2019 Oklahoma Native Plant Record


Oklahoma Native Plant Record 3 
Volume 19, December 2019 
 

 

Foreword 
 

This issue of the Oklahoma Native Plant Record contains articles describing the vegetation of 
the past and present in Oklahoma, and one that sheds light on the potential for an invasive 
species to further affect the native vegetation of our state.   
 

Based on plats, bearing tree data, and line summaries from the Public Land Survey, Bruce 
Hoagland, Rick Thomas, and Daryn Hardwick from the University of Oklahoma describe the 
historical land cover along the Deep Fork River in Okmulgee County circa 1897. These records 
indicate the bottomland forests, Cross Timbers forests and woodlands, and tallgrass prairie in 
this area were already starting to be transformed by agricultural activities. 
 

Abby Crosswhite and Adam Ryburn from Oklahoma City University conducted a vascular 
plant survey of the John Nichols Scout Ranch in a suburban area of Canadian County. They 
report that a diversity of habitats on this property (upland forest, mixed grass prairie, 
bottomland forest, riparian areas) provide refuge for many species no longer found in the 
surrounding agricultural and residential areas. 
 

Bruce Smith provides a checklist of the woody plants he and his students at McLoud High 
School have identified in the McLoud oak-hickory forest near their campus. He also provides a 
trail map and a guided tour of the forest, in which he illustrates how to identify many of the 
woody plants by their leaves, buds, and bark; encourages the reader to notice the lichens, slime 
molds, and insect larvae on the plants; and describes the size structure of the forest. I encourage 
you to stop by McLoud and use his trail guide to help you enjoy and appreciate this native 
forest. 
 

Eric Duell and Karen Hickman from Oklahoma State University investigate the ability of 
kudzu (Pueraria montana) to sexually reproduce in Oklahoma at the western extent of its range. 
Although kudzu primarily spreads by rhizomes, sexual reproduction increases genetic diversity 
and results in seeds that can be dispersed by animals and water, thus potentially increasing its 
range. Information on the relative importance of asexual versus sexual reproduction in kudzu in 
Oklahoma can help us monitor and manage this invasive species. 
 

This issue's Critic’s Choice essay was written by Paul Buck for the Botany Bay section of the 
Spring 1998 Gaillardia. In his essay, Paul visits a bottomland forest and describes the life he sees 
there on a cold and windy winter day. As this issue goes to press, we are in the midst of the 
COVID-19 pandemic, and many people are finding the time and opportunity to notice more of 
the myriad of interactions in the natural world, something Paul always beautifully encouraged us 
to do.  
 

Please consider publishing your work in the Oklahoma Native Plant Record. It is listed in the 
Directory of Open Access Journals, is abstracted by the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience 
International, and can be accessed by researchers around the world. 
 
 
Gloria Caddell 
Managing Editor