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OKLAHOMA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

Governor R. L. Williams, State Superintendent R. H. Wilson,
President Stratton D. Brooks, Commission,
Cc. W. Shannon, Director.

CIRCULAR NO. 6.

ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA

BY

OKLAHOMA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

NORMAN.

October, 1917.

ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

CONTENTS.
Page
Introduction 5
Chapter 1.—Animal life in Oklahoma ve
Introduction v
Hoofed animals 8
Buffaloes 8
Antelope 8
Deer 8
Flesh-eating animals 9
Rocky Mountain lions E)
Bears 9
Loafer wolf 9
Coyotes 10
Badgers and skunks 10
Other flesh-eating animals 1.
Gnawing animals 11
Beavers 11
Prairie dogs ae
Gophers 12
‘Rabbits 13
Small rodents 13
Moles 14
Bats 14
Birds 15
General statement 15
Wild turkeys 15
Prairie chickens 15
Quail 16
Hawks and owls 16
Woodpeckers 1?
Eagles and vultures 17
Water and shore birds 17
Crows 18
English sparrows 18
Song birds 18
Fish and mussels 20
Fishes 20
Mussels 20

4 INDEX

Reptiles... baud 2 Bee, .cug

Snakes. : “ oe
PUTEOSs: G2. uelapssainsh OCR MRDETER, | Bien “valatrecnsiemcinesn Ot
Wizards werk beets ever se gaevnates 22
Insects 2... are 22
Summary 23
Classified list of wild animals in Oklahoma 24
Chapter IJ.—Plant life in Oklahoma 37
Introduction 37
Physiography and geology 3%
Salt Plains 38
Gypsum Hills ........ 39
Sand Hills region 40
Black Mesa region 41
Soils 41
Precipitation 42
Life zones 42
Relation of physical conditions to the flora 42
Relation of our flora to that of adjacent regions —. cn 43
Distributing agencies 44
Plant families in Oklahoma 46
Trees, and SATU pres se ceo aterm ruta mtchandn Ae ene ee eet 55

A list of trees and shrubs in Oklahoma 58

ANIMAL AND PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

INTRODUCTION.

The urgent needs of the public schools in Oklahoma for available
information concerning the animal and plant life, and similar demands
of the general public for the same information, lead to the preparation
of the present publication. In connection with the regular duties of
the field men of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, a large amount of
available information is gained concerning the natural resources of the
State, which is of value from an educational and scientific view, as well
as from an economic standpoint. The cooperation of the members
of the Oklahoma Academy of Science has made such a publication pos-
sible. These chapters on the animal and plant life of Oklahoma were
published as Chapters VIII and IX in Bulletin No. 27, Geography of
Oklahoma, recently issued by the Oklahoma Geological Survey.

The chapter on animal life in Oklahoma was written by Mr. Howard
Cross, of the Department of Zoology, Oklahoma University. Dr. H. H.
Lane, Head of the Department of Zoology, offerede much valuable as-
sistance in the preparation of this chapter, and checked the scientific
and common names used in the list of wild animals. Mr. Frank
Rush, Forester in charge of the United States Forest and Game Pre-
serve, in the Wichita Mountains, also furnished much information of
value concerning the animal life of the State. Credit is due to many
others who contributed to the data used in the chapter.

The chapter on plant life in Oklahoma was compiled from the
manuscripts of unpublished reports on the plant life of Oklahoma, by
Mr. G. W. Stevens, formerly Head of the Department of Biology of
Northwestern State Normal, Alva, and Mr. C. W. Shannon, Director
of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. These manuscripts mentioned
include a report on the flowering plants of Oklahoma, by Mr. Stevens,
and a report on the trees and shrubs of Oklahoma by Mr. Shannon.

Cc. W. SHANNON, Director.

OKLAHOMA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,
Norman, October 1, 1917.

A. HEAD OF BEAVER DAM ON WOLF CREEK, HUNTER’S RANCH, NEAR
FARGO, ELLIS COUNTY. :

B. SHOWING TREE cur BY BEAVER AT ABOVE LOCALITY.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 7

CHAPTER I.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.*

INTRODUCTION.

Oklahoma at one time had a wealth of animal life that seemed
almost impossible of exhaustion. Not only were birds and animals found
here in unbelievable numbers, but the range in species was perhaps
greater than in any other area of like size in the western part of the
United States. Many of the animals characteristic of the mountainous
regions of the west extended to the foot hills of the Rockies and often
occurred in the western part of this State. Animals commonly found in
the rough and timbered regions of the east came as far westward as
the Ozark Mountains and remained in Oklahoma in considerable numbers,
while the roving herds of the vast open plains of the northwest found
ample pasturage and shelter here during the winter months and some-
times grazed beyond the southern boundaries of the State. To this
immense throng must be added the myriads of semi-migratory birds and
animals of the south that were found during a part or all of the year with-
in the present limits of Oklahoma. The location of the State makes it
a sort of meeting place, or focal point, for a variety and abundance of
animal life that would not be possible under any other conditions.

The multiplicity of habitats existing in Oklahoma also makes possible
a range in animal life that few states enjoy: The arid regions of the
western part of Oklahoma have, or had, a large representation of all the
varied fauna characteristic of the great semi-desert region to the north
and west, while the mountains within the State offer range and protec-
tion to a vast assemblage of animads that our rapidly advancing civiliza-
tion has not yet been able to destroy. Our broad streams and lakes have
furnished shelter and food to water and shore animals that may still be
found in abundance in regions not frequented by man, and the timbered
regions of the south and east support a wealth of woodland forms that
could not exist in localities where forests do not abound.

The changes incident to the settlement of a new country by man
unavoidably cause the destruction of the feeding grounds and shelter of
the wild animals, and as the improvement is pushed farther and farther

*This chapter was prepared by Howard Cross, Department of Zoology,
Oklahoma University.

8 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

into the wild retreats, the native animals become less and less abundant
and finally must perish altogether unless given some measure of pro-
tection. ‘The advent of man into Oklahoma has, of course, very mater-
ially lessened many kinds of wild life, but fortunately only a few species
have been lost entirely, and the location of a National Game Preserve
within the State, and the provision recently made for the establishing of
State game preserve, give assurance that no species now living in
Oklahoma will ever be reduced to the point of extinction. We shall always
have at least a remnant or sample of the faunal wealth that once abounded

in this State.
HOOFED ANIMALS.

BUFFALOES.

The buffalo is the largest wild animal that has lived in Oklahoma
in modern times. Within the memory of men now living, this noble
animal roamed over the prairies in countless numbers, and at times whole
valleys were covered with vast, unbroken herds. Great as this throng
was, it went so quickly after the coming of the railroads that men could
not believe it gone. In the fall of 1884 the hunters came to kill the
buffaloes for their hides, which they sold for one dollar and a half apiece.
but none could be found. “They are gone north,” the gunners said, but
they had not gone north; they had all but gone to utter extinction! At
one time there were only twelve buffaloes in the State, but now there
are eighty-four head in the Wichita National Game Preserve in Comanche
County, and a small herd at the 101 Ranch in Kay County. The splendor
and vigor of this remnant, however, are gone and they trail after a
wagon to be fed, as broken and fearless as domesticated cattle.

ANTELOPR.

Antelope, while never so abundant as the buffalo, were very numerous
in this State before the coming of the cowboy and his civilization. They
often grazed in herds of several hundred and were well adapted to
live in rough country. They remained somewhat longer than the buffalo,
for the last antelope in Oklahoma, which lived in the southern part
of Ellis County, were not killed until 1910. Since that time not a
free antelope has lived within the State, and only a single specimen
is held in captivity. This is a male and is on the Government Preserve
in the Wichita Mountains.

DEER.

Deer were one time very abundant in. the timbered sections of this
State, and on account of their wonderful speed and cunning they have
evaded the destructive forces of man and may yet be found running
wild. Their range is now restricted to the mountainous regions, and
it is doubtful if there are more than one hundred and fifty wild deer in
the State today. Most of these are in the Kiamichi Mountains, where
the persistent and criminal efforts of hunters to kill them will no doubt
soon be successful in securing the last specimen.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 9

FLESH-EATING ANIMALS.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LIONS.

The larger flesh-eating animals were never numerous here, but there
were enough during the time of early settlement to cause considerable
damage to stock and to instill a constant fear in the lonely traveler. The
Rocky Mountain lion was known in this State as late as 1900, and it is
possible that a few stragglers are yet in some of the mountain districts,
but they are difficult to find and are not often seen. One came as far
east as Grant County in 1895. This animal followed Pond Creek with
its sheltering timber, and left the protection of the woods at Jefferson
long enough to spring into a man’s yard and devour a pig. A few
nights after the occurrence just narrated, a farmer living west of Jeffer-
son was annoyed by the low, frightened growl of the family dog. When
the door was opened the dog shot out into the darknesg and a sharp
yelp was heard. The next morning the hind leg of this courageous but
imprudent dog was found about one hundred yards from the -house.
This is the last record of the misdeeds of this Rocky Mountain lion
before it was finally hunted down and killed.

BEARS.

Bears are in many ways the most interesting animals of this State.
They have never been abundant and have always been restricted in
range to the more inaccessible timbered regions of the mountains. These
animals have inflicted very little damage on the stock raising interests
of the State, and have never been known to attack man unless driven
into a corner, or wounded. Bears, as is the custom of all such animals,
go into their dens early in December and sleep through the cold winter
months, and emerge with the coming of warm weather in the spring.
They spend much time at play when in the company of other bears, and
if taken when young make very amiable pets. Their thick heavy coats
protect them from injury even in very rough frolics, and they often
acquire habits of play that make it imprudent to present the bare hand
to even the most gentle of bruin pets. They feed on succulent roots,
insect larvae, honey, fish, frogs, and almost any other kind of flesh they
can secure. At one time it was thought that two kinds of bears lived
in Oklahoma, but the small Black bear is probably the only specie which
is found here. In the early spring when it emerges from the long
winter’s sleep, its usual coat of black has become very long and has a
dusky brown color that is perhaps responsible for mistaking it for the
so-called Brown bear.

LOAFER WOLF.

Wholesale destruction marks the path of the large Gray or Loafer
wolf throughout its range. This animal was never abundant enough
to extend over any considerable portion of the State, but in bands of
from four to eight they were able to kill deer and buffalo, and with
the coming of cattle and sheep they were responsible for a destruction that

10 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

aroused a widespread demand for their speedy extermination. The “stx-
shooter,” so characteristic of the western cowboy, was originally carried
for the purpose of killing this wolf, but the practice soon spread far
beyond the limits of the Loafer range and probably will be kept alive
forever in the “movies.” The ranch owner furnished the guns and
ammunition to the cowboys and they were given the skin as a special
reward if they were fortunate enough to kill one of these destructive
beasts. The Loafer wolf generally frequents the rough country and
forages over definite ranges which he covers in cycles every seven days.
Settlers have taken advantage of this unusual habit and have proceeded
by systematic poisoning to protect their herds from these marauders.
The Loafer is now practically extinct in this State, and its passing will
be a signal for unbounded rejoicing by cattle men everywhere who have
herds within its range.

COYOTBRBS.

The coyote is one of those unfortunate members of our animal
society whose position has not been understood and whose services have
never met with the appreciation which they deserve. These animals
are distributed throughout the State but do not occur in large numbers
in any particular locality. The coyote has long been known as a chicken
thief, and does occasionally frequent poultry yards that have been care-
lessly left open at night, but it renders a service to the farmer in the
destruction of large numbers of mice, rats, gophers, and rabbits that
pays many times over for its one unfortunate indulgence. The coyote
may not be an altogether desirable resident of a crowded agricultural
district, but it is capable of much good and by no means deserves the
unenviable reputation which it has.

BADGERS AND SKUNKS.

With the possible exception of hawks and coyotes no living animals
have been more unjustly persecuted than the badger and the common
skunk. Both have a few bad habits, but if a ledger of all their services
were kept it would show such a balance in their favor as would put to
shame the army of thoughtless men and boys who annually pursue to
certain and unmerciful death these valuable allies of the farmer.

Badgers were at one time fairly numerous in this State, but per-
sistent and systematic killing by everybody has so reduced them that
only a few remain. They can live in arid regions where the annual
rainfall is so slight that it would seem impossible for any animal to
survive. They live in burrows, and have flat, compact bodies with
powerful fore feet and claws which enable them to dig with a rapidity
that few animals attain. They are thus equipped to dig out and destroy
myriads of ground squirrels, gophers, and prairie dogs, which, on account
of their habits of life, are practically immune from the attacks of all
other predatory animals.

The skunk, of which several kinds occur in Oklahoma, is scattered
more generally throughout the State and perhaps has a few more bad

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 11

habits than the badger, but the record in its favor is scarcely less
astounding. Skunks are preeminently animals of the field and wood,
and their occasional appearance in the farm yard is accidental. They
work, for the most part, at night, and the number of noxious insects,
mice, and rats which they annually unearth and devour is almost beyond
belief. The furs of these animals are becoming very valuable and a
splendid income awaits the boy who has the ingenuity and courage to
collect a number of skunks and organize the first fur-growing industry
in Oklahoma.
OTHER FLESH-EATING ANIMALS.

Other flesh-eating animals existing in Oklahoma are the bobcat,
raccoon, o’possum, weasel, and mink. These animals exist abundantly
in some portions of the State, while in others they have already been
exterminated. The weasel and bobcat were once found on the open
plains wherever prairie dogs lived, but they have long since been driven
to the protection of the timber, and even here they are only rarely seen.

GNAWING ANIMALS.
BEAVERS.

The beaver is the largest gnawing animal in Oklahoma, and easily
leads the mammals of the world in mechanical and engineering skill.
Beavers were at one time common in many of our smaller streams, and
the line of their retreat is marked by dams and houses which they
were forced to abandon hurriedly, in their efforts to keep away from
the habitations of man. Wherever the banks were too low for the
beavers to burrow into, they constructed dams across the channels and
often raised the water as much as four or five feet, forming large
artificial ponds with a depth sufficient to protect the entrance to their
houses, and to provide for storing a food supply large enough to carry
the beaver colony through the period when the ponds were frozen over
and they were cut off from the usual food beyond the limits of the
water’s edge. The trees generally selected by the beaver for food include
the birch, cottonwood, hickory, ash, and willow. To secure the tender
limbs and younger shoots they often “cut” down trees as large as 4
foot in diameter. If only the smaller limbs were used they were cut
off and dragged to the pond, but if the trunk was needed for strengthening
the dam, a channel was dug from the pond to the tree and the timber
was floated into position, as is the custom of lumbermen in all parts
of the world. There is only one colony of these interesting animals
now within the State. This is located on a small stream in Ellis
(County. It is hoped that the men who own the adjoining land will
see that measures are taken to prevent this last picturesque beaver
“town” from being depleted of its industrious population.

PRAIRIE DOGS.

Prairie dogs, which exist so abundantly in many parts of Oklahoma,
are social creatures and live together in communities called towns. A

12 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

colony may cover only a part of an acre, or it may be miles in extent.
The population ranges accordingly from a few individuals to as many
as 100,000 in the larger towns. They burrow into the ground to a
depth of about 12 feet and they extend the den in a horizontal direction
for a distance of from 10 to 15 feet. Any number of lateral channels may
extend from this main run. Usyally only a single pair occupies
a burrow, except in the spring when the four young arrive. The ground
for a considerable distance around the mouth of the burrow is stripped
free of vegetation, and in thickly settled communities these barren
spaces connect, so that large areas of grazing land are sometimes entirely
cleared of grass by the presence of these animals. Prairie dogs are
not really dogs in any sense of the word, but are large squirrels, and
as they subsist entirely on roots, grasses, grain, and vegetables there
is no reason, except perhaps the name, why they should not be as
palatable as timber squirrels or rabbits. They are preyed upon by
wolves, coyotes, bobcats, weasels, and the larger hawks, but since man
has driven away or destroyed these natural checks the prairie dogs have
increased at a corresponding rate and artificial control must be put into
effect. The United States Biological Survey has perfected an effective
and inexpensive method for poisoning the prairie dog, and its general
use throughout the State is bringing back into cultivation large areas
that were formerly occupied by these animals.

GOPHERS.

