2004 THE MICHIGAN BOTANIST 137 FLORA AND VEGETATION OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN Duane D. McKenna Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology Harvard University 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 [email protected] Perennial lupine, Lupinus perennis, in remnant oak savanna along a railroad right-of-way in Portage Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. 138 THE MICHIGAN BOTANIST Vol. 43 CONTENTS PURPOSE...............................................................................................138 PREFACE...............................................................................................139 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................140 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................140 Landscape & Climate ....................................................................140 Human History & Vegetation Patterns ..........................................141 History of Botanical Exploration...................................................141 METHODS.............................................................................................145 Overview........................................................................................145 Frequency & Distribution..............................................................147 Current Status ................................................................................147 Plant Communities.........................................................................148 Native vs. Non-native Plants .........................................................149 THE FLORA OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY .......................................150 Synopsis .........................................................................................150 Rare Species...................................................................................150 Excluded Species ...........................................................................151 Phytogeography .............................................................................151 Introduced Species.........................................................................155 Current Landscape & Flora ...........................................................155 Important Factors Affecting the Flora...........................................156 Future of the Flora .........................................................................157 Annotated Checklist of Vascular Plants ........................................161 Pteridophytes ........................................................................161 Gymnosperms.......................................................................167 Monocotyledons ...................................................................168 Dicotyledons.........................................................................212 APPENDIX I. Incomplete List of Plants Collected in Kalamazoo County by the First Botanical Survey ........................311 APPENDIX II. Hanes & Rapp Collection Sites & Herbarium Notes ...314 APPENDIX III. Kalamazoo County Plant Communities ......................320 LITERATURE CITED ...........................................................................353 PURPOSE This paper is intended to facilitate further study of the flora of Kalamazoo County by providing locally relevant data describing the habitat, distribution, abundance, and current status of native and introduced vascular plant species reported outside of cultivation in Kalamazoo County. I have used the Haneses’ (1947) flora as a vade mecum of sorts, against which I have compared many of my observations in order to demonstrate how the flora has changed, and to help highlight the imminent conservation concerns that must be addressed to help maintain the ecological integrity (not persistence) of the native flora of Kalamazoo County and beyond. I have focused my efforts on native plants and plant communities that are now rare and/or poorly known in Kalamazoo County, because under current conditions many of those that persist will soon disappear. 2004 THE MICHIGAN BOTANIST 139 PREFACE Preparation of this flora started in the fall of 1994 while I was a sophomore undergraduate at Western Michigan University (WMU). I started with the inten- tion of ascertaining the status of a handful of rare or otherwise interesting plants, especially orchids and carnivores, reported from Kalamazoo County by the Haneses (1947), but not since fully accounted for. The Haneses’ (1947) flora of Kalamazoo County, and the (then) two volumes of the Michigan Flora (Voss 1985; 1972) became my constant companions in the field. Over time, my interests and ambition grew to include prairie and savanna plants, and my field notebooks began to overflow with data and observations gathered during informal studies of the prairie and savanna flora of Kalamazoo County and beyond, the flora of the Sugarloaf Lakes region, a study of fen and bog floras, and so on. Eventually, in the interest of communicating my observa- tions, and addressing what I saw as pressing conservation issues in the region, I embarked upon developing a checklist of the flora of Kalamazoo County, focus- ing especially on rare and otherwise noteworthy elements of the flora. By this time I was entering my final (fourth) year at WMU. While considering offers for fall enrollment in graduate school I was offered a position at WMU co-teaching the field portion of plant taxonomy while Dr. Richard W. Pippen (the usual instructor) was away for the semester. At this time, Mike Penskar (Botanist, Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI)) ex- pressed interest in hiring me as an intern to help update the MNFI element oc- currence (EO) records for rare or otherwise noteworthy plants, especially from SW Michigan. After considerable thought I decided to postpone graduate school for a semester and to further pursue my interests in the local flora and comple- tion of the checklist while teaching plant taxonomy and interning at MNFI. My slowly growing checklist of the flora of Kalamazoo County would turn out to be just the start however, as over the next few years, I gathered much ad- ditional data, especially from the remnant prairie, savanna, and wetland plant communities of Kalamazoo County, and I decided to expand the checklist to in- clude an introduction, annotations for each species, and an overview of plant communities. Additional data were gathered from herbarium specimens, the notes and 1947 flora of Clarence R. and Florence N. Hanes, other published and unpublished florulas, countless personal communications, and personal experi- ence with the flora in most sections of every township in Kalamazoo County. This expansion was made possible by frequent trips back to Kalamazoo County from the University of Illinois (where I was in graduate school) to visit my fu- ture wife at WMU. From 1998–1999 the flora continued to evolve, reaching its current form in approximately the spring of 2000 when Dr. Richard Brewer (WMU) was kind enough to read through and comment on an admittedly very rough draft of the manuscript. I continued to work on the manuscript periodi- cally, but much work (including some field work) remained to be done to pre- pare the manuscript for publication. In June of 2000 I graduated with a master’s degree in entomology from the University of Illinois, and moved to Harvard 140 THE MICHIGAN BOTANIST Vol. 43 University where I continued to work in spells on the manuscript until its com- pletion in the spring of 2004. My fascination with orchids and carnivorous plants started this journey, but over the last ten years of study I have become fascinated with the initially im- posing grasses, sedges, pondweeds, hawthorns, brambles, and asters (many of which still perplex and command my attention). Clearly, a work like this is never finished, and doubtless, there are still numerous loose ends that remain. How- ever, I am satisfied that my initial goal (to provide locally relevant data describ- ing the habitat, distribution, and abundance of native and introduced vascular plant species known outside of cultivation in Kalamazoo County) has been ac- complished. Due to other commitments I must leave what additional work re- mains to my successors. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many more people than can be mentioned here contributed in diverse ways to this flora. I must thank all of those who have commented on the manuscript, joined me in the field, examined speci- mens, and endured countless e-mail inquiries and phone calls, especially Richard Brewer (WMU), Michael R. Penskar (MNFI), Anton A. Reznicek (MICH), and Edward G. Voss (MICH). Completion of this flora was much facilitated by Dr. Edward G. Voss and the three volumes of the “Michigan Flora” that he so masterfully produced (Voss 1972, 1985, 1996). I could not have completed this book without his exhaustive keys, specimen database, and the countless annotations he made to herbarium specimens. I would also like to thank the countless property owners who generously allowed me ac- cess to their land. Support in writing the manuscript came indirectly from Dr. Stephen B. Malcolm (WMU) and Dr. May R. Berenbaum (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (U of I)) through their encourage- ment and tolerance of my forays into the Kalamazoo Flora and away from ongoing ecological and entomological writing and research for which I was employed. The WMU Lee Honors College helped pay for gasoline used on my near daily botanical expeditions during the