illustrated by photographs. These include the most important species of the area. There were 315 species represented in the area. Of these, 19 are tree species. These were distributed among 66 different families and 197 genera. A total of 56 species belonging to the Gramineae represented 18 percent of all species recorded; 52 or 17 percent are Compositae, and 29 or 9 percent are Leguminosae. An estimate of the number of plants per acre based on forb counts taken during the two summers are included in the forb annotations. The most abundant forb on the ranch was western ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya), a rhizomatous perennial, with 67,942 plants per acre. Common broomweed (Gutirrezia dracunculoides) was the most abundant annual forb with 24,444 plants per acre. A herbarium with a representative of each plant found on the ranch was made. This is located at the Phillips Agricultural Demonstration project headquarters on Adams Ranch and will be used by visitors to the project as well as future research workers.

Keywords

Osage County (Okla.), Cowley County (Kan.), Chautauqua County (Kan.), Plants, Prairiess, Trees, Grasses

Advisor

Dr. Gerald Wayne Tomanek

Date of Award

Summer 1958

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

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