The common pocket gopher is by all odds the most destructive
animal in Oklahoma. We have at least two species in this State; a
small one found widely distributed but never numerous; and the large
red pocket gopher that is causing more waste at the present time than
any other living creature within the State. The gopher is the builder
of the countless mounds of dark earth that we see thrown} up over
prairies and fields wherever. we go. Some alfalfa patches have been
more than one-tenth covered by these tell-tale hills. The gopher has
a compact, muscular body, and with its powerful front feet and claws
is able to burrow rapidly through the soft earth. The burrow or “run”
usually extends about a foot beneath the surface, and at short intervals
vertical tunnels extend upward to the top of the ground and through
these the excavated soil is carried out and thrown up in small heaps.
A single gopher occupies a burrow and often extends it several hundred
feet in a season. The animals live, for the most part, on the roots and
tubers which they find in their journeys through the ground. The
gopher sometimes emerges from its burrow and fills its pockets with
tender leaves and grain, which it always carries into the burrow before
eating. Stock are often injured by stepping into gopher burrows, and
many a cowboy’s life has been lost in a fall caused by his mount plunging
a leg into one of these burrows. A few kernels of poisoned grain placed
in each burrow will rid a farm of these destructive pests within a
reasonably short time. Little, however, will be accomplished unless
whole communities cooperate, for a single farm cleared would soon be

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 13

overrun from adjoining territory. The animals are still very numerous
in certain parts of the State, and unless some concerted action is taken
to check them in the localities where they abound, they will presently
be doubling the damage they are now inflicting. The gopher rarely
is seen above the ground and as a result has few natural enemies except
the badger and the bull-snake, both of which have been so reduced by
man that now the gopher is practically free to multiply unmolested.
The responsibility rests entirely with the land owner; he must act now
or pay a constantly increasing penalty.

RABBITS.

The most frequently seen and best known mammals of Oklahoma
are rabbits. They refuse to be exterminated and are found in every
locality in the State. We have two kinds of rabbits—the large, long-
legged variety with athletic form, known as the jack rabbit, and the
much smaller rabbit, known as the cottontail. The jack rabbit frequents
the open plains. It does not burrow, but depends on its keen vision
and powerful legs to keep it out of danger. The nest is made in a
small, obscure depression in the ground and lined with soft wool taken
from the breast of the mother. The cottontail frequents the wooded
and more protected areas. It has short legs, wholly unfit for prolonged
flight, but easily makes up for this loss in swiftness and cunning. It
burrows well under stones or projecting roots, where it is free from the
usual annoyance of men and dogs. Then, too, its color so harmonizes
with its surroundings that it is often obliged to seek flight to avoid
veing trodden upon. Both jack rabbits and cottontails are wonderfully
prolific, often rearing as many as four litters during the summer. They
feed on grasses, grain, growing wheat, vegetables, fruit, and in winter.
when pressed by hunger, they sometimes gnaw the tender bark from
young trees. A few wisps of green alfalfa hay scattered regularly
about the orchard in winter is the best protection against such attacks.
The wholesale destruction of hawks, owls, wolves, and coyotes has
removed the natural checks on rabbit production and occasionally they
become so numerous in certain localities as to inflict great damage on
the growing crops and trees. If properly cared for, their bodies can
be made an important contribution to the food supply of the State.
The men who hunt have done much to hold the rabbits in check, but
sometimes this is not sufficient to keep them within the proper limits,
and large hunts organized on a competitive basis often result in the
slaughter of thousands in a single day. These hunts sometimes embrace
as much as one-third of a county, and the men and boys taking part
number into the hundreds.

SMALL RODENTS.

In ‘addition to the gnawing animals discussed above, Oklahoma
has the muskrat and the usual army of small rodents that exist abund-
antly throughout the entire State. The red and gray squirrels are
found wherever timber conditions make it possible for them to live, and

14 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

in the southern part of the State there are two species of “flying”
squirrels. The striped ground squirrel, smaller than its timber cousins,
burrows into the ground in meadows and grain fields and is responsible
for an annual damage of more than $100,000. Rats and mice exist in
abundance throughout the State, and the destruction which they cause
in fields and store-houses.is common knowledge. But, we can avoid
much of this loss. If shelter such as heavy grass corners, weeded fence
rows, mulching, and unraked hay, is burned or removed, and skunks,
hawks. owls, weasels, and bull-snakes are not foolishly killed on account
of superstition and hearsay, but are protected as friends, the army of
these destructive rodents will soon be so lessened that the annual damage
from this source will be reduced to very small proportions.

MOLES.

Mdles have long been the unhappy victims of circumstantial evi-
dence. They spend most of their active life in plowing through the
soft earth in search of insects, and are guilty of only a few of the crimes
with which they are so often charged and conyicted. Their food con-
sists almost entirely of insects, and if they are confined in a cage with
nothing but vegetable food they soon starve. Moles are attracted to
localities where burrowing insects are most numerous, and their presence
in a yard or garden indicates that unseen insect pests are at work
beneath the ground. The farmer observes a fresh mole run extending
the length of a row of planted seeds, and if the seeds fail to come up
the damage is charged to the mole and every effort is made to see that
summary justice is executed. In reality, the mole was-attracted by the
grubs that were feeding on the sprouting roots, and was not even remotely
interested in the seed. Then to further cloud the real issue, field mice
take advantage of the protecting shelter of the mole tunnel and follow
up, destroying all seeds and roots that have been exposed by the mole.
To these trespassers is directly chargeable most of the destruction usually
attributed to the mole. However, the mole is not entirely blameless.
Its runs, when extended into lawns, render them unsightly, and many
small roots are displaced and plants killed by ‘tha tunneling of this
industrious animal. They should of course be kept out of yards and
gardens, and this can be done by persistently trampling down their
tuns. The moles will thus be saved for carrying on the work of des-
troying underground insects in the fields, for which nature has so
admirably fashioned them.

BATS,

Bats perform much the same service in the air that moles do
beneath the ground. Their diet is made up largely of insects, and they
contribute in no small way to holding these pests in check. It is true
that we do not often see them at work, for they hang head downward under
some protecting object during the day, but at dusk they come from their
hiding and with a wierd, broken flight pursue and capture almost every
kind of insect that moves about after night. Bats have little to commend

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 15

them in the way of beauty or interest, but their persistent destruction
of insects represents a saving to the State that should never be over-
looked.

BIRDS.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

Oklahoma has a wealth of bird life of which she may ‘be justly
proud. Native birds occur here in abundance throughout the year, our
rivers and lakes invite the migratory water fowls that annually pass this
way, and the wooded streams and timbered hills offer shelter to countless
birds that come here every year to nest and rear their young. The bird
population is, of course, not as large as it formerly was, but while
many valuable and beautiful birds have been reduced and driven to
the verge of extinction, only a few species have as yet been entirely
lost, and the general awakening of interest in bird life throughout the
State marks the beginning of a new and brighter day for our feathered
friends. We may confidently expect them in greater numbers as the
forces for their protection are taken over by willing hands and carried
into new and broader fields.

WILD TURKEYS.

Wild turkeys, like many of the larger native animals, formed no
small part of the food supply of the pioneers, and in this way they have
rendered a service of importance in the development of the State. These
birds were at one time very numerous, but were so easily approached and
shot that they were annually slaughtered in great numbers. It was
not uncommon in the early days to see as many as five hundred of these
splendid birds in a single bunch, and one hunter reports having seen a
solid, unbroken acre of turkeys. Their habit of roosting in trees prob-
ably contributed in a large measure to their destruction. Hunters would
locate a bunch, and after the turkeys had flown into the trees for the night,
would walk quietly under them, where their large bodies outlined against
the sky made an easy mark for a rifle. .A man from Jefferson, with
two companions, thus killed eighteen turkeys in one evening. A few wild
turkeys are yet free in the mountainous regions of the State, but unless
they receive legal protection it will be only a short time, at the present
rate of destruction, until they are vanquished. Then we will have only
the flock in the Wichita Preserve, which is as tame and fearless as
poultry.

PRAIRIE CHICKENS.

We have left only a pitiful remnant of prairie chickens. ‘They
have been driven from the plains and rolling sand hills where they
normally thrive, into wild retreats where they can secure some measure
of protection from the constant illegal war that is being waged against
them. A few flocks may yet be found in the Panhandle district, and
a small number have in some way kept alive in Ellis County, but they
represent only a small portion of what formerly existed here. Flocks
of a thousand birds were sometimes reported, and a hunter with two

16 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

companions once killed a wagon load of chickens on one hunt. The
law provides no open season on these birds, and they may be brought
back to an abundance where they can again be hunted, but it will take
a long time and a more strict enforcement of the law than is now
maintained.

QUAIL,

If the United States ever sees fit to erect a Hall of Fame for its
birds, the quail will occupy one of the chief places, for it is by all odds
the most valuable bird in North America. This is due not for its meat
alone, although this is a delicacy that is seldom, if ever, surpassed, but
for the constant, unselfish service which this bird renders to the farmer
in its never-ending war against the ravages of insects and weeds. The
quail is an ally of the farmer, staying at his post throughout the
entire year and working on an average ten hours a day. In the summer
it runs down and consumes as many as one hundred and fifty different
‘kinds of insects, and in the winter it gathers and eats almost as many
varieties of noxious weed seeds. This bird has diminished in number
in Oklahoma, not at the hands of hunters alone, though they have
contributed in a large measure, but also because farmers have thought-
lessly burned over its nesting and feeding grounds, and have made no
provision for it in the new order on the farm. Every effort should be
made to bring the quail back to its former abundance, and to anyone
within the State who will provide suitable nesting places the State
Game Warden will furnish free of charge a stock of these birds. There
are a few counties where the quail is yet numerous enough to justify
hunting it, but such places are exceedingly rare. Wherever this bird
is diminishing, it is not only an economic blunder but a crime to de-
erease the number.

HAWKS AND OWLE.

Besides the quail we have a number of other birds that annually
make a large contribution to the wealth of the State through the service
they render to the farm and forest. Hawks and owls stand at the head
of this list, but unfortunately the first of these two does occasionally
take a chicken, and this causes it to be branded as a thief and an outlaw.
No thought is given the excellent service which it renders through the
months when it neither attacks nor cares to attack poultry. The average
adult hawk consumes each day at least six mice or their equivalent
in other rodents or harmful insects. Sincs we have learned by experi-
ment that a single mouse causes an annual damage of at least two
cents, it is a simple process to compute that each adult hawk is worth
more than forty dollars a year to the farmers of the State. There are
two exceptions—Cooper’s hawk, and the sharp-shinned hawk. These
species are thoroughly bad and deserve to be shot wherever found, but
they look so much like beneficial hawks that it is unwise to hunt them
in the field. A better plan is to have a gun at hand and be prepared
to execute summary vengeance on any marauder that dares approach the
chicken yard. Owls possess all the good habits of hawks, with none of

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 17

the bad. They also have the additional advantage of working at night
when the rodents are running about, so that it is difficult to compute the
economic importance of the silent army of owls with representatives in
every community within the State.

WOODPECKERS.

We have not less than ten different kinds of woodpeckers, and
each of them represents a distinct value to the orchard and timber in-
terests. They carry on an interminable search for the deadly grubs and
other insects that burrow into and endanger the life of trees. Wherever
a forest insect pest develops in any section it is sure to attract an army
of hammering woodpeckers, and the birds are soon the victors. They
also have played a part in spreading the forests. These birds are. in
fact, real foresters, in that they are persistent planters of trees and do
not give up their watchful care over them as long as they harbor a
single insect pest. Yes, they do drill holes in telephone poles and riddle
church steeples, but school boys carve their names on beautiful desks.
Both are seeking to be perpetuated; there is no more reason for de-
stroying one than the other.

EAGLES AND VULTURES.

People have never ceased to wonder at the matchless flight of eagles
and vultures. They soar far into the upper atmosphere and float on
motionless wings so smoothly that they appear as mere spots against
the sky. It is said that these birds are never caught in the fury of the
storms but fly above the clouds and descend only after the wind has
spent itself. Both the golden and bald eagle frequent this State and
have been known to nest in the mountainous regions of the south and
east, but they occur in very small numbers and are only occasionally
seen. The turkey and black vultures are found more abundantly and
are commonly seen circling far above the earth in their constant search
for carrion. They have keen powers of vision, and the characteristic
“drop” of a vulture to a carcass will soon bring others from miles

around.
WATER AND SHORE BIRDS.

Our State is situated within the migratory path of a very large
percentage of all the water and shore birds that annually go north for
the breeding and nesting season. Floating clouds of gulls are seen over
the State during the spring and summer months, but on account of their
powerful wings they do not often come to rest upon the ground. Soli-
tary pelicans occasionally fly over, but they usually come in flocks. As
many as one hundred and fifty of these feathered fishermen have spent
the night on the Canadian River a few miles west of Norman. Ducks
come and go throughout the entire year. On. the protected lakes and
ponds they become very tame and are often seen in great numbers. It
is probable that more ducks occur in Comanche County than in any
like area within the State. All told, at least thirty kinds of ducks

18 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

frequent Oklahoma every year. Wild geese were once much more
abundant than they are now, and while they do yet fly over the State in
numbers, they seldom come down except in most inaccessible retreats,
and it is a “red letter day” for the hunter who succeeds in bagging one
of these birds. The towering form of the sandhill crane is sometimes
seen along the larger streams, but its noble cousin, the whooping crane,
has ceased to visit us. The great blue heron was never abundant here
and its numbers now are very limited. However, we occasionally see
this stilt-legged bird, with many of its small relatives, wading about the
shallow ponds in search of crayfish and frogs. Its long beak makes
it a dreaded hunter of the small streams, but Oklahoma will be the poorer
if this ungainly but interesting bird ever disappears altogether from our
shores.
CROWS.

Crows are a bad lot. They have a record of misdeeds almost as
inky black as the coats they wear. Before the planting of grain fields
gave them an unlimited food supply they were never numerous, but
now they occur in numbers so large as to inflict heavy damage on the
farmer in many sections of the State. Their fondness for sprouting
corn is responsible for much of the trouble which they cause, but this is
not all. Crows destroy large numbers of bird nests in the spring, and
do not hesitate to feed the squawking fledglings to their own young.
They come down in clouds on cane and kaffir fields and strip the heads
before they can be gathered. This rapidly increasing multitude of
destroyers presents a problem which will sooner or later have to be met.
The crow has few natural enemies and is far too wise to be poisoned
by the usual methods. A bounty is placed on their heads in many
states, and this will probably soon be done in Oklahoma.

ENGLISH SPARROWS.

It is impossible to say anything too unkind about the English
sparrow. ‘There are few places in the State where this bird does not
occur, and it is multiplying five times as rapidly as any other bird in
North America. This bird is everywhere displacing the native birds,
and is an invariable source of inconvenience about watering places and
buildings. The English sparrow is not beautiful, cannot sing, and lives
almost entirely on the ‘hospitality of the farm. No one should lightly
condemn a bird, but this one unquestionably deserves to die. These
sparrows are gregarious in habit and can easily be poisoned in large
numbers, so that any farm or city can entirely rid itself of these pests
in one winter if it will only learn the methods and apply them.

SONG BIRDS.

Oklahoma is rich in the number and variety of her song birds.
The larger part of these are, of course, migratory, and so remain here
only a part of the year, but they make the woods merry pith their
songs from early spring until the horde of destructive insects is killed

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 19

or driven to shelter by the approach of winter. These feathered songsters
not only contribute immeasurably to the joy of living, which would be
argument enough for their eternal protection, but they wage a ceaseless
war against insect pests and weeds everywhere. They work at all
hours when insects are about and pursue their prey into all accessible
places. The robin is abundant here through the summer months, and
is continually combing the yards and gardens in search of pests. J
is a delight to watch this representative bird attempt to teach its half-
grown young to shift for themselves, but they apparenly will not learn
and after days of patient but vain effort the exasperated parent leaves
part of a wriggling worm on the ground in front of the ravenous young-
sters, and flies away. The young birds proceed in an awkward fashion
to finish their meal, and with the awakening instincts are soon able to
provide for themselves. During the winter months robins are so numer-
ous in the southern part of the State that trees are often covered with
the roosting birds, and vicious men go into these colonies at night with
a lantern and when the frightened birds become bewildered and fly into
the light they are struck down by the hundreds and their mangled bodies
picked up and carried away for food. This condition applies, also, in
a large measure to the cardinals. In the extreme northern part of the
State this bird is migratory, but is a permanent resident of the central
and southern part of Oklahoma, where it often gathers in great num-
bers. They feed very little on insect life, but subsist for the most part
on weed seeds and wild fruits. Wherever they are found in large col-
onies they are preyed upon by degenerate and criminal men, who go
about after night armed with lanterns, clubs, and sacks. If public senti-
ment in such communities is not strong enough to prevent this savagery,
its discontinuance should be guaranteed by the State, even at the cost
of a permanent patrol.

