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ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

ILLUSTRATED FLORA OF EAST TEXAS - Brit - Botanical Research ...

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FIG. 123/MAP SHOWING EXTENT <strong>OF</strong> ICE AT END <strong>OF</strong> THE LAST GLACIAL MAX-<br />

IMUM (18,000 YEARS BEFORE PRESENT) WITH LOCATION <strong>OF</strong> VEGETATION TYPES<br />

AT THAT TIME. T—TUNDRA; BF—BOREAL FOREST; MF—MIXED FOREST<br />

(CONIFER-NORTHERN HARDWOOD); DF—DECIDUOUS FOREST; SE—SOUTH-<br />

<strong>EAST</strong>ERN EVERGREEN FOREST; SS—SAND DUNE SCRUB.(MODIFIED FROM DAVIS<br />

1983 AND DELCOURT & DELCOURT 1993).<br />

oaks with some open grassland areas. Bryant<br />

and Holloway (1985b) further suggested that<br />

around 1,500 years before present, the modern<br />

day oak-savannah vegetation (Post Oak<br />

Savannah) became established, reflecting “a<br />

prolonged period of drier, and perhaps<br />

warmer, climatic conditions.” However,<br />

Bousman (1998) has more recently concluded<br />

that arboreal cover reached its low<br />

point in the area about 5,000 years ago<br />

and has increased since that time. Given<br />

the difficulty of determining with confidence<br />

the changes in paleoclimates, he<br />

emphasized that there probably have<br />

been “numerous shifts between forest,<br />

woodland, and open plant communities”<br />

in the area since the end of the last glaciation<br />

(approximately 18,000–15,000<br />

years ago). The vegetation pattern<br />

present at the time of settlement, while<br />

often mistakenly viewed as static, was<br />

in a state of flux, and was thus just one point in a continuing series of changing conditions<br />

(Smeins 1984).<br />

It is interesting to consider the effects of past glaciation on the present flora. Many otherwise<br />

difficult to explain modern plant distributions may be easily accounted for by regarding<br />

them as the result of changing climatic conditions of the past. One example is the occurrence<br />

of Cladium mariscoides (smooth saw-grass, Cyperaceae) disjunct to a few bog localities in East<br />

Texas and the far southeastern U.S., but otherwise known only from southeastern Canada and<br />

the northeastern U.S. as far south as South Carolina and Tennessee (Bridges & Orzell 1989a;<br />

Tucker 2002c). Another possible example is the occurrence of jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema<br />

triphyllum) in Parker County in the West Cross Timbers. This species is generally limited to<br />

mesic environments in the eastern part of the state. Nonetheless, a thriving population can be<br />

found in a mesic “rockhouse” microhabitat between sandstone rock walls in Parker County,<br />

well to the west of other known locations of this species (Diggs & O’Kennon 2003). It seems<br />

likely that this population is a relict from<br />

a previously extensive forest that was<br />

largely lost as the climate warmed and<br />

dried. Such persistence in climatically<br />

moderated “rockhouse” environments<br />

has been documented for a variety of<br />

plant species, including endemics, in the<br />

eastern U.S. (e.g., Walck et al. 1996;<br />

Farrar 1998). Other eastern species that<br />

have been found surprisingly far west in<br />

Texas include eastern hop-hornbeam<br />

(Ostrya virginiana) in Tarrant County and<br />

shag-bark hickory (Carya ovata) in<br />

Parker County, both separated by more<br />

than 120 miles (193 kilometers) from<br />

their present distributions in East Texas.<br />

Numerous other examples could be<br />

given, including many species and genera<br />

ORIGIN AND DIVERSITY <strong>OF</strong> <strong>EAST</strong> <strong>TEXAS</strong> <strong>FLORA</strong>/INTRODUCTION 209<br />

FIG. 124/ MODERN DISTRIBUTION <strong>OF</strong> PICEA GLAUCA (PINACEAE) (WHITE<br />

SPRUCE) (FROM TAYLOR 1993, WITH PERMISSION <strong>OF</strong> OXFORD UNIV.PRESS).

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