The Vegetation of the Fort Worth Prairie, by E.J. Dyksterhuis, 1946

Author(s): E. J. Dyksterhuis
Source: Ecological Monographs, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Jan., 1946), pp. 1-29
Published by: Ecological Society of America

“INTRODUCTION

The Fort Worth Prairie of northern Texas is an extensive part of the midcontinental grassland that has received little attention in ecological literature.

This prairie, the northern portion of the physio- graphic unit known as the Grand Prairie, extends as a continuous body of open grassland, approxi- mately 10 to 30 miles wide, from its northern limit near the Red River (Texas-Oklahomia state line), due south about 110 miles to the wooded area along the Brazos River. The city of Fort Worth is situated at its eastern edge 40 miles from the southern limit. Throughout its length the prairie is sharply bounded on the east and west by the Eastern and Western Cross Timbers which are belts of oak-hickory forest. These occur on light-colored sandy soils which con- trast sharply with the dark calcareous clays of the prairie (Fig. I). “