The present number of song birds can constantly be increased if
the citizens will only exercise a little patience and tact. Birds are quick
to recognize their friends and anyone who is willing to make the effort can
double the number of birds on his premises in a single year. Many
cities are organizing bird clubs and providing nesting sites and food
for the birds that have suffered most on account of the change in nature
occasioned by the coming of man. These communities will reap a reward
in increased bird life that will repay the effort a thousand times. Aggres-
sive effort for a worthy cause will ennoble the character of a girl or boy;
it will create in the community a moral tone that is at once fine and
beautiful. The first-hand study of wild life and its systematic care and
protection offer possibilities to the public schools of the State that have
not yet even been sounded.

One could not enumerate, much less discuss, in this brief account,
all the song birds of Oklahoma. There are more than one hundred kinds,
and every one is doing an excellent service for man and deserves every
protection we can throw around it. Our bird life, fortunately, has

20 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

not decreased so much as it has in some other states, and we may always
have a wealth of feathered songsters if only we will it now.

FISHES AND MUSSELS.

FISHES.

Fishing in Oklahoma can never be successfully commercialized,
for there are few large, permanent bodies of water within the State,
and the depth and character of the streams are not such as to make
possible the constant production of fish in quantities. Our rivers and
ereeks, however, contain a large number of excellent food fishes that
will always furnish an abundance of wholesome sport for those who have
the time and patience to go after them. Seining is legal in all the
larger streams, and while too many fish are caught in this way, it probably
will never materially lessen the supply, for the rivers are annually
restocked from the larger streams during periods of high water. Some
large fish are occasionally caught in Oklahoma. The yellow Mississippi
cat is taken in many places, and specimens weighing as much as 100
pounds are not unknown. The blue and channel cat fish abound in
nearly all our streams, but they are not so large. One weighing more than
50 pounds is extremely uncommon. Eels are found in most of the
streams of the State. They range in size up to three feet in length,
but the larger ones are rare. Among the scale fishes the buffalo, drums,
and bass are the largest and most valuable, while the smaller ones in-
cluding the goggle-eye, white, and sun perch are the most numerous and
most widely distributed. The hickory shad is abundant in all the
streams, but it is so thoroughly useless, and has choked so many
uninitiated folk with its countless bones, that it does not deserve to be
mentioned in an account of the fish resources of the State. Sturgeons
and gars occur in all the larger streams and some attain considerable
size. While we now have a fair amount of fish, they cannot always
withstand the outrages being committed against them. Streams not
more than 10 feet in width have been seined to the last fish, and one
man was known to dynamite his own stream at spawning time! If,
however, fishing is conducted in a sportsmanlike fashion, excellent and
profitable sport can be assured and put on a permanent basis.

MUSSELS.

Fresh water clams or mussels occur abundantly in the Verdigris
River throughout a large part of its course, and there is no reason why
anyone living along this stream could not increase the resources of his
farm by a little study and care in the propagation of these animals.
Their shells are worth from $8 to $60 a ton, and the occasional finding
of a valuable pearl adds an element of excitement and possibilities of

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. a

fisherman has secured a pearl from that community which he had sold
for $525. The mad excitement which this created did not fully spend
itself until the last mussel from that region had been hauled from the
water and examined. The clam industry probably never can be de-
veloped to large proportions in this State, but it can be made an addi-
tional source of revenue for those who have land located along suitable
streams.

REPTILES.
SNAKES,

A fear once deeply grounded in the human mind can not easily be
destroyed. This explains why we draw back with uncontrolled fright every
time a tiny snake crosses our path. There are, of ‘course, poisonous
snakes, but we have only four of these in Oklahoma—the rattler, the
copperhead, the cotton-mouth moccasin, and the coral snake. All
our other snakes are no more poisonous than a rat or dog, and there is not
nearly as much reason to fear them. The little spreading viper is
totally devoid of any poison glands, and its peculiar habit of spreading
its head is only a ruse to fool people, a ruse which to this day works
well. The monster bull snake is as harmless as a pelican and worth
a hundred times as much. It spends all its active life in search of
gophers, rats, and mice, and is one of the most effective forces in holding
these destroyers in check. This snake is the only foe ‘of the pocket
gopher, except the weasel, that can enter its burrow and pursue the
occupant to certain death. It is not uncommon to find that a gopher
caught in a trap has been half swallowed by one of these snakes, which
found an impassable obstacle in the trap and gave up its victim. Two
large bull snakes permitted to remain about a store-house will do more
to keep down destructive rodents than five times as many cats. We
have about 40 kinds of snakes in Oklahoma, but only the four named
above are harmful. Poisonous snakes have distinctive characteristics
than can be recognized at a glance. They usually have a head that is
distinctly marked off from the body and does not taper gradually
into the trunk region, as is the case with all harmless snakes. In addi-
tion, the rattlesnake, copperhead, and cotton-mouth moccasin have
heavy depressions or pits between the eyes and the nostrils, and the tail
is abruptly blunt. The rattler is a true sportsman. His bite is always
deadly but he never strikes without first giving warning, and will eat
no creature until its life is completely extinct. These snakes were at
one time numerous over the prairies but they are now nearly extinct
except in the rougher, unsettled regions. No one, of course, regrets the
passing of this most deadly animal, but it is a pitiful condition that
man insists on making an indiscriminate warfare on even the creeping
things on the earth that do us no harm, and which must ever be sacri-
ficed on account of a superstition and false fear that are centuries old.

te
to

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

TURTLES,

Besides the snakes, Oklahoma has a widely distributed reptile popu-
lation that is both varied and interesting. The turtles and terrapins, of
which we have more than 12 varieties, are cold-blooded creatures that.
lie dormant during the winter months, but are seen crawling or swim-
ming everywhere in the summer. The soft-shelled turtle is especially
abundant in many of the rivers, and the tortoises are familiar objects
in the fields and gardens. The members of the turtle group in Okla-
homa are for the most part rather small, but a few large ones are
occasionally taken. Recently an alligator-snapping turtle weighing
110 pounds was taken from Blue River near Durant. When this
specimen was discovered a member of the party ventured certain
familiarities and extended the paddle end of an oar to within a
few inches of its head. At once the massive jaws snapped away 1a
portion of the oar and signaled a warning that was not to be disregarded.
These larger reptiles are not abundant, and only a few are ever taken,
for they frequent the deeper portions of streams and lakes, and «re
seldom seen except through periods of prolonged droughts when the
retreating water leaves them stranded or in shallow pools.

LIZARDS.

The little blue-tailed lizards are present in large numbers and dart
under some protecting object on the first approach of danger. Mountain-
boomers are present in rough, hilly parts of the State where rocks abound,
and the horny “toad,” which is not a toad at all, but a lizard, is a
common sight in practically every community of the State. A few
small alligators have ascended the rivers as far as the central portion
of Oklahoma. A specimen about four and a half feet long was taken
from an over-flow lake south of Norman, and another was reported in
a small lake near Durant. This is, of course, far outside ‘the usual
limits of their natural range, and it is one of the strange, interesting
experiments of Nature in thus projecting an animal into a habitat
remote from its established home, and under conditions that require
radical changes in its manner of living if it is to survive.

INSECTS.

Why is an insect? This question has always been uppermost in
the minds of farmers, while gardeners and fruit growers have never
ceased to speculate on what a paradise this world would be if insects
had never been created. Dwellers in antiquated hotels give eloquent
testimony of the annoyance and humiliation caused by certain of these
lowly animals, and the inhabitants of swampy regions know only too
well‘of the deadly malaria that abounds and claims many human victims
in regions that are infected with the Anophiles mosquito. Texas fever
is transmitted through the bite of a tick, and is responsible each year
for a loss in this State that cannot be expressed with less than six

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 23

figures. The inconvenience and suffering resulting directly or indirectly
from the housefly and the diseases which it spreads represent an eco-
nomic loss that can scarcely be overestimated. Forests in all parts of
the State are being weakened by the ravages of insect pests, and it is a
common sight to see orchards destroyed and turned into cultivated fields,
because the farmers could not compete sucessfully with the hordes of
pests that find an easy food supply in the young fruit trees. Those people
who were in the State in 1907 remember well how the greenbugs came
early in the spring and settled like dust over the wheat fields. They
remained until harvest time and destroyed about twenty percent of the
wheat crop in Oklahoma. The destruction and waste occasioned by
insects each year in this State amounts to more than $40,000,000. This
is an economic waste that in time can be and must be controlled.
Before the coming of the settlers there were no such things as insect
plagues, but man has entirely upset the balance of Nature, and has made
possible the unlimited production of these pests by killing or driving
away their natural enemies, and providing in the cultivated crops a food
supply that would not be possible in the wild order of things. Insects
can be checked and reduced to proportions where they can inflict little
harm. The United States Department of Agriculture has already pro-
vided and tested the methods, but one man working alone cannot do it;.
a county alone cannot, but the whole State working as an organized unit
ean, if it will, arouse itself, and by scientific methods strike forever
from the ledger this annual waste of millions.

SUMMARY.

Communities in their regard for animal life undergo the usual
cycle of development. There are at first the boyhood days, when the primi-
tive instincts to kill and destroy are dominant, and indiscriminate
slaughter is the order of the day. Buffaloes are shot from car windows,
fish ponds are dynamited during spawning seasons, and song birds are
sacrificed by the hundreds for rifle practice. We have now, happily,
passed this barbarous age and are living in the young manhood period
when some prudence is exercised and some restrictions imposed, but
when the spirit of carelessness and indifference prevents the expression of
some of the noblest impulses, and keeps us inactive even after we know
the truth and have sensed our responsibilities. Let us hope that this
State is soon to emerge into the period of mature manhood, characterized
by a deep sense of our obligation to wild life, and a resolute determina-
tion to make reparation, as far as possible, for the blunders of the
past, by preserving and increasing the wild things that yet remain, and
to pass them on undiminished to the future generations.

a4 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

CLASSIFIED LIST OF WILD ANIMALS IN OKLAHOMA.

The following is an annotated check list of the vertebrated animals
occuring in Oklahoma. It is intended only as a preliminary list and is
by no means complete. In its preparation the writer has been con-
servative and included only those species which, from authentic published
records or personal experience, he knows are residents of this State.

Those animals which have recently been exterminated or occur only
in captivity are indicated by an asterisk (*).

The order in which the species are listed is the one which was
thought would be the most convenient for the average reader. The
scientific names are given for the convenience of those who may wish
to check this list with the animals in other states, where the common
names differ widely from those of our own.

MAMMALS. CLASS MAMMALIA.

HOOFED ANIMALS. ORDER ARTIODACTYLA.

Buffalo. (American bison.) *Elk. (Wapiti.)
Bison bison. Cervus canadensis.
Whitetail deer. (Virginia deer.) Mule deer. (Black-tailed deer.)
Odocotleus virginianus, Odocotleus heminous.

Antelope. (Prongbuck.)
Antilocapra americana.

FLESH-EATING ANIMALS. ORDER CARNIVORA.
Mountain lion. (Puma. Cougar.) Bobcat. (Wild cat. Red lynx.)

Felis concolor. Lynx rufus.
Ocelot. (Leopard cat. Tiger cat.) Gray wolf. (Timber wolf.)

Felis pardalis. — Canis occidentalis,
Coyote. (Prairie wolf.) Common skunk.

Canis latrans. Mephitis mesomelas.
Red fox. Little spotted skunk.

Vulpes fulvus. (Hydrophobia cat.)

Spilogale interrupta.

*Kit fox. (Swift fox.) Badger.

Vulpes velox. Taxidea berlandieri.
Gray fox. Black Bear.

Urocyon cinereoargenteus. Ursus americanus.
Otter. *Grizzly bear. (Silver-tip grizzly.)

Lutra canadensis. Ursus horribilius.
Weasel. (Long tailed weasel.) Raccoon.

Putorius longicauda. Procyon lotor.
Mink.

LIntreola vison.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. as;

GNAWING ANIMALS. ORDER

Beaver.
Castor texonsis,

Red squirrel. (Chickaree.)
Sciurus hudsonicus.

Gray squirrel.

Sceurus carolinensis,

Chipmunk. (Rock squirrel.)

Tamias striatus.

Striped ground squirrel.
(Thirteen-lined, or Leopard
Spermophile. )

Citellus tridecemlineatus.

Franklin ground squirrel. (Gray
ground squirrel.)

Citellus franklina.

Prairie dog.

Cynomys ludovicianus.

Ground hog. (Woodchuck.)

Marmota monaz.

Flying squirrel.

Sciuropterus quercett.

White-footed prairie mouse.

Peromyscus maniculatus bairdi.

Field mouse.
Microtus ludovicianus.
Harvest mouse.
Reithrodontomys dychet.

GLIRES. RODENTIA.

Small flying squirrel.
Scwuropterus volans.
Muskrate.
Faber zibethicus.
Wood rat. (Pack rat.)
Neotoma macropus surberi.
Cotton rat. (Marsh rat.)
Sigmodon hispidus texianus.
Meadow vole.
Microtus austerus.
Wood vole.
Microtus pinetorum.
Pocket mouse.
Perognathus paradoxus.

Grasshopper mouse.

Onychomys leucogaster.
Kangaroo rat.

Microdipodops richardsoni.
Deer mouse.

Peromyscus atwatert.
Cotton mouse.

Reithrodontomys chrysotis.
Pocket gopher.

Geomys breviceps.
Prairie mouse.

Peromyscus canus.

RABBITS. FAMILY LEPORIDAE.

Cotton-tail.
Lepus sylvaticus.

Common jack rabbit. (Jack hare.)

Lepus texianus.

Whitetailed jack rabbit.
(Prairie hare.)
Lepus campestris.

INSECT-EATING ANIMALS. ORDER INSECTIVORA.

Common mole.
Scadops aquaticus.

Prairie mole. (Silver mole.)
Scalops sp.

Short-tailed shrew.
Blarina brevicauda.

BATS. ORDER CHIROPTERA.

Little brown bat.
Myotis lucifugus.

Big brown bat.
Liptesicus fuscus.

Big-eared bat.
Myotis sublatus.
Tree bat. (Red bat.)
Lasiurus borealis.

26 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

POUCHED MAMMALS. ORDER MARSUPIALIA.

Virginia Opossum. (’Possum.) *Murine Opossum,
Didelphis virginiana. (Mouse Opossum.)
Marmosa murina.
*A tropical species accidentally introduced in bananas. Has heen taken

at Yukon (2 specimens) and at Norman (13 specimens).

BIRDS. CLASS AVES,

GREBES.
Pied-bill grebe. (‘“Hell-diver.” Dab-chick.)
Podilymbus podiceps.
LOONS.
Great northern diver. (Loon.)
Gavia imber.
GULLS AND TERNS.
Franklin’s rosy gull. Herring gull.
Larus franklini. Larus argentatus.
Least tern.
Sterna antillarum.
CORMORANTS.
Double-crestad cormorant.
Phalacrocorax auritus.
PELICANS.
Great white pelican.
Pelecanus erythrorphynchos.
DARTERS.
Snake-bird. (Darter. Water-turkey. Anhinga.)
Anhinga anhinga.

GEESE, DUCKS, AND SWANS.

American merganser. Canvasback.
Mergus americanus. Martla valisineria,
Hooded merganser. Lesser scaup duck.
Lophodytes cucullatus. Marila affinis.
Mallard. American golden-eye.
Anas platyrhynchos. Clangula americana.
Black duck. Bufthead.

Anas rubripes. Charitonetta albeola.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 27

E..
Gadwall.

Chaulelasmus streperus.

Baldpate.
‘ Mareca americana.
Greenwinged teal.

Nettion carolinense.

Bluewinged teal.

Querquedula discors.

Shoveller.

Spalula clypeata.
Pintail. (Sprig.)

Dafila acuta.
Wood duck.

Ata sponsa.
Redhead.

Marila americana.
Greater scaup duck.

Marila marila.
Ringnecked duck.

Maria collaris.

Ruddy duck.

Lirismatura jamarcensis,
Lusser snow goose.

Chen hyperboreus.
Blue goose.

Chen caerulescens.
Whitefronted goose.

Anser albifrons gambeli,
Canada goose.

Branta canadensis.
Hutchins’s goose.

Branta canadensis hutchinsi.
Smaller whitecheeked goose.
Branta c. occidentalis.

