Eastern Kentucky University Encompass Online Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship January 2014 The aV scular Flora of Garrard County, Kentucky William Overbeck Eastern Kentucky University Follow this and additional works at: https://encompass.eku.edu/etd Part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, and the Plant Biology Commons Recommended Citation Overbeck, William, "The asV cular Flora of Garrard County, Kentucky" (2014). Online Theses and Dissertations. 228. https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/228 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Encompass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Online Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Encompass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Vascular Flora of Garrard County, Kentucky By William W. Overbeck Bachelor of Fine Arts School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 2003 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Eastern Kentucky University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE May, 2014 Copyright © William W. Overbeck All rights reserved ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my loving parents. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS While I was attending The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and studying scientific illustration at The Field Museum of Natural History, Peggy Macnamara encouraged me to consider biology as a career; thanks to her I pursued the integration of fine art, botany, and ecological restoration. I would like to thank my first mentor in botany, Roger Hotham, who patiently showed me the plant communities of Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, IL. I would like to thank June Keibler and Mary Zaander of Witness Tree Native Landscapes, Inc., for training me in ecological restoration during work in the Chicago Wilderness. I must acknowledge Lorna Gladstone, owner of Gladstone Fen, who allowed me the opportunity to experiment in ecological restoration and adaptive land management. Thanks to Bill Kleiman of The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands, who inspired me to pursue a Master of Science in Kentucky. Thanks also to Susanne Masi of The Chicago Botanic Gardens, Dr. Julian Campbell of The Bluegrass Woodland Restoration Center, Dr. Ralph L. Thompson of Berea College, Dr. Raymond Cranfill, Gary Libby, Melanie G. Bentley, Robert Pace and Mason Brock for their support and assistance. Thanks to Claire Sipple and Lower Howard’s Creek State Nature Preserve, Brent Harrell of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Ken Cooke and the Friends of Wolf Run Watershed, all of whom provided work contracts which allowed for employment. I would like to thank my major professor and advisor, Dr. Ronald L. Jones, for his guidance and patience. I would like to thank my other graduate committee members, Dr. Jennifer Koslow and Dr. Charles L. Elliott, for their comments and assistance. iv ABSTRACT Garrard County, Kentucky, was the subject of a floristic study conducted from 2010 to 2013. The study documented 961 species in 494 genera and 137 families. Garrard County encompasses 60,570 hectares in central Kentucky and includes parts of both the Bluegrass Section and the Knobs-Norman Upland of the Interior Low Plateaus. Permitted collecting at The Felix Reynolds Prairie, The Nature Conservancy’s Sally Brown and Crutcher Preserve, Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve, and Maywoods Environmental and Educational Laboratory was coordinated with state and private conservation agencies. Two plant communities known to occur in the county, Limestone/Dolomite Prairie and Bluegrass Mesophytic Cane Forest, are listed as Endangered in Kentucky. Other plant communities are described and compared with previous vegetation studies of the Bluegrass and Knobs. Sixteen state-listed species were documented in the county, including a Historical species, four Endangered, five Threatened, and six Special Concern. About 18% of the flora is non-native, and 95 of these species are listed as Severe, Significant, or Moderate Threats, or Watch List. Habitat loss and invasive species continue to degrade rare plant community remnants and populations of rare plants. Applications of baseline floristic inventories can be used in assessing conservation priorities for landscape preservation in Kentucky. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 II. STUDY AREA ......................................................................................................... 3 Location .................................................................................................................... 4 Natural Regions ........................................................................................................ 5 Topography ............................................................................................................... 8 Geology ..................................................................................................................... 9 Soils......................................................................................................................... 11 Watersheds .............................................................................................................. 16 Climate .................................................................................................................... 16 Land Use ................................................................................................................. 18 Vegetation and Flora ............................................................................................... 18 Forest Regions ........................................................................................................ 21 Study Sites .............................................................................................................. 23 Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve .................................................................. 24 The Nature Conservancy’s Sally Brown and Crutcher Preserve ....................... 24 The Felix Reynolds Prairie ................................................................................ 25 Maywoods Environmental and Educational Laboratory ................................... 26 III. MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................................ 27 IV. RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 29 Flora ........................................................................................................................ 29 Special Concern, Threatened, and Endangered Species ................................... 30 Non-native Species ........................................................................................... 31 Update of Maywoods Environmental and Educational Laboratory Flora…… 31 Vegetation ............................................................................................................... 32 Bluegrass Region .............................................................................................. 32 Knobs Region.................................................................................................... 35 V. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................ 38 General Flora .......................................................................................................... 38 Non-native Species ........................................................................................... 38 Rare Species Overview ..................................................................................... 39 Rare Species Accounts ...................................................................................... 41 Vegetation of Central Kentucky ............................................................................. 48 Bluegrass Region .............................................................................................. 48 vi Knobs Region.................................................................................................... 51 Vegetation of Garrard County .......................................................................... 54 Vegetation of Study Sites........................................................................................ 55 Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve ................................................................. 55 The Nature Conservancy’s Sally Brown and Crutcher Preserve ...................... 57 The Felix Reynolds Prairie ............................................................................... 59 Maywoods Environmental and Educational Laboratory .................................. 60 VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ....................................................................... 63 LITERATURE CITED .................................................................................................... 66 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................. 74 I. Annotated List of the Vascular Plants of Garrard County............................ 74 II. Exotic Pest Plants of Kentucky in Garrard County ................................... 162 III. New Distribution Records for Maywoods ............................................... 165 IV. Photographs of Selected State-listed Species