In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

INTRODUCTION Prairies are one of the best-studied plant associations in the world. Thousands of papers and books have been produced on them and entire conferences focus on special aspects of their ecology, management, and restoration (Sims and Risser 2000). Louisiana prairies were documented in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by land surveyors, cartographers, and explorers (Darby 1816; Du Pratz 1774; Featherman 1872; Flores 1984; Lockett 1969; D. T. MacRoberts et al. 1997; McDermott 1963; Rowland 1930); however, botanists did not begin to study these prairies until the 1930s (Brown 1941a, 1941b, 1953, 1997). Although prairies have been described in surrounding states (Carr 1993; Collins et al. 1975; Diggs et al. 1999; Foti 1989, 1990; Gordon and Wiseman 1989; Irving et al. 1980; Jordan 1973; Leidolf and McDaniel 1998; Moran et al. 1997; Rostlund 1957; Smeins and Diamond 1988; Wackerman 1929), there is virtually nothing in the literature on prairies in Louisiana (Anderson and Bowles 1999; DeSelm and Murdock 1993). In this paper we review what is known about Louisiana prairies, concentrating on the smaller, “isolated” prairies of the north and central parts of the state (B. R. MacRoberts and M. H. MacRoberts 1997; M. H. MacRoberts and B. R. MacRoberts 1997a; MacRoberts, MacRoberts, and Moore 1997a). The paper’s purpose is to provide basic descriptive coverage to facilitate comparison with prairies in other states. The once-extensive coastal prairies of southwestern Louisiana have been destroyed almost entirely and little is known about them except from historical accounts (Allen and Vidrine 1989; Bridges 1987; Featherman 6 Louisiana Prairies Michael H. MacRoberts, Barbara R. MacRoberts, and Lynn Stacey Jackson 1872; Smeins et al. 1992). It is hoped that this summary will aid in the study and preservation of Louisiana’s remaining prairies. GENERAL DESCRIPTION Louisiana prairies are identical in appearance to the prairies in southern Arkansas (Foti 1989, 1990), Mississippi (Moran et al. 1997), and in the Pineywoods and Coastal Plain of eastern Texas (Carr 1993; Jordan 1973; Smeins et al. 1992). Early descriptions are brief but capture the main features. Lockett (1969:71) described a prairie in northern Louisiana in 1869: We came to a beautiful little prairie called Prairie de Cote in which is situated the neat little village of Copenhagen. The prairie is almost exactly circular in shape and about one mile in diameter ; its soil is light, yellow loam. Its surface is gently undulating , covered with a luxuriant growth of grass and thousands of bright wild ®owers, and is free from trees, except for a few clumps of thick-growing hawthorns. Large herds of cattle and ®ocks of sheep graze here. The coastal prairies were apparently spectacular: These prairies are all vast, treeless expanses, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. Generally they are quite level. . . . The green carpet spreads out all around you, bounded by the distant horizon or terminated by the dark lines of forest that project into the prairies like the headlands of a lake. . . . Roaming everywhere are . . . immense herds of cattle and horses (Lockett 1969:94). In 1871, Americus Featherman made a botanical survey of the southwestern portion of Louisiana. Of the coastal prairies he wrote: During the spring season the prairies are beautiful beyond description , especially where the old withered grass has been burnt and a uniform green carpet of vegetation decks the undulating prairie level, as far as the eye can reach, with the softest verdure, variegated with the bright colors of the luxuriant prairie ®owers. Here the blue-eyed skullcap vies with the dark purple clusters of the psoralea, and the yellow and white-®owered false indigo intermingles freely with the fringe-®owered blue spiderwort; the narrow leafed evening primrose every where gilds the grass with its golden spangled ®owers, contrasted by the rose blossoms of the Louisiana Prairies 81 wild onion, whose range of growth is most extensive (Featherman 1872:122). DISTRIBUTION AND SIZES Bringing together land surveys, geological surveys, historical records, maps, and botanical surveys, we mapped the occurrence of Louisiana prairies at the time of European settlement (M. H. MacRoberts and B. R. MacRoberts 1997a). The map presented in Figure 6.1 continues to develop detail as new prairies or records of them are discovered. Prairies are known to have occurred in most Louisiana parishes west of the Mississippi River. Except for the coastal prairies, they were generally small, measuring at most only about 13 square km. Although most were probably smaller than 5 ha, many were much larger, such as Caddo Prairie north of Shreveport, Anacoco...

Share