Fulvous tree duck.
Dendrocygna fulva.
Whistling swan.
Olor columbianus.
Trumpheter swan.
Olor buccinator.

IBISES, HERONS, AND EGRETS.

Whitefaced glossy ibis.
Plegadis guarauna.
American bittern.

Botaurus lentigimosus.

Least bittern.
Lxobrychus extlis.

Great blue heron.
Ardea herodias.

Little green heron.

Bulorides virescens.
*Snowy heron. (Snowy egret.)
Ligretia candidissima,
Blackcrowned night heron.

Nycticorax nycticorax.
Yellowcrowned night heron.

Nyctanassa violacea.
Little blue heron.
Flo rida caerulea.

CRANES AND &AILS.,

*Whooping crane.
Urus amerwanda.
Little brown crane.
Grus canadensis.
Sandhill crane.
Grus mexicana.
King rail.
Rallus elegans.

Wilson’s snipe.
Gallinago delicata.

Sora.

Porzana carolina.
American coot. (Mudhen.)
Fulica americana.

American avocet.
Recurvirostra americana.

Blacknecked stilt.
Himantopus mexicanus.

SNIPES.

Yellowlegs.
Totanus flavipes.

us ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

Pectoral sandpiper. Solitary sandpiper.
Pisobia maculata. Lelodromas solitarius.
Least sandpiper. Western willet.
Pisobia minutilla, Catoptrophorus semipalmatus
inornatus.
Semipalmated sandpiper. Spotted sandpiper.
Hreunetes pustllus. Actitis macularia,
Upland plover. (Bartramian
sandpiper.) Longbilled curlew.
Bartramia longicauda. Numenws americanus.
Marbled godwit. *Eskimo curlew.
Limosa fedoa. Numenius borealis.

Wilson’s phalarope.
Steganopus tricolor.

PLOVERS.
Blackbellied plover. Snowy plover. —
Squatarola squatarola. Aegialitis nwosa.
Kildzer.

Oxyechus vociferus.

GROUSE, PARTRIDGE, ETC.

Bobwhite. Prairie chicken.
Colinus virginanus. Tympanuchus americanus.
Western blue quail. Lesser prairie hen.
Callipepla squamata. Tympanuchus pallidicinctus.
TURKEY.

Wild turkey.
Melleagris gallopavo.

PIGEONS.

Mourning dove. *Passenger pigeon.
Zenaidura macroura. Ectopistes migratorwus.
Bandtailed pigeon.
Columba fasctata.

VULTURES.
Black vulture. Turkey vulture. (Turkey
Catharista urubu. “Buzzard.” )

Cathartes aura.

FALCONS AND HAWKS.

Mississippi kite. Cooper’s hawk.
Ictinia mississippiensis. Acciptter coopert.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 29

Marsh hawk.

Circus hudsonius.
Sharp-shinned hawk,

Accipiter velox.
Red-tailed hawk.

Buteo borealis.
Harlan’s hawk.

Buteo b. harlani.
Red-shouldered hawk.

Buteo lineatus.
Swainson’s hawk.

Buteo swainsoni.

Golden eagle.

Aquila chrysaetos.

Barn owl. (Monkey-face owl.)

Aluco pratincola.
Short-eared owl.

Asto flammeus.
Barred owl.

(Strix varia.

Road-runner. (Chaparral Cock.)
Geococcyx californianus.
Yellow-billed cuckoo.

Belted kingfisher.
Ceryle alcyon.

Hairy woodpecker.

Dryobates villosus.

Goshawk.
Astur atricapillus.
Krider’s hawk.
Buteo borealis kridert.
Ferruginous rough-leg hawk.
Archibuteo ferrugineus.
Sparrow hawk.
Falco sparverius.
Osprey.
Pandion haliaetus.
Prairie falcon.
Falco mexicanus.
Rough-legged hawk.
Archibuteo lagopus.

EAGLES.

Bald eagle.
Hahaetus leucocephalus.

OWLS.

Screech owl.

Otus aso.
Burrowing owl.

Speotyto cunicularia.
Western horned owl.

Bubo virginianus pallescens.

PAROQUETS.

*Carolina paroquet.

Conuropsis carolinensis.

CUCKOOS.

Black-billed cuckoo.

Coccyzus erythrophthalmus.
(Rain-crow.)
Coccyzus Imericanus.

KINGFISHERS.

Texas kingfisher.
Ceryle americana.

WOODPECKERS.

Red-shafted. flicker.
Colaptes cafer cellaris.

30 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

Southern downy woodpecker.
Dryobates pubescens.
Red-bellied woodpecker.
Centurus carolinus.
Yellow-bellied sapsucker.
Sphyrapicus varius.
Red-headed woodpecker.
Melanerpes erythrocephalus,

Yellow-shafted flicker.
Colaples auratus.
Pileated woodpecker.
Phloeotomus pileatus.
Texas woodpecker.
Dryobates scalaris.
Ivory-billed woodpecker.
Campephilus principals.

GOATSUCKERS.

Whip-poor-will.
Antrostomus vociferus.
Chuck-will’s4widow.
Antrostomus carolinensis.

Nighthawk.

Phalaenoptilus nuttallit.
Poor-will.

Chordetles virgumanus.

SWIFTS.

Chimney swift.
‘Chastura pelagica.

HUMMING-BIRDS.

Ruby-throated humming-bird.
Archilochus colubris.

PERCHING BIRDS.

FLYCATCHERS.

Scissor-tailed flycatcher.
Musciwora forficata.
King-bird.
Tyrannus tyrannus.
[rail’s flycatcher,
Empidonaz trailli.
Olive-sided flycatcher.

Nuttallornis borealis.
Phoebe.
Sayornis phoebe.

Wood pewee.
Myiochanes virens.

Arkansas king-bird.
Tyrannus verticalis.
Crested flycatcher.
Myvarchus crinitus.
Yellow-bellied flycatcher.
Empdonax flaviventris.
Least flycatcher.
Empidonax minimus.
Green-crested flycatcher.
(Acadian flycatcher.)
Empidonax virescens.
Vermilion flycatcher.
Pyrocephalus rubinus.

Say’s phoebe.
Sayornis saya.

Torned lark.
Otocoris alpestris.

LARKS.

Prairie horned lark.
Otocoris a. praticola.

Desert horned lark.
Otocoris a. lucolaema.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

CROWS AND JAYS.

Blue jay

Cyanocitta cristata.
American magpie.

Pica pica hudsonica,

White-necked raven.
Corvus cryptoleucus.
American crow.
Corvus brachyrhynchos.

BLACKBIRDS AND ORIOLES.

Bobolink.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus.
Cowbird.

Molothrus ater.
Yellow-headed blackbird.

Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus.

Red-winged blackbird.
Agelaius phoeniceus.
Meadowlark.
Sturnella magna.
Western meadowlark.
Sturnella neglecta.

Orchard oriole.

Icterus spwrius.
Baltimore oriole.

Icterus galbula.
Rusty blackbird.

Buphagus carolinus.
Brewer’s blackbird.

ELuphagus cyanocephalus.
Purple grackle.

Quiscalus quiscula.
Bronzed grackle.

Quiscalus quiscula aeneus.

FINCHES AND SPARROWS.

Purple finch.

Carpodacus purpureus.
American cross bill.

Loxia curvirostra.
American goldfinch.

Astragalinus tritis.
Arizona goldfinch.

Astragalinus psaltria.
Pine siskin.

Spinus pinus.
Lapland longspur.

Calcarius lapponicus.

Western grasshopper sparrow.

Coturniculus savannarum.

Baird’s sparrow.

Centronyx bairdii.
Lark sparrow.

Chondestes grammacus.
Harris’s sparrow.

Zonotrichia querula.
White-crowned sparrow.

Zonotrichia leucophrys.
Chipping sparrow.

Spizella passerina.

English sparrow. (House sparrow.) Field sparrow.

Passer domesticus.
Vesper sparrow.

Pooecetes gramineus.
Western vesper sparrow.

Pooecetes qramineus confinis.

Savannah sparrow.
Passerculus sandvichensis
savanna.

Western Savannah sparrow.
Passerculus s. alaudinus.

Cardinal.

Cardinalis cardinalis.

Rose-breasted grosbeak.
Zamelodia ludoviciana.

Spizella pusilla,
Slate-colored junco.
Junco hyemalis.
Song sparrow.
Melospiza melodia.
Lincoln sparrow.
Melospiza lincoint.

Fox sparrow.

Passerella iliaca.
Towhee.

Pipilo erythrophthalmus.
Lasuli bunting.

Cyanospiza amoena.

31

32 ANIMAL
‘Blue grosbeak,

Gutraca caerulea,
Western blue grosbeak,

Gutraca c. lazula.
Indigo bunting.

Cyanospiza cyanea,

Scarlet tanager.
Piranga erythromelas,

Purple martin.
Progne subis.
Cliff swallow.
Petrochelidon luntfrons.

LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

Painted bunting.
Cyanospiza ciris.
Dickcissel.
Spiza americana.
Lark bunting.
Calamospiza melanocorys
TANAGERS.
Summer tanager,
Piranga rubra.
SWALLOWS.
Barn swallow.
Lirundo erythrogaster.
Bank swallow.
Riparia riparia.
WAXWING.

Cedar waxwing.
Bombycilla cedrorum.

Northern shrike.
Lanwus borealis.

Red-eyed vireo.
Vireosylva olivacea.

Warbling vireo.
Vireosylva gilva.

Yellow-throated vireo.
Laniwireo fladtfrons.

Black and white warbler.
Mniotilta :varia.
Worm-eating warbler.
Helmitheros vermivorus.
Golden-winged warbler.
Vermwora chrysoptera.
Nashville warbler.
Vermivora rubricapilla.
Tennessee warbler.
Vermivora peregrina.
Audubon’s warbler.
Dendroica audubonii.
Pine warbler.
Dendroica vigorsti.
Parula warbler.

Compsothlypis americana.

Yellow warbler.
Dendroica aestiva.

SHRIKES.
Loggerhead shrike.

Lanius ludovictanus.
VIREO.

White-eyed vireo.

Vireo noveboracensis.
Small white-eyed vireo.

Vireo n. micrus.
Black-capped vireo.

Vireo atricapilus.

WARBLERS.

Myrtle warbler.

Dendroica coronata.
Palm warbler.

Dendroica palmarum.
Ovenbird.

Seirus aurocapillus.
Water thrush.

Sewurus noveboracensis.
Louisiana water thrush.

Seiurus motacilla,
Kentucky warbler.

Oporornis formosa.
Mourning warbler.

Oporornis philadelphia.
Northern yellow-throated warbler.

Geothlypis trichas.
Yellow-breasted chat.

Icteria virens.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 83

Black-throated blue warbler.
Dendroica caerulescens.
Black-poll warbler.
Dendroica striata.
Black-throated green warbler.
Dendroica virens.
Cerulean warbler.
Dendroica caerulea.

Hooded warbler.
Wilsonia citrina.
Canadian warbler.
Wilsonia canadensis.
American red-start.
Setophaga ruticilla.
Wilson’s warbler.
Wilsonia pusilla.

Magnolia warbler.
Dendroica magnolia.

American pipit.
Anthus rubescens.

PIPITS.

Sprague’s pipit.
Anthus spraguet.

DIPPER.

American dipper.
Cinclus mexicanus.

THASHERS AND WRENS.

Mockingbird.
Mimus polyglottos.
Western mockingbird.
Mimus p. leucopterus.
Cat-bird.
Dumetella carolinensis.
Brown, thrasher.
Toxostoma rufum.

Bewick wren.

Thryomanes bewicki.
House wren.

Troglodytes aedon.
Winter wren.

Nannus hiemalis.
Western marsh wren.

Telmatodytes palustris.

Rock wren.

Salpinctes obsoletus.

CREEPERS.

Brown creeper.
Certhia famiharts americana.

White-breased nuthatch.
Sitta carolinensis.

Slender-billed nuthatch.
Sitta c. aculeata.

Golden crowned kinglet.
Regulus satrapa.

NUTHATCHES.

Tufted titmouse.
Baeolophus bicolor.

Black-capped chickadee.
Penthestes atricapillus.

KINGLETS.

Blue-gray gnatcatcher.
Poltoptila caerulea.

Ruby Crowned kinglet.
Regulus calendula.

Woed thrush.
Hylocichla mustelina.

THRUSHES.

Gray-cheeked thrush.
Hylociclia aliciae.

34 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

Wilson thrush,

Hylocichla fuscescens.
Hermit thrush.

Hylocichla guttata pallasu.

American robin,

Planesticus migratorius.
Bluebird.
Stalia sialis,

Western or mountain bluebird.
Sialia artica.

REPTILES. CLASS REPTILIA.

POISONOUS SNAKES.

Diamond-backed rattlesnake.
Crotalus adamanteus.
Prairie rattlesnake.
Crotalus confluentus.
Timber rattlesnake.
Crotalus horridus.
Massasauga.
Sistrurus catenatus.

Edward's massasauga.
Ststrurus catenatus edwardsi.
Cotton-mouthed moccasin.
Ancistrodon piscivorus.
Copperhead.
Ancistrodon contortria.
Coral snake.
Elaps fulvius.

HARMLESS SNAKES.

King snake.
Ophibolus getulus.
Yellow-bellied king snake.
Ophibolus caligaster.
Corn or rat snake.
Coluber guttatus.
Pilot snake.
Coluber obsoletus.
Black snake. (“Blue racer.’’)
Zamenis constrictor.
Bull snake.
Pituophis sayt.
Coach whip snake.
Zamenss flagelliformis.

Blow snake.

Heterodon nasicus.
Green snake.

Cyclophis aestivus.
Common water snake.

Tropidonotus fasciatus.
Worm snake.

Carphophiops vermes.
Insect snake.

Diadophis amabilis.
“Dryland” moccasin.

Tropidonotus rhombifer.
Texas blind snake.

Glauconia dulcts.

Spreading adder.
Heterodon platyrhinus.

ALLIGATOR.

Alligator mississippiensis.

Blue-tailed lizard.

Eumeces quinquelineatus,
Sonora skink.

Eumeces obsoletus.

LIZARDS.

Clark’s swift.
Sceloporus clarkti.

Horned lizard. (Horned “toad.”)
Phrynosoma cornutxm.

ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 35

Common spotted lizard. Glass “snake.”
Holbrookia maculata. Ophiosaurus ventralis.
Mountain boomer.
Crotaphytus collaris.

TURTLES AND TORTOISES.

Snapping turtle. Common box turtle.
Chelydra serpentina. Cistudo carolina,

Alligator snapping turtle. Gopher tortoise.
AMacrochelys lacertina. Testudo polyphemus.

Common musk turtle. Agassiz’s tortoise.
Aromochelys odoratus. Testudo agassizt.

Keeled musk turtle. Southern soft-shelled turtle.
Aromochelys carinatus. Trionyx ferox.

Mud turtle. Spiny soft-shelled turtle.
Cinosternum pennsylvanicum. Trionyx spinifer.

Diamond-back terrapin.
Malacoclemmys palustris.

AMPHIBIANS. CLASS AMPHIBIA.

TOADS.
Western spadefoot toad. American toad.
Scaphiolpus hammondu. Bufo americanus.
Common toad. Toad.
Bufo cognatus. Bufo compactilis.
FROGS.
Tree frog. Southern tree frog.
Hyla versicolor. Hyla squirrella.
Cricket frog. Leopard frog.
Acris gryllus. , Rana pipiens.
Southern leopard frog. Green frog.
Rana sphenocephala. Rana clamitans

Common bull froe.
Rana catesbiana.
SALAMANDERS.

Tiger salamander. (Axolotl. Mudpuppy. Water-dog.)
Amblystoma tigrinum.

36 ANIMAL LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

FISHES. CLASS PISCES.

Lake sturgeon. IWiekory sh-d.

lcipenser rubicundus. Dorocoma cepedianum.
Shovel-nosed sturgeon. Large-mouthed black bass.

Scaphirhynchus platyrhynchus. Micropterus salmoides.
Mississippi blue cat. Yellow perch.

Ictalurus furcatus. Perca flavescens.
Channel catfish. Guggle-eye.

Ictalurus punctatus. Ambloplites rupesiis,
cullhead. Sunfish.

Amewrus nebulosus. Eupomotis gibbosus.
Yellow cat. Long-nosed gar pike.

Ameiurus natalis Leprdosteus osseus.
Mud cat. : Biack-gill sunfish.

Leptops olivaris. Lepomis pallitus.
“ommon sucker. buffalo.

