Notes on the Flora of Western Iowa

The flora of the loess in western Iowa is unique, in many respects. While it may be said that many parts of the state have a typical prairie flora, certain species being common from Texas to British America, east to Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, only occasionally do we find plants of the great-plains in our own state. Western species are somewhat unequally distributed in our state; they occupy a larger area in north western Iowa than in southern and western. In northern Iowa a few prominent types appear, as in Emmet County. Of these I may mention Bouteloua oligostachya, Agropyrum caninum, A. caesium, Grindelia squarrosa, Helianthus Maximiliani. The latter is not, however, a typical western plant, though introduced in central Iowa. It crosses our western border on the loess and extends south to Texas