The flora of the region varies greatly at the present time. Land-use has
altered the original floral communities, especially in the intensively
cultivated area of western Cowley County and in the river valleys.
The sandy Arkansas River floodplain exhibits several stages ranging from
sparsely vegetated sandy mounds near the river through stages of Johnson
grass, willow, and cottonwood, to an elm-hackberry fringe-forest. The
Wellington formation bordering the floodplain supports a prairie flora
where not disturbed by cultivation; Gates (1936:15) designates this as a
part of the mixed bluestem and short-grass region. _Andropogon gerardi_
Vitman., _Andropogon scoparius_ Michx., _Sorghastrum nutans_ (L.), and
_Panicum virgatum_ L. are important grasses in the hilly pasture-lands.
Although much of this land is virgin prairie, the tall, lush condition
of the grasses described by early writers such as Mooso (1888:304), and
by local residents, is not seen today. These residents speak of slough
grasses (probably _Tripsacum dactyloides_ L. and _Spartina pectinata_
Link.) that originally formed rank growths. These no doubt helped
conserve water and stabilize flow in small headwater creeks. Remnants of
some of these sloughs can still be found. The streams in the Flint Hills
have fringe-forests of elm, hackberry, walnut, ash, and willow.
Eastward from the Flint Hills these fringe-forests become thicker with a
greater admixture of hickories and oaks. The north slopes of hills also
become more wooded. However, grassland remains predominant over woodland
in western Chautauqua and Elk counties, whereas in the eastern one-half
of Chautauqua County and the eastern one-third of Elk County the wooded
Chautauqua Hills prevail. This is one of the most extensive wooded
upland areas in Kansas. Hale (1955:167) describes this woodland as part
of an ecotonal scrub-oak forest bordering the Great Plains south through
Texas. He found stand dominants in these wooded areas to be _Quercus
marilandica_ Muenchh., _Quercus stellata_ Wang., and _Quercus velutina_
Lam.
Few true aquatic plants were observed in the Arkansas River although
mats of duckweed were found in shallow backwater pools at station A-3
(Fig. 2) on December 22, 1956. In the Walnut River _Najas guadalupensis_
Spreng. was common at station W-2. Stones were usually covered with
algae in both the Arkansas and Walnut rivers. A red bloom, possibly
attributable to _Euglena rubra_ (Johnson), was observed on a tributary
of the Walnut River on July 9, 1956, at station W-4.
Green algae were abundant at all stations in the Caney, Elk, and Grouse
systems during May and June, 1956, and reappeared late in September.
_Chara_ sp. was common in these streams in April and May.
The most characteristic rooted aquatic of streams in the Flint Hills was
_Justicia americana_ L. At station G-7 on Grouse Creek and Station C-8
on Big Caney River (Fig. 3), _Nelumbo lutea_ (Willd.) was found.
_Myriophyllum heterophyllum_ Michx. formed dense floating mats at a
number of stations. Other aquatic plants observed in the Caney, Elk, and
Grouse systems included _Potamogeton gramineus_ L., _Potamogeton
nodosus_ Poir., _Potamogeton foliosus_ Raf., _Sagittaria latifolia_
Willd., _Typha latifolia_ L., and _Jussiaea diffusa_ Forsk.