Catostomus commersoni. Icttobus cyprinella.

Common eel.
’ Anguilla chrisypa.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 37

CHAPTER II.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.*

INTRODUCTION.

Oklahoma is an especially interesting region botanically, being a
transition area between typical Mississippi Valley conditions in its eastern
part, and very different conditions in the foot-hill region of the Rocky
Mountains. The relation to the flora of the Gulf Plain and the more
northern floras within its area is of much importance, since many species
of both regions reach the limits of their ranges within the boundaries of
the State.

Compared with the eastern states, Oklahoma is large, the area being
70.470 square miles, or more than the combined areas of the six New
England states and New Jersey. Oklahoma extends from about 94° 30’
west longitude westward to 103° west longitude and from 33° 38’ north
latitude to 37°. Its form is roughly rectangular with a narrow westward
extension from the northwest corner, known as the Panhandle of the
State.

PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

The lowest elevation in the State is in the southeastern corner, where
the distance above sea level is about 400 feet. The surface rises gradually
to the north and northwest, reaching an elevation of more than 4,000 feet
in the west end of the Panhandle. Along the eastern edge of Leflore
County, near the southeastern corner of the State, the high elevation
of the hilly region, iving between the Ozark Mountains and the Ouchita
Mountain uplift, extends from Arkansas into the State, the highest point
being on Rich Mountain near Page, with an elevation of about 2,000 feet
above sea level. Gradually lower elevations extend westward for about 50
miles. The northern third of the eastern part of the State lies in the
western end of the Ozark range, and in some places along the State line
the elevation reaches 1,000 to 1,500 feet. .

About 30 miles north of Red River, and almost midway along
the south side of the State, the Arbuckle Mountains are found, and
extend for about 30 miles in a general east and west direction. In the
southwestern corner of the State. approximately 30 miles from both the
west line and Red River, the Wichita Mountains rise abruptly. These
mountains consist of a series of hills and mountains of granite, porphyry,

°’Stevens, G. W. and Shannon, C. W.—See “Introduction” page 5.

38 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

and limestone which extend southeastward nearly parallel with the general
course of Red River for about 60 miles, gradually increasing. in
elevation to the east énd of the range, where the greatest height is at-
tained in Mt. Scott, some 1,500 feet in elevation. The gther portions of
the State have few local elevations except the conspicuous ranges of
gypsum hills through several counties in the western part of the main
body of the State (Pl. XI). These bluffs and butts often stand con-
spicuously above the surrounding regions, but their elevations do not
exceed that of the more level country lying west of them.

West of the Gypsum Hills region, the surface is higher and more
nearly even, except where cut into valleys and canyons by the nearly
parallel rivers, and the surface of the region passes gradually into the
Great Plains at about the 100th meridian.

Lying along the north side of the valleys of four rivers in the north-
western part of the State are belts of sand hills, ranging from 2 to 18
miles in width (Pl. VIT). In the counties along the 100th meridian, the
sandy regions, in some places, extend on both sides of the valleys, occasion-
ally crossing the divides.

The surface of the strip 15 to 40 miles broad, extending from the
southeastern corner of the State westward to about the middle of the
south side, is a part of the Gulf Coastal Plain and consists of Cretaceous
formations. The surface rocks of some areas in the Panhandle part of
the State, and the western parts of Cimarron County, are also Cretaceous.
The eastern half of the State, with the exception of the Ouachita and
Arbuckle mountain uplifts, and the Cretaceous area along Red River, is
included in the Carboniferous formations. The extreme northeastern
part of the State, north of the Arkansas and east of Grand River, is
composed of rocks chiefly of Mississippian age, while the remainder of
the area designated consists of rocks of Pennsylvanian age. From about
the middle line of the State, westward, with the exception of the Wichita
Mountain region, and the High Plains area, the rocks belong to the
Permian Redbeds. The surface rocks of the High Plains region consist
principally of Cretaceous and Tertiary formations, with considerable
areas covered by sands of recent age.

SALT PLAINS.

Low lying level sandy tracts varying from one acre to 50 square
miles in area and having salt springs at or under the surface are known
as salt plains. These are all in the western third of the State, and are
mostly located far apart, although in three instances two or three are
grouped in rather close proximity. The saline condition of these plains
is due probably in all cases to the presence of salt springs.* However, the
existence of. such springs has not been demonstrated in the Great Salt
Plains or United States Saline Reserve, in Alfalfa County; but the con-
stant presence of salt water in the sandy floor even in the summer when
evaporation is very great, strongly suggests the presence of saline springs

*Okla. Geol. Survey Bull. No. 11, Chap. VI. page 202.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 39

beneath the floor of the plain. At this period the surface becomes white
with an incrustation of salt. In most of the other salt plains the salt
springs are flowing onto the surface, and the evaporation results in a
crust of salt sometimes several inches thick on parts of the floor, of the
plain. One of these, in the valley of the Cimarron River, known
as the Big Salt Plain of the Cimarron, beginning about 10 miles
south of the Kansas line and extending about 8 miles down the river, is
“the only place where rock salt can be obtained on the surface in all the
plains country. This salt was known and used by the Indians, and was
an article of trade from the Gulf to the British line, and this locality was
a well-known geographical point from which distances were reckoned.”’*
On several of the others salt is abundant and has been manufactured for
local market at three or four of them.

The most conspicuous biological] feature of the Salt Plains is the
almost complete absence of life either in the water or soil. In some of
the less concentrated ponds ditch grass (Ruppia maritima) is found.
About their margins are found cat-tail (Typha angustifolia), bug-seed
(Corispermum hyssopifolium), tumble-weed (Cycloloma antriplicifol-
ium), sea-blite (Suaeda linearis), and water rush (Scirpus campestris
var. pludosus) ; while sea purslane (Sesuviwm. sestle) grows in the salty
sand of the floor plains. Salt grass, (Distichlis spicata), water-rush
(Ssirpus Torrey), rush grass (Sporobolus airoides), and sand rache
(Atriplex argentea) are found about the margins, but are occasion-
ally likewise in other less alkaline parts of the State. Salt-marsh fleabane
(Pluchea camphorata) is occasionally found in slightly alkaline situa-
tions about the plains and is not reported elsewhere in the State.

The size of the Great Salt Plain, about 12 miles long and 6 miles
across in the broadest place, and its low position within a rather extended
basin, lead to the belief that it is the site of an ancient lake which is
called Lake Barde. The presence of the Least Tern nesting regularly
in considerable numbers upon this plain and the Big and Little Salt
plains of the Cimarron is taken by ornithologists as evidence of a former
inland sea in the vicinity. This is a sea coast bird found rarely else-
where except on the Florida, Gulf, and Lower California coasts.

GYPSUM HILLS.

Two formations of gypsum occur in the western part of the State
(Pl. XI). These are exposed along the juncture of valleys and higher,
tracts, and mostly have the form of bluffs and buttes, the latter frequently _
called Glass Mountains or Gloss Mountains. The gypsum caps, on the
bluffs or butts preserve the top of the elevation, with their slow decay-
ing rock, while the underlying red clay is eroded more rapidly, often
leaving perpendicular faces. (See Plate XX.) The rapid erosion of
the sides of these hills and the excess of calcium sulphate (gypsum)
on their tops make unfavorable conditions for plants. A few species are

*Okla. Geol. Survey Bull. No. 11, p. 205.

40 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

usually found on and about them and some of these are mostly not found
elsewhere.

The most exclusively gypsum hill species are plains psilostrophe
(Psilostrophe villosa), and phacelia (Phacelia intergrifolia,) and few-
seeded mentzelia (Mentzelia oligosperma) which grow on the top of the
gypsum cap or the last species in clefts in it; Nama (Nama compactum)
seems to be confined almost exclusively to the guttered and weathered
sides of these hills, the type locality of the species being the
side of the butte in Major County known as Gloss Mountain. The
sharp-scaled grass (Hrioneuron pilosum) is common on somewhat
more permanent places on the sides of the bluffs and is seen growing
at the mouth of the cave in the illustration (Pl. XXI). Evening primrose
(Oenothera massouriensis), sensitive brier (Mimosa borealis). aster
(Aster aricaefolius), evening primrose (Oenothera Hartwegi var.
lavendulaefolia), hairy purslane (Portulaca polisa), vetch (Astragalus
parviflorus), and (A. cuspidata) are found about the sides and bases of
the hills, but they also occur in other locations having red clay soil with
a large content of calcium sulphate. The wild gooseberry (Ribes aurea),
ill-scented sumac (Rhus canadensis var. trilobata), and red cedar (Junt
perus virginiana) are often found rooting in the clefts of the gypsum cap,
but are as often found in soil not especially rich in gypsum.

SAND-HILLS REGION.

Beginning about the middle of the State or a little farther westward
there extends a strip of sandy country along the north side of each of four
nearly parallel rivers, the Salt Fork of the Arkansas, Cimarron, North
Canadian, and South Canadian (PJ. VII). These areas are from 2 to 18
miles broad and stretch northwestrly 50 to 210 miles. Near the western
edge of the State the sandy area along the South Canadian broadens and
becomes continuous on the north with that of Wolf Creek, a tributary of
the North Canadian, and extending southward continues to Washita
River. Farther southward along the western edge of the State extensive
sandy regions are encountered on both sides of Salt Fork and North
Fork of Red River, and east of the latter near its junction with Red River.

The sandy regions along the rivers in the northwestern part of the
State seem to owe their origin to certain weather conditions which have
maintained for a long period in the past, and to some extent are still
operating. .

These rivers are relatively long, the Cimarron and South Canadian
having their sources in the Rocky Mountains. The rains in a semi-arid
country are usually more rapid and of shorter duration than in better
watered regions. In western Oklahoma formerly many rains lasted from
15 minutes to an hour, precipitating in that time from 1 to 4 inches of
water. The uncultivated condition of the soil and the short duration
of the rain resulted in most of the water running off and leaving, it is

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 41

estimated, in some instances, as little as 10 per cent of it in the soil.
The erosion caused by the resulting freshets and floods was great and
the intensely muddy water of the streams carried much sand. The clay
and dissolved substances were mostly carried on to larger rivers, but
the sand was dropped in the river bed in the shape of bars as the velocity
of the water diminished. Long periods of dry weather often intervened
between rains, and in these drouth periods the rivers often became com-
pletely dry. During the summer dry periods the wind blows almost
constantly from the south and has a velocity of from 10 to 40 miles per
hour. The finer sand is carried by such wind and during most of the
time, probably, since the Tertiary period, the winds have been strewing
northward much of the sand brought down by the spring freshets. The
area in the State thus covered by the sand from these four rivers is esti-
mated to be between 3,000 and 4,000 square miles.

The average rainfall here has not increased in the last few decades,
but the cultivation of the soil and growing of crops and trees since the
settlement of the country have resulted apparently in the rainfall occur-
ing more gently and for longer duration. This fact, together with the
receptive condition of the soil caused by cultivation, results in a much
larger part of the precipitation entering the soil and in fewer freshets
and floods as well as less erosion. The sand supply of the river beds is
no longer greatly increased and the sand is mostly kept moist during
the summer and not carried by the wind. These rivers are now seldom
dry and the areas of shifting sand are much reduced. In a few places
the sand still drifts during the summer. In the southwestern part of
Woods County, there are several square miles covered with shifting dunes
and the region is advancing northward covering elm and cottonwood
trees and causing Dog Creek to change its course.

The plant life of the sand-hills consists of fewer species than that
of the adjacent non-sandy regions, the number being greatest along the
margins of the sandy areas, in better watered places and on sand-hills
where sand has long since stopped drifting. The Waynoka dunes, some
of which are 75 feet high, have no plant life except an occasional top of
a buried cottonwood still projecting above the drifting surface.

BLACK MESA REGION.

Where the Cimarron River enters the northwestern corner of the
State it traverses a rather deep valley or broad canyon bounded by sand-
stone-capped bluffs and buttes on the south and by the Black Mesa on
the north. The Black Mesa is a bed of lava or mal pais rock, now
standing above the level of neighboring elevations. The flora is distinctly
western.

SOILS.

The great variety of rock formations found in the regions above
named produces soils differing much in character.. The granites, lime-
stones, sandstones, shales, and clays each make different types of soil.

42 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

The soils of the State may be grouped under the following heads: (1)
Residual soils; (2) Transporicd soils. Under the second type are: (a)
Colluvial soils; (b) Alluvial soils; (c) Aeolian soils. Residual soils are
those which have been formed in the place where they are now found,
and the soils of Oklahoma belong chiefly to this type. The transported
soils of the State consist of those along the streams and the sand areas
of the State. The eastern half of the State has limestone generally present
in the soil. The western half has an abundance, and even an excess of
gypsum, even in the sand hill areas which are in the general gypsum
tegion. The ground water also contains gypsum, and wells in the Per-
mian red clay often furnish water so strong with gypsum that farmers
must depend upon cisterns for holding water for domestic purposes. A
large percentage of the soils of the State are alkaline. The percentage of
acid soils is relatively small.

PRECIPITATION.

The rainfall is greatest in the southeastern part of the State, where
it averages about 43 inches per year, gradually diminishing westward to
Cimarron County, where the average is only 15 inches per year. A con-
siderable part of the central-western part of the State also has a scanty
rainfall. For further information concerning the precipitation, the reader
is referred to a discussion of rainfall on page 37.

Lines marking places of, equal rainfall extend mostly a little west of
south from the northern boundary of the State.

LIFE ZONES.

Four life zones have been distinguished in Oklahoma. ‘The
Upper Austral covers a small area at the middle of the north edge
and most of the Panhandle. The Carolinian zone extends over the
rough and elevated regions in the eastern part of the State. The Lower
Austral zone covers the central and a part of the eastern portions, while
about two-thirds of the eastern portion is in the Austroriparian. These
regions pass imperceptibly into each other, except in a few cases, where
the change is rather abrupt (the Carolinian having rather distinct lines
of contact with the Austroriparian).

RELATION OF PHYSICAL CONDITIONS TO THE FLORA.

In Oklahoma the problem of determining the relation of the different
types of soil, of the elevation (life zones) , of rainfall, and of distributing
agents to the distribution of our species is complicated and difficult. By
reference to the maps contained in this report, it will be seen that the
lines showing the limits of the geological formations, and lines of equal
tainfall largely coincide, and that the lines of equal elevation also in a
general way coincide with these. Along the line of junction between the
Pennsylvanian and Permian formations, numerous species reach the limit
‘of their western range in the State. Conspicuous among these are Syca-

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 43

more (Platanus occidentales), hickory (Corya Illinoensis), hickory (Carya
cordiformis,) hackberry (Celtis mississippiensis), blackberry (Rubus
villosus), black-cap raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), dwarf chestnut oak
(Quercus prinoides), black oak (Quercus veluntina), southern red oak
(Quercus texana), blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), persimmon
(Diospryros virginiana), winged elm (Ulmus alata), flowery dog wood
(Cornus florida). Several of these extend somewhat father westward
than the Pennsylvanian-Permian line in the southern part of the State.
Since the lines of equal precipitation swing westward toward the southern
end of the State, and the species named are found in their farthest west
stations in places suffering less from evaporation than the average condi-
tions of the regions (mountains, canyons, and river valleys), it seems
that the governing factor of their western limits is the amount of moisture
accessible in the soil and the relative freedom from excessive evaporation,
rether than the nature of the soil.

There is a gradual thinning out of eastern species toward the western
part of the State, the western limits of their ranges often extending as
slender tongues along the valleys of the larger rivers, a fact which seems
to point to the reduced moisture supply as the determining factor limit-
ing their ranges. Prairie crab apple (Pyrus toensis), Amercian hazelnut
(Corylus americana), beech (Fagus grandifolia), hop hornbeam (Ostrya
virginiana), cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata), smooth alder (alnus
rugosa), chinquapin (Castanea pumila), willow oak (Quercus phellos),
water oak (Quercus nigra), are found but the division of the Carboni-
ferous formations where they grow terminates mostly in a zone of precipi-
tation between 37 and 40 inches, and since the range of most of these
species includes regions of unlike soil conditions, but not any territory with
less than 37 inches of annual rainfall, it seems to follow that the amount
of precipitation is the governing condition. Aside from certain plans
characteristic of special conditions to be described later, the delimiting
factor in most of our plant ranges seems to be the amount of rainfall.

RELATION OF OUR FLORA TO THAT OF ADJACENT REGIONS.

The examination of the ranges of 1,000 of our species chosen as repre-
sentatives shows the following facts concerning the relation of our flora
to that of adjacent regions. This number of species was chosen rather
than the entire number (about 1500) because the ranges of about one-
third of them are broken, very irregular, or of such outline, such as in-
troduced and vestigial species, as not to lend evidence in the present
investigation. The results are given in the number of species per hundred
of our range, minor fractions being omitted, and major fractions used
as integers.

The flora is divided into groups as follows: (1) Northern. flora,
consisting of species whose southern range does not extend farther south-
ward than Oklahoma (or rarely slightly farther), and divided into two
groups: (a) species ranging through Upper Austral or the Carolinian

44 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

and into the Transition or Alleghanian; and (b) species whose northern
range limits lie in the Upper Austral or Carolinian. (2) Mid-Mississippi
Valley flora, species ranging well into both the Upper Austral or Caro-
linian and the Lower Austral or Austroriparian. (3) Southern flora,
consisting of species whose ranges are confined to the Lower Austral and
Austroriparian, and divided into two groups: (a) those species ranging
mostly through the lower Mississippi Valley, and (b), those species
having ranges confined to Oklahoma, eastern Texas, and Louisiana. (4)
Western species placed into two groups: (a) those whose ranges extend
westward beyond the Upper Austral and into various zones beyond, and
(b) those species confined to the Upper Austral zone (Great Plains).
(5) Local species: (a) those species whose ranges do not extend beyond
any adjacent state, and (b) those whose ranges are confined to Oklahoma.
There is some duplication of species in division (3) group (b), and
division (5) group (a), but the number is less than one per cent.

Approximately 5 per cent of our species are found throughout the
State, or in other words, 19 out of 20 of our plants reach the limit of
their ranges in Oklahoma. 70 per cent of our flora is the western ex-
tension of Mississippi Valley flora, and 7% per cent more is doubtless
derived from the flora of that region. Twenty-one per cent is derived from
the Great Plains or more westerly regions, and there are reasons for
believing that about 2 per cent probably had local origin in Kansas,
Oklahoma and Texas.

DISTRIBUTING AGENCIES.

The importance of distributing agencies is exaggerated in Okla-
homa by the fact that 95 per cent of our species do not extend entirely
over the State. The present distribution of many species is comparatively
recent, for the details of their ranges are determined by local soil and
water conditions that have been developed within a comparatively brief
past. The western limits of many of our eastern species have numerous
slender extensions or outlying stations in the regions west of them, these
being mostly strips following the valleys and canyons of streams up their
courses.

Two of the most generally distributed species in the State are
Carolina poplar (populus deltoides), amd long-leafed willow (Salix
longifolia). Their wide range depends upon the facts that appropriate
soil and moisture conditions for them exist over most of the State, and
that the species have been able to reach the stations where now found.
The wind is doubtless the agency responsible for the wide distribution
of these, as well as for numerous others blown as tumbble-weeds or whose
seeds have pappus or coma of such nature as to enable them to be carried
by the wind, notable examples being found among our composites and
milkweeds.

As far as our eastern species are concerned, the consideration of
water as a distributing agency may be discarded. Our rivers all flow

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 45

south-easterly, and while they doubtless contribute to the distribution
of some of our western species, they cannot assist those migrating west-
ward.

Oklahoma is far enough south (83° 38’ to 37°) so that many birds
which are only summer residents farther northward, such as Robins, Blue-
birds, and Waxwings are common here in the winter, and subsist largely
or partly wpon various kinds of dried fruits. In summer many species
of berry-eating and drupe-eating birds assist in the distribution, and as
a result one or more species of hackberry (Celtis), plum (Prunis),
grape (Vitis), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus), soapberry (Sapindus) ,
sumac (Rhus), greenbrier (Smilax), pokeweed (Phytolacca), Cedar
(Juniperus), oak (Quercus), prickly pear (Opuntia), and cactus (Mam-
millariag have found their way up valleys, into tributary and adjacent
valleys or far out on the prairies.

The examination of numerous stomachs of cedar waxwings, robins,
bluebirds, blackbirds, tanagers, orioles, mockingbirds, brown thrashers,
catbirds, and thrushes reveals seeds and nuts of fruits that help: make
up the birds diet. The red cedar high on the canyon bank, the soap-
berry tree at the head of a tributary canyon or on a hillside above other
trees, the solitary grape vine or sand plum in a grassy valley far re-
moved from others of its kind, the skunk-bush (Rhus canadensis var.
trilobata) perched on the brow of a gypsum-capped butte, the Missouri
currant among the rocks on the rough side of a glass mountain, the
lone hackberry in a prairie draw, the rock-grape growing in a cleft in a
sandstone or granite ledge, are monuments to the services of birds as
distributors of plants.

The writer has been much interested in the relation of the wild
turkey to the distribution of the black-jack (Quercus marilandica) and
Texas oak (Q. undulata). In years when these oaks bear fruit, their
acorns have supplied a large proportion of the food of the wild turkeys
in the vicinity, and the forests of the former species (black-jack oak)
have been most favorable places for the hunter of these birds in winter.
Examination of their crops in winter reveals surprisingly large numbers
of acorns, often more than a hundred being found in a single bird.

The turkey is a ground-living bird and often travels in flocks for
several miles on foot, passing frequently across divides between valleys.
Until 20 or 25 years ago this bird was abundant in the semi-timbered
and prairie regions of Oklahoma and Texas. The accidental death of
one of them often resulted in leaving dozens or scores! of acorns on the
ground miles from oak trees. Some of these acorns must have been in
condition for germination and grown into trees, and the oaks’ range
was thus extended. In the sandhill region along the north side of
Cimarron River in Woods County the black-jack oak reaches its north-
western limit in the State. A similar region along the North Canadian
has this tree reaching its last station 30 or 40 miles farther southwestward.
Along the borders of the wooded regions in these sections and especially

46 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

just at the western edge and often from a half to two miles beyond one
finds places where numerous small oaks grow very closely together over
a few square rods of area showing by their cross-sections about the same
age. One finds no such clusters of quite young trees, nor does one find
the large oaks in the woods conspicuously clustered. The explanation
seems to be that the cluster of young oaks is from acorns left where a
coyote, wild-cat, or eagle destroyed a turkey. Most of the trees in the
clusters that have been formed for centuries have disappeared in the
struggle for existence, and the cluster as such is no longer evident. There
are no new outlying clusters now appearing because. it is believed, there
are no longer wild turkeys in these regions.

PLANT FAMILIES IN OKLAHOMA.

The following pages give a summarized discussion of the plant life
of Oklahoma. The summary is by families, and under each family name,
the more common representatives are given, also general statements in
regard to habitat, character of growth, distribution, and importance. In
some cases where several species are known, the number is indicated by
the figure (7) within the parenthesis directly following the name.

FERNS AND AILLIES (PTERIDOPHYTA.)

FERN FAMILY— (Polypodiaceae).—Including a large number of
ferns, among which are the scaly, beach, powdery, maidenhair, bracken
and lip, lady, walking, christmas, shield, woods, evergreen, wood bladder.
and sensitive ferns, also several varieties of the royal fern family, adder’s
tongues, water ferns, the horsetail or scouring rush family, and quill-
worts.

SEED-BEARING PLANTS—FLOWERING PLANTS (SPERMATOPHYTA).
GYMNOSPERMAE.

PINE FAMILY—(Pinaceae)—Includes the pines, cedars (3),

juniper, and water cypresses (in.swamps in southeastern corner of the

State).
ANGIOSPERMAE.

CATTAIL FAMILY—(Typhaceae).—The broad-leaved cattail is
found in wet places throughout the State, while the narrow leaved or salt
plains cattail is found only in wet places in the northwestern part of the
State about the salt plains.

BUR-REED FAMILY—(Sparganiaceae).—Includes the bur-reeds
found in moist or wet places in the eastern half of the State.

POND-WEED FAMILY—(WNaiadoceae) —Includes the pond-weeds
and ditch grasses, water-plantin family (Alis maceae). This family
includes the arrowheads (Sagittaria) (9), the burr-heads (Echinodorus),
and water-plantins(Alisma).

GRASS FAMILY—(Gramineae.)—This family includes a very
large number of grasses, both wild and cultivated, including the Johnson
grass, foxtail, reed grass, blue stems, wild oats, and many others.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 47

SEDGE FAMILY— (Cyperaceae).—Includes the cypresses, found
in wet sandy soils over most of the State, nut grasses, spike rushes (36),
bullrushes (9), umbrella grasses, dwarf sedges, beak-rushes, nut-rushes,
and sedges, of which there are a large number.

ARUM FAMILY—(Araceae).—This family includes the Indian
turnip, or Jack-in-the-pulpit, found in moist woods in the eastern part
of the State. The green dragon or dragon root is found in moist woods
over the State, except the west and northwest part; and the sweet flag or
calamus-root is found in the eastern part of the State.

DUCK WEED FAMILY—(Lemnaceae).—This family includes
several species of small green plants, floating in large numbers on quiet
water, found to some extent over the State, but chiefly in the eastern half.

YELLOW-EYED GRASS FAMILY—(Xyridaceae).—Includes
only one genus found in the State. This is the slender yellow-eyed
grass in the eastern part of the State.

SPIDERWORT FAMILY—(Commelinaceae).—Herbs with jointed
round stems, mostly branched, including the spiderworts and day-flowers.

PICKEREL WEED FAMILY—(Pontederiaceae).—Including the
picarelle, wood and mud plantins. The plants of this family grow in
the central-eastern part of the State.

RUSH FAMILY—(Juncaceae).—Includes the rushes (20).

LILY FAMILY—(Liliaceae).—This family includes the bunch
flower, false helebore, wild onions (including the garlics), and Oklahoma
lily—found on prairies over the entire State, except part of northeast
corner, lilies, dog-tooth violet, bellworts, hyacinths, star flower, yuccas
(soap root), asparagus, false Solomon’s Seal, Solomon’s Seal, lily of the
valley, wake robin (Trilliwm), and Green briars (7).

YAM FAMILY—(Dioscoreaceae).—Wild yam root (Colic root).

AMARYLLIS FAMILY—(Amaryllidaceae).—Yellow star-grasses.

IRIS FAMILY—(Jridaceae).—Irises, blue flags, and blue-eyed
grasses.

ORCHARD FAMILY—(Orchidaceae)—This family includes the
mocassin flower, the lady’s slippers and showy orchis, and several other
species.

LIZARD-TAIL FAMILY—(Saururaceae).—Lizard-tail in swamps
and along pond margins in eastern part of State.

WILLOW FAMILY—(WSalicaceae)—Including the willows of
which there are at least 6 species and the poplars, including the silver-
leaved or white poplar and the cottonwoods (2).

WALNUT FAMILY—(Juglandaceae).—The walnuts (3) and
hickories (10).

BIRCH FAMILY—(Betulaceae) —Including the hazel, iron wood,
hornbean, birches, and alders.

48 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

OAK FAMILY—(Cupuliferac).—Including the beech, chestnuts
(2), and oaks (17).

NETTLE FAMILY—(Urticaceae).—Including the elms (3),
hackberries (2), Bois d’Arc (Osage orange), mulberries, woodnettles,
stinging nettles, and hops.

SANDAL-WOOD FAMILY—(Santalaceae) —Mistletoe. The
toad-flaxes, partly as root parasites on trees and shrubs.

DUTCHMAN’S-PIPE FAMILY—(Aristolochia macrophylla) .—

JOINT WEED FAMILY OR BUCKWHEAT FAMILY—(Poly-
gonaceae).—Includes the gray-weeds, docks and sorrels, and joint weeds.

GOOSE FOOT FAMILY—(Chenopodiaceae).—Including the sand
tumble weed, small cypress, lamb’s quarters, mealy goosefoot, oak-leaved
goosefoot, dwarf lamb’s quarters, Russian thistle, Russian lamb’s quar-
ters, and several others; white sage (winter-foot), bug-seed, Jerusalem
oak, Mexican tea.

AMARANTH FAMILY—(A maranthaceae).—Includes Amaranths
pig-weeds, tumble weeds, western water hemp, and blood-leaf (Juda’s
bush).

POKE-WEED FAMILY — (Phytolacaceae).— The poke-weeds
(poker-root), common in wet and moist places throughout the State, ex-
cept the Panhandle counties.

FOUR O’CLOCK FAMILY—(WNyctaginaceae).—Including several
species of the four o’clock, generally widely distributed.

CARPET WEED FAMILY—(Aitzoaceae).—Western sea purslane
and carpet weeds.

PINK FAMILY—(Caryophyllaceae).—The pearl worts, sand
worts, chickweeds, corn cockle (corn rose), catchfly, fire pink, starry cam-
pion, and bouncing bet.

PURSLANE FAMILY—(Portulacaceae).—Spring beauties, com-
mon throughout the State, fairy flower, talinums, purslanes, and rose
moss.

HORNWORT FAMILY—(Ceratophyllaceae)—Hornweeds or
hornworts, common in ponds and slow streams in the eastern part of the
State. ,

WATER LILY FAMILY—(Nymphaeaceae)—lIncludes the cow
lily (spatterdock), water lilies, American lotus (Chinquapin, water yuan-
kapin), and water target.

CROWFOOT FAMILY—(Ranunculaceae).—Including the butter
cups (crows-foot), meadow rues, anemone, wild clematis, leather flowers,
columbine (rock-bells), lark-spurs, and baneberry.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY—(Magnoliaceae).—Magnolia, includes sev-

eral species, only one of which is native to the State. This is the magnolia
accuminata (Cucumber tree).

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. ° 49

CUSTARD APPLE FAMILY—(Anonaceae).—Pawpaws, (Asim-
ina triloba) in wooded areas in the northeastern corner of the State.

MOON SEED FAMILY—(Mentspermaceae).—Includes the moon-
seeds and cupseeds. These plants grow along streams, and are widely
distributed, except are not found in the western part of the State.

BARBERRY FAMILY—(Berberidaceae).—This family includes
the may-apple or mandrake. This is found in rich woods in the eastern
part of the State.

LAUREL FAMILY— (Lauraceae).—lIncludes the sassafras (ague-
tree) and spiced bush. The plants of this family are ‘limited to the
eastern part of the State.

POPPY FAMILY—(Papaveraceae).—Includes the blood-root,
found in rich woods in the eastern part of the State, and the prickly pop-
pies on prairies and sandy soils, widely distributed over the State.

FUMITORY FAMILY—(Fumariaceae).—Includes the corydalis,
of which there are several varities found chiefly in the eastern half of the
State.

MUSTARD FAMILY—(Cruciferae).—Includes the whitlow grass-
es, velvet-flowers, bladder-pods, pepper-grasses (including the tongue
grass, penny-cress), shepherd’s purse, false flax, horseradish, mustards,
turnip, yellow phlox, water-cresses, purple rocket, bitter-cresses, and
rock-cresses.

‘i CAPER FAMILY—(Capparidaceae).—Clammy-weeds and spider
ower.

ORPINE FAMILY—(Crassulaceae).—Includes the stonecrop, live-
for-ever and rock-moss.

SAXIFRAGE FAMILY—(Sasifragaceae).—Texas saxifrage, alum
roots, mock-orange, wild hydrangea, Virgina willow, Missouri currant
(buffalo-currant).

WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY—(Hamamelidaceae).—The witch-
hazels, sweet gum (star leaved gum, red gum, bilsted), in woods in east-
ern and southeastern part of the State, sycamore (buttonball tree, button-
wood plane tree), along streams. This last known tree is found along
the streams in the eastern half of the State, and westward to the Chickas-
kia River, along the north side.

ROSE FAMILY—(Rosaceae).—American ipecac, in the extreme
eastern edge of the State; apple trees including the western crabapple, on
river bottoms in the northeastern part of the State; service berry (shad-
bush) over the eastern edge of the State, westward to the Arkansas River
in the northern part.

HAWS OR THORN FAMILY—(Crataegus).—Thorns (11). Wild
strawberries, cinquefoils, avens, small-leaved nut, mahogany (on sand-
stone ibuttes in Cimarron County), blackberries, raspberries, dewberries,
agrominy, wild roses, (6), wild plums, wild berries (10).

50 . PLANT LIF IN OKLAHOMA.

PEA FAMILY— (Legiminosae).—This family includes the sensi-
tive briar found on rough hill sides and grassy slopes throughout the
State, except in the extreme western part; Desmanthus (3), mesquite
(on prairies and river valleys in the western third of the State); Ken-
tucky coffee tree (coffee-bean tree), honey locust, blueweed or cycle pod,
partridge pea, sensitive plants, bank burr, redbud, Judas tree, wild indigo,
and false indigo, rattle boxes, Nebraska bluepine (western Panhandle
counties), clovers (trifolium), sweet clovers, prairie bird’s foot, trefoil,
snakeroot, Indian or prairie turnip, also called bread-root, bead plant,
or devil’s shoestring, river locust or false indigo, wild sweet pea, western
indigo plant, peatree, wisteria, ground plums, tick-trefoil (15), bush-
clovers (12), pencil flower, vetches (8), wild peas, ground-nut, wild
bean, hog peanut, milk peas.

FLAX FAMILY—(Linaceae).—Includes the cultivated and wild
flaxes (8).

OXALIS FAMILY—(Ozalidaceac).—This family includes the
oxalis or wood sorrels. All of the forms are found throughout the State,
but are most abundant in the central and eastern part.

GERANIUM FAMILY—(Geraniaceae).—Crane’s bill geraniums,
in waste places and lawns, over most of the State, but chiefly in the
eastern part.

CALTROP FAMILY—(Zygophyllaceae).—Herbs having prostrate,
much branched stems, including the coltrap burr, or Mexican sand burr,
found in the northwestern part of the State; and the greater caltrop
found throughout the prairie parts of the State.

RUE FAMILY—(Rutaceae)—Includes the prickly ash or tooth-
ache tree, found in the eastern and southern parts of the State; and the
hop tree (ptelea trifoliaia), found in open woods and rocky banks
throughout the State.

MILKWORT FAMILY—(Polygalaceae).—Includes 5 species of
the milkwort, widely distributed throughout the State.

SPURGE FAMILY—(Luphorbiaceae) —This family includes sev-
eral plants, among which are the spurge nettles (tread-softly), the croton
weeds (goat weed), the three-seated mercury, queen’s delight, and the
spurges (23).

SUMAC FAMILY—(Anacardriaceae).—Includes the sumacs,
poison ivy and American smoke-tree (eastern part of the State).

HOLLY FAMILY—(Jlicaceae).—Includes the hollys of which 2
species are found in Oklahoma, the American white or Christmas holly,
and the swamp holly, found in swamps and thickets in the eastern part
of the State.

STAFF TREE FAMILY—(Celastraceae).—Includes the wahoos
(burning bush) and bittersweets.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 51

BLADDERNUT FAMILY—(Staphyleaceae)—The true bladder-
nut is represented by only one species in our State, the American bladder-
nut found in woods and thickets in the northeast corner of the State.

MAPLE FAMILY—(Aceraceae).—-Several species found growing
chiefly in the eastern part of the State, also many varieties in cultivation.
(See list of trees and shrubs following).

SOAPBERRY FAMILY—(Sapindaceae)—This family is repre-
sented by the chinaberry or soap berry tree, and three or four species of
the buckeye.

FOR-GET-ME-NOT FAMILY—(Balsaminaceae).—This family is
Tepresented only by the spotted or wild touch-me-not, sometimes called
silver leaf, found in moist places in the eastern part of the State.

BUCKTHORN FAMILY—(Rhamnaceae).—This family includes
chapparel (condilia), supple jack (rattan vine), Carolina buckhorn, and
New Jersey Tea or redroot.

GRAPE FAMILY—(Vitaceae).—This family includes the Virginia
creeper, which is common throughout the State; the false grapes, pepper
vine, and several species of wild grapes.

LINDEN FAMILY—(Tiliaceae).—This family includes the bass-
wood or linden tree of which there is but one species growing native in
the State.

MALLOW FAMILY—(WMalvaceae).—Includes the Indian mallow,
false mallow, running mallow, poppy mallows (6), and rose mallows (3).

SAINT JOHN’S-WORT FAMILY—(Hypericaceae).—This family
includes St. Andrews’ cross and the St. John’s-wort of which there are
several species, found chiefly in the eastern part of the State.

ROCK-ROSE FAMILY—(Cistaceae).—This family includes the
frost weeds and the pin weeds, found growing in dry, sandy places in
the eastern two-thirds of the State, and also in the vicinty of the Wichita
and Arbuckle mountains.

VIOLET FAMILY—(Violaceae).—There are about 20 species of
violets known in the State. Some of these are widely distributed, but
are chiefly found in the eastern part of the State.

PASSION FLOWER FAMILY—(Passifloraceae).—This family is
represented by 2 species found in the eastern part of the State.

LOASA FAMILY—(lLoasaceae).—Consisting of small, much
branched herbs with rough surfaces and with barbed stinging hairs, found
on sandy hill sides and prairies throughout the State.

CACTUS FAMILY—(Cactaceae).—This family is represented by
the hedgehog, pin cushion, cacti, and the prickly pears.

LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY—(Lythraceae).—This family includes °
the water purslane, tooth cups, loosestrifes and wax-weeds.

MEADOW BEAUTY FAMILY—(Melastomaceae).—Includes the
meadow beauties found growing in sandy, swampy places in the eastern
part of the State.

52 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY—(Onagraceae).—Includes
various willow-herbs, the evening primroses (19), gaura, and enchanters
night shade.

WATER MILLFOIL FAMILY—(Zaloragidaceae).—These are
aquatic herbs, including the water millfoil and the mermaid weeds.

GINSENG FAMILY—(Araliaceae)—This family is represented
in our State only by the common ginseng (panax quinquefolia), found
in rich woods in the eastern part of the State.

PARSNIP FAMILY—(Umbelliferae) —This family is represented
in our State by several species of the snakeroot, pennyworts, chervil,
sweet cicely, sand parsley, cowbane, hedge parsley.

DOGWOOD FAMILY—(Cornaceae).—The dogwoods, small trees
or shrubs, represented in this State by 4 species and the tupelos, repre-
sented by tupelo gum, and the sour or black gum.

LOGANIA FAMILY—(Loganiaceae).—A family represented by
only 2 species in our State, so far as known.

GENTIAN FAMILY—(Gentianaceae).—This family includes the
rose-pinks and centaurys.

DOGBANE FAMILY—(Apocynaceae).—Includes amsonia, dog-
bane and Indian hemp.

MILKWEED FAMILY—(Asclepiadaceae)—This family includes
the milkweeds, of which there are at least 20 species, the sand vine, and
baldwin’s anglepods.

MORNING-GLORY FAMILY—(Convolvulaceae).—This family
includes the morning-glories, of which there are 10 or 12 species, widely
distributed over the State; the bindweeds and dodders.

PHLOX FAMILY—(Polemomaceae)—The family includes the
phloxes and gilias.

WATERLEAF FAMILY—(fHydrophyllaceae).—Includes phacelia
and nama.

BORAGE FAMILY—(Boraginaceae)—This family includes the
heliotropes (4), wild comfrey, stickseeds, for-get-me-nots, scorpion grasses.
puccoons, and western false gromwell.

VERVAIN FAMILY—(Verbenaceae).—Includes the verbenas or
vervains, of which there are 11 species; the lippia (fogfruit) ; and the
French mulberry, a fruit with a blue, berry-like group, with 4 nutlets,
but does not belong to the mulberry family.

HEATH FAMILY— (£ricaceae).—This family includes the Indian
pipe or ghost flower, the azeleas, male berry, and the huckleberries. All
the plants of this group growing are found in the eastern and southeastern
parts of the State.

PRIMROSE FAMILY—(Primulaceae).—This family includes the
water pimpernells, loosestrifes, chaffweeds, shooting star (American
cowslip), Indian chief, rooster head. The plants of this group occur in

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 53

moist soils and along streams in the southern and southeastern part cf
the State. .

SAPODILLA FAMILY—(Sapotaceae).—This family is repte-
sented in our range by only one species, chittim-wood, the woody buci:-
thorn (Bumelia launginosa). This species occurs in open woods througin-
out the State. Southern buckthorn occurs in the Arbuckle Mountains
(Bumelia lyciodesa.

EBONY FAMILY—(benaceae).—This family is represented by
one species in our State, the common persimmon (Diospyros virginia).
This species occurs as a shrub or small tree in creek valleys and draws
throughout the State, except in the Panhandle counties.

STORAX FAMILY—(Slyracaceae).—This family is represented
by the silverbell or snowdrop tree. It occurs in the southeastern part of
the State.

OLIVE FAMILY—(Oleaceae).—This family includes the ashes
of which there are at least 3 species in the State; the swamp privets;
and the fringe-tree or old man’s beard.

MINT FAMILY—(Labdiatae).—This family includes a large num-
ber of plants which are the fermanders (woodsage), pennyroyal, skull-
eaps (6), common or white horehound, hyssop, catnip or catmint, ground
ivy, carpenter weed or heal-all, dragonhead or lion’s heart, henbit, common
motherwort, hedgenettle, sage, horsemint, woodmint, pennyroyal (3). low
calamint, mountainmint, water horehounds, spearmint and peppermint.

POTATOE FAMILY—(Solanaceae).—This family includes the
night shades (8), among which are the various night shades, named
chiefly from the shape of the leaf; the horsenettle; and buffalo burr
(bull-nettle, Santa Fe thistle, sand burr) ; the ground cherries (31) ; and
the jimson weeds.

FIGWORT FAMILY—(Scrophulariaceae)—This family includes
the mullins (2), found in the eastern and northeastern parts of the
State, the toad flaxes (2) (butter and eggs, blue toad-flax), the figworts,
beard-tongues, monkey flowers, hyssops, mullin (fox-glove), gerardia (9),
blue-hearts, painted cup, and Indian paint brush.

BLADDERWORT FAMILY—(Lentibulariaceac).—This family
includes certain low, delicate herbs living in water or moist soils. The
family is represented by 4 or 5 species occuring in the eastern half of
the State, and in the vicinity of the Wichita Mountains.

BROOM-RAPE FAMILY—(Orobranchaceae).—This family is rep-
resented by 2 species—the Louisiana broom-rape, found in sand soils
in the western end of the State, and in thé Panhandle counties, and the
one flowered broom-rape or cancer root, growing parastic on the roots of
several species of herbaceous plants in the eastern part of the State.

CATALPA FAMILY—(Bignoniaceae).—The family is represented
in Oklahoma by the trumpet creeper vine (tecomma radiacans) ; and the
western catalpa,( hardy catalpa, cigar tree, catawba tree) (catalpa

54 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

speciosa), and the southern catalpa or Indian bean (catalpa bignoniydes).
Both of these catalpas are planted for shade and the former one espe-
cially being extensively grown.

MARTYNIA FAMILY—(Martyniaceae).—This family is repre-
sented in the western part of the State by a single genus which includes
one species so far as known—devil’s claw or unicorn plant.

ACANTHUS FAMILY—(Acanthaceae).—This family includes the
water-willows (3) and the ruella.

LOPSEED FAMILY—(Phrymaceae).—The family is represented
by a single species of lopseed found in woods and thickets in the northern
and northeastern parts of the State.

PLAINTAIN FAMILY—(Plantaginaceae).—This family includes
the common plaintains (12), widely distributed over the State.

MADDER FAMILY—(Rubiaceae)—This family includes several
species of plants within the State, among which are the bed-straws, wild
liquorice, the button weeds, partridge berry or tern berry, butterbush or
globe flower and the bluets.

HONEY-SUCKLE FAMILY—(Caprifoliaceae).—Includes the
honeysuckles, found chiefly in the eastern and southern parts of the State,
the coral berry or buck-bush (symphoricarpos symphoricarvos) ,
in woods along streams throughout the State, except the extreme north-
western and Panhandle counties, black haws (2), and the common elder,
found along streams over the entire State, except in the Panhandle
counties. i

VALERIAN FAMILY—(Valerianaceae).—This group includes 2
or 3 species among which are the cornsalids found in the eastern and
southern parts of the State.

GOURD FAMILY—(Cucurbitaceae)—This family includes the
wild gourds, squashes, and pumpkins.

THE CAMPANULA FAMILY—(Campanulaceae)—Herbs with
milky sap, among which are the venus-looking glass, and bell flowers.

LOBELIA FAMILY— (Lobeliaceae).—Includes lobelias (6). °

THISTLE FAMILY—(Composttae)—This family includes a
large number of our herbs and a few of the shrubs. Among these plants
are the iron weeds (veronia) (7), bonesets or thoroughworts (10) (eupa-
tarinm) elephant’s foot (elephantopus), blazing stars (5), rosinweeds or
gumplants (3), broom weeds, kindling weed or august flower, golden
asters (4),. goldenrods (21), sand daisies, daisies, asters (20), fleabanes
(11), willow baccharis (in river valleys in the western half of the State),
tabbit tobacco, marshfleabanes, cat’s-foot, pearly everlasting, white bal-
sam, sweet life everlasting, purple cudweed, leaf-cups, rosin-weeds (5),
ferverfew, ragweeds (5), cockle-burs (3), prairie zinnia, false sunflowers,
cone-flowers (14), column flowers, sunflowers (20), coreopsis (7), beggar-
ticks or sticktights, including the Spanish needles, sneeze weeds, yarrows,
dog-fennel (may-weed), feted marigold, ox-eyed daisy, sage brushes (11),

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 55

Indian Plantains, common groundsel, butterweed, ragworts, squawweed,
common burdock, thistles (5), American starr thistle, chickory, dwarf
dandelion (3), false dandelion, common dandelion, sow thistles, including
the spring sow thistle and rabbit lettuce, wild lettuce (8), rattlesnake
root, white lettuce, and hawkweeds (3).

TREES AND SHRUBS.
Far back in geologic history we find the records of tree growth.

Our coal beds are the products of abundant growth of vegetation,
consisting in a large part of trees, many of which reached large propor- ’
tions. Fossil leaves, plants, and twigs in the shales and sandstones, and
the silicified trunks of trees commonly found bear out the extensive
growth of trees in times past.

Within recent times the greater part of the land surface of the earth
has been covered with forest growth. At the present time trees are
among the most conspicuous objects of nature. It has been estimated
that the aggregate original area of the forests ‘of North America was
about 850 million acres. This original area has been reduced until not
more than 550 million acres remain, and a large percentage of this is
not to be considered in the area of the economic timbered region.

A tree is usually defined as a plant with a single trunk of woody
structure that does not branch for some distance above the ground. Woody
plants that branch directly above the soil, although they grow to a
height of 20 feet or more, are called shrubs or bushes. Certain shrubs
may be made to grow treelike, and some plants which are shrubs in the
northern states grow as trees of considerable size farther south.

A tree consists of three parts; first, the root; second, the branch or
stem; third, the crown. The root extends into the ground from a few
inches to several feet, according to the variety of tree, character of soil,
and the moisture conditions. The trunk or stem supports the crown and
supplies it with mineral food and water from the roots. The crown con-
sists of a network of branches, buds, and leaves. The most important
processes in the growth, reproduction and nourishment of the tree, take
place in the crown.

Trees and shrubs as they stand together on some large area whose
principal crop is trees and shrubs constitutes a forest. However, a forest
is far more than a collection of trees. It has a population of animals and
plants peculiar to itself, a soil largely of its own making, and climatic
conditions differing from those in the open country. The forest pre-
vents floods, influences rainfall, supplies fuel, timber, and food.

But with all the good that the forest has been to man its real value
has not been considered and it has been recklessly used and ruthlessly

destroyed.

The United States is divided into several forest regions. A single
unbroken forest belt—the spruce forest of Canada, extends across North
America. *(1) A part of this belt extends within the borders of the United

(1) Bowman, Isaac, Forest Physiography, p. 123.

56 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

States in the region about the Great Lakes. This region has the typical
growth of black and white spruce, poplar, canoe birch, aspen, and tama-
rack,

To the southward from the south limit of this spruce forest are
marked forest regions extending in a north-south line. These are the
Atlantic forest, the Pacific forest, the Rocky Mountain forest, and the
forested regions of the Great Basin. The Great Plains region is forestless
but not treeless.

Oklahoma is in part in the forest region of the Great Basin and
part in the region of the Great Plains. The east one-third of the State
lies chiefly in the timbered belt. The southeastern part of the State has
a forest growth, which places it in the southern. forest belt which is
chiefly characterized by the long leaf, short leaf, loblolly, and slash pine.
In the northeastern part of the State east of Grand River and north of
the Arkansas is found a tree growth very characteristic of a hardwood
forest of the central Mississippi valley. The remainder of the principal
timbered region of the State hes within ihe Sandstone Hills region, except
ce area in the Arbuckle Mountain and the Cretaceous plains along Red

ver.

A strip 75 miles wide clear across the east side of the State is covered
with heavy timber. The northern part of the strip is hard wood. South
of Arkansas River it is chiefly pine, hickory, and oak. There are millions
and millions of feet of valuable timber. The pine is of the yellow variety.
The hardwood is oak, hickory, walnut, elm, and maple. In the south-
eastern part of the State pine timber is of much more value than the
land on which it stands. One lumber company, it is said, owns enough
timber to keep its mills running 20 years if they cut 100,000 feet every
” day. ‘

In the western half of the State trees are found usually only along
the streams or on the sandhills. The level uplands are grass covered.
Cottonwood, elm, hackberry, chinaberry, walnut, willow, dogwood, redbud,
soapberry, box elder and mulberry are the chief kinds found. On the flat
prairies and along some of the streams in the western part is found the
thorny mesquite. Blackjack, barren, post oak, hackberry, hickory, and
sumac grow on the sand hills. On the high plains in the extreme western
part of the State there are very few trees even along the streams, but
even here an occasional low elm or dwarf cottonwood or willow may
be found. One of the problems which confronts the citizens is to discover
what trees may be transplanted and grown in the treeless part of the
State. The inhabitants desire shade trees and it is important that trees
be secured which will meet the conditions. Difficulty will often be ex-
perienced in getting trees started in this region, but many efforts will
meet with success.

The black locust, soft maple or silver maple, box elder or ash leaved
maple, the green ash, mulberry, and catalpa are being most widely planted

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 57

for shade in our cities. Cottonwood may also be added to the list. The
chief reason for selecting most of these trees is that they are quick
growing. The locust if used will have to be safeguarded against the locust
borers which have wrought such great havoc in other states; the catalpa
against the catalpa sphinx. The cottonwood, while a very rapid grower,
has its faults. It sheds leaves continually through the summer and
becomes bare in early fall, and the roots find their way into wells
-and sewers and do much damage. In many eastern cities ordinances
have been passed requiring all cottonwoods within 100 feet of sewers
to be cut. The walnut, red bud and oaks may also be added to
the list for shade. In Oklahoma City many oaks and cottonwoods of
the original forest still stand for shade. Among imported trees suitable
for street and lawn planting are the dwarf catalpa, linden, tree of Heaven,.
Paulounia, and Koelreuteria paniculata, a native of China. Fruit trees
may also be used for shade even for planting along streets and roadways.
People will soon learn to respect the trees and they will not be abused in
securing the fruit.

Trees have two distinct modes of branching—one has a central stem

running the entire length of the tree as in the hickory or pine. This is
called the excurrent growth. In the second class the main stem is soon
lost in the branches as in the walnut or catalpa. This is known as
delinqueseent growth. Two kinds of roots are found on trees—those
_ having a tap root as in the lnickory and oaks. These trees are difficult to
transplant. Those having multiple roots in which the roots are numerous
and extend outward from the base, as in the maples and elms. Such trees
are easily transplanted.

Willows and poplars may be started by branches placed in the

ground. Most trees are best grown from the seed. Trees best for trans-
planting are those not more than two years old.

58 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

A LIST OF TREES AND SHRUBS OF OKLHAMOA.

Trees and shrubs are plants which belong to the sub-kingdom—
SPERMATOPHYTA—the seed-bearing plants. The plants of this di-
vision belong to two classes—the GY MNOSPERMALE, plants with naked
seed; and ANGIOSPERMAE, plants with protected seeds.

CLASS I. GYMNOSPERMAE,
Naked Seeds.

The Gymnosperms are an ancient group of plants. They are found
among the fossils of the Silurian age, and are most numerous in Triassic
time. They are now represented by about 450 species of trees and shrubs.
They are flowering plants in which the ovules, or seeds, are not inclosed
in an ovary, but are borne naked upon an open scale. This scale is a
modified leaf. The plants have a resinous juice, and chiefly parallel-
veined, needle-shaped, or scale-like evergreen leaves. By far the larger
number of the Gymnosperms are Coniferous (Pinacae or Coniferae in-
cluding some shrubs) or cone-bearing trees, the fruit being called a cone
because of its form. This family of the class is the only one represented
in our area.

PINE FAMILY. PINACEAE,
Pines. Conifers.
Pinaceae. Coniferae.

The trees belonging to this family are commonly known as Ever-
greens, because with the exception of the Larch and the Bald Cypress
they do not shed their leaves during the winter.

PINES. GENUS PINUS.
Loblolly pine. (Old Field pine. Rosemary pine).
Pinus Taedea.
Yellow pine. (Short-leaf pine. North Carolina pine, Spruce pine.)
Pinus echinata.
Southern or Bald cypress. (Deciduous cypress.)
Taxodvum distichum.
Red cedar. (Common cedar. Juniper.) Juniper. (Ground cedar.)

Juniperus Virginiana. Juniperus communis.

Arbor vitae. (White cedar.)
Thuja occidentalis.

CLASS Il. ANGIOSPERMAE.

Enclosed Seeds.
i

MAGNOLIA FAMILY. MAGNOLIACEAE.
Found in the extreme eastern and southeastern part of the State.

TULIP TREE. GENUS LIRIODENDRON.
Tulip tree. (Yellow poplar. Tulip poplar.)
Itriodendron tulipifera.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 59

CUSTARD APPLE FAMILY. ANONACEAE.
PAPAWS. GENUS ASIMINA.
Common papaw. (Found only in the eastern part of the State)
Asimina triloba.

TAMARISK FAMILY. TAMARISCINEAE.

The Tamarisks are sub-evergreen, shrubs or small trees, with very
small pinkish flowers, in spike-like clusters, or thickly grouped along
the slender drooping branches. The leaves are very smal] and scale-like.
There are several species in cultivation, and numerous names have been
applied by nursery men. Many of the members of this family are found
growing escaped from cultivation about old building places. Some of
the varieties are now being used to considerable extent for hedges about
lawns and gardens.

MALLOW FAMILY. MALVACEAE.

The Hibiscus or Rose Mallows comprise a large family of mainly
herbaceous plants with large holly-hock-like flowers. There is but one
cultivated species in this region which has woody structure and tree-like
appearance. This is the Shrubby Althea or Hibiscus Syriacus commonly
called Tree Hibiscus or Rose of Sharon. This was originally introduced
from Syria. There are many varieties with single or double flowers of
many colors,—white, pink, red, purple, and variegated. A large number
of these have been planted for ornament over the State and some have
been observed which had reached a height of 15 to 20 feet.

LINDEN FAMILY. TILIACEAE.
LINDENS OR BASSWOOD. GENUS TILIA.
Basswood. (Whitewood. Linden. Lime Tree.)
Tilia Americana.

The range of the basswood extends through the eastern half of Okla-
homa and though it is not abundant, is found scattering here and there
in the areas of good soil. It is also in cultivation in the State. Another
tree, probably a variety of the above, is found in cultivation. This is
Tilia pubescens, small leave basswood. Several introduced species and
nursery varieties are much valued for their dense foliage, odd-shaped
leaves, and slender branches.

RUE FAMILY. RUTACEAE.
PRICKLY ASHES. GENUS XANTHOXYLUM.
Prickly ash. (Toothache tree.)
Xanthorylum Clava-Hercules.
WAFER ASHES. GENUS PTELEA.
Wafer ash. (Hop-tree. Shrubby trefoil.)
Ptelea trifoliata.

This shrub, often growing with the true shape of a tree, never attains
a height of more than a few feet (6-10). The fruit resembles that of

60 : PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

the elm but is larger. It is known to occur from the east side to as far
west as Alva in Woods County.

CORK TREE. GENUS PHELLODENDRON.
Chinese cork tree.
Phellodendron Amurense.
An introduced tree with compound leaves resembling those of the

Tree of Heaven. The cork tree is being planted in some of our city parks,
and grows fairly well.

MELIA FAMILY. MELIACEAE.
CHINA TREE. GENUS MELIA.
China-tree. (China-Berry tree. Pride of India.)
Melia Azedarach.

QUASSIA FAMILY. SIMARUBACEAE.
TREE OF HEAVEN. GENUS AILANTHUS.
Tree of Heaven. (Paradise tree. Chinese sumac.)
Adanthus glandulosus.

This tree was originally introduced from China and Japan, but it is
now widely cultivated and naturalized. It is found growing wild in many
places, having escaped from cultivation. It is a very rapid-growing tree
and hardy throughout. At all times of the year it has a good appearance
and is well adapted for shade and ornamental purposes.

HOLLY FAMILY. ILICINAE.
HOLLIES. GENUS ILEX.
American holly. (Christmas holly.) Swamp holly. (Deciduous holly.)
Ilex apaca. Ilex decidua.
Ink berry.
Ilex glabra.

STAFF-TREE FAMILY. CELASTRACEAE.
WAHOO. GENUS EUONYMUS.
Wahoo. (Burning Bush. Spindle tree.)
Huonymus atropurpureus.
BITTER SWEET. GENUS CELASTRUS.
Bitter sweet. (Waxwork.)
Celastrus scandens.

SOAPBERRY FAMILY. SAPINDACEAE.
SOAPBERRY. GENUS SAPINDUS.
Soapberry (c). (Western soapberry. Wild China tree.)
Sapindus Drummond.
A small tree common throughout the State, except extreme north-
west. Rare in some localities. -Easily distinguished by. its clusters of
fruit remaining more or less shriveled on the tree until spring. The

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 61

largest tree observed was in the Grand River Valley and was 10 inches
in diameter and more than 30 feet high. Often a large number of the
trees are found growing together.

HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY. HIPPOCASTANACEAE. °
HORSE CHESTNUTS. GENUS AESCULUS.
Common horse chestnut. Yellow buckeye. (Sweet buckeye.)
Aesculus Hippocastanum. Aesculus octandra.
Ohio buckeye. (Sweet buckeye. Fetid buckeye.)
Aesculus glabra.

GENUS KOELREUTERIA.
Koelreuteria paniculata.

MAPLE FAMILY. ACERACEAE.
MAPLES. GENUS ACER.
Silver maple. (Soft maple. White maple. River maple.)
Acer saccharinum.
Red, scarlet, or water maple. (Swamp maple.)
Acer rubrum.
Hard maple. (Sugar or rock maple. Sugar-tree.)
Acer saccharum.

Black maple. (Sugar maple.) Box Elder. (Ash-leaved maple.)
Acer nigrum, Acer negundo.
The NORWAY MAPLE, acer platanoides, and CUT-LEAVED

JAPANESE MAPLE, acer palmatum, are in cultivation, but so far have

not made very successful growth in the localities where planted.

BLADDER-NUT FAMILY. STARPHYLEACEAE.

American Bladder-nut.
Staphylea trifoliata.

CASHEW FAMILY. ANACARDIACEAE.
SUMACHS. GENUS RHUS. _
Smooth sumac. (Upland or scarlet sumac.)
Rhus glabra.
Dwarf, black or mountain sumac. (Upland sumac.)
Rhus copallina.
Poison sumac. (Poison dogwood. Poison elder.)
Rhus Venenata.
Cut-leaved sumac. Ill scented sumac. (Skunk bush.)
Bhus lacinata. Ehus trilobata.
Fragrant or sweet-scented sumac.
Rhus aromatica.
Poison ivy. (Poison oak. Climath. Three leaf ivy.)
Rhus radicans.
Wild or American smoke tree. (Chittam wood.)
Rhus cotinoides.

62

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

PULSE OR PEA FAMILY. LEGUMINOSAE.
LOCUSTS. GENUS ROBINIA.
Common locust. (Yellow locust. Black locust. Silver chain.)
Robinia pseudacacia
REDBUDS. GENUS CERCIS.
Judas tree. (Redbud.)
Cercis canadensis.

Common throughout except far western part of State. Grows as
a shrub to small tree, reaches height of 20 feet. Excellent for lawn
planting.

GENUS GYMNOCLADUS.
Kentucky coffee tree. (Coffee-nut.)
Gymnocladus Canadensis.
HONEY-LOCUSTS. GENUS GLEDITSCHIA.
Honey locust. —

Water locust.
Gleditschia triacanthos.

COFFEE TREE.

Gleditschia aquatica.
ROSE FAMILY. ROSACEAE.
PEACHES, PLUMS, AND CHERRIES. GENUS PRUNUS.
Common peach.
Prunus Persica.

Nectarine. (Smooth-skinned peach.)

Prunus laevis.
Pigeon cherry. (Pincherry. Bird cherry. Wild red cherry.)

Prunus Pennsylvanica.
Wild black cherry. (Cabinet or river cherry.)
Prunus serolina.
American plum. (Wild plum.)

Wild goose plum. (River plum.)
Prunus Americana.
Chickasaw plum.

Prunus hortulana.
Watson’s plum. (Sand plum.)
Prunus Augusttfolia. Prunus Watsont.
Low plum. Choke cherry.
Prunus gracilis.

Prunus Virginiana.
Western sand cherry. (Bessy’s cherry.)

Prunus Besseyi.
APPLES AND PEARS. GENUS PYRUS.
Common apple

Soulard crab.
Pyrus malus.

Pyrus soulardi.
Prairie crab.
Pyrus isensis.

Common pear.

Pyrus communis.
American or garland crab. (Fragrant crab.)

Pyrus coronaria,
American or small fruited ash.
Pyrus americana,
Elder-leaved or large fruited mountain ash.
Pyrus sambrictfolia,
GENUS AMELANCHIER.
June-berry. (Service-berry. Shad bush.)
Ameleanchier Canadensis.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 63

HAWS OR THORNS. GENUS CRATAEGUS.
Green haw. Washington thorn.
Crataegus viridis. Crataegus cordata,
Dotted fruited hawthorn.
Crataegus punctata.

GENUS RUBUS.
WITCH HAZEL FAMILY. HAMAMELIDACEAE.

GENUS HAMAMELIS.
Witch hazel.
Hamamelis Virginiana.
Found in central-east side, north of Arkansas River. The largest
observed was south of Marble City.

GENUS LIQUIDAMBAR.
Sweet gum. (Bilsted. Red gum.)
Liquidambar styraciflua.
This tree is found in the east side of the State south of Arkansas
River. It is abundant along Poteau and Kiamichi rivers and their
tributaries. It is a tree worthy of extensive cultivation.

GINSENG FAMILY. ARALIACEAE.
GENUS ARALIA.
Angelica tree. (Hercules club.)
Aralia spinosa.
The range of this tree would include the southeastern corner of the
State; however, so far as known it has not been found. It is used for
ornamental planting and is worthy of extensive use.

DOGWOOD FAMILY. CORNACEAE,
DOGWOOD OR CORNELS. GENUS CORNUS.
Flowering dogwood. Rough leaf or white fruited dogwood.
Cornus florida. Cornus asperifolia.

TUPELOS. GENUS NYSSA.
Pepperidge. (Black or sour gum.)
Nyssa sylvatica.

HONEY-SUCKLE FAMILY. CAPRIFOLIACEAE.
NANNY-BERRIES. GENUS VIBURNUM.
Rusty nanny berry. (Southern nanny berry.)
Viburnum rufidulum.

Small black haw.

Viburnum globosum.

Cranberry tree. (Snow ball or Guelder rose.)
Viburnum opulus.

GENUS SYMPHORICARPOS.

Coral-berry. Wolfberry.
Symphoricarpos symphoricarpos. Symphoricarpos occidentalis.

64 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

GENUS LONICERA.
Tartarian bush honeysuckle. Tloneysuckle.

Lonicera Tartarica. Lonicera.
GENUS DIERVILLA,

Bush honeysuckle.
Diervilla diervilla,

GENUS SAMBUCUS.
American elder. (Sweet elder. Elderberry.)
Sambucus Canadensis,

SAPODILLA FAMILY. SAPOTACEAE.
BUMELIAS. GENUS BUMELIA.
Wooly bumelia. (Chittim wood. Buckthorn. Gum elastic.)
Bumelia languinosa, also Bumelia lyciotdes.

BUCKTHORN FAMILY. RHAMNACEAE.
BUCKTHORNS. GENUS RHAMNUS.
Yellow buckthorn. (Indian cherry.)
Rhamnus Caroliniana.

GENUS CEANOTHUS.
New Jersey tea. (Red root.)
Ceanothus Americanus,

EBONY FAMILY. EBENACEAE.
PERSIMMONS. GENUS DIOSPYROS,
Common persimmon. Japan persimmon, (c).
Diospyros Virginiana. Diospyros Kaki,

STORAX FAMILY. STYRACACEAE.
SILVER BELL TREES. GENUS MOHRODENDRON.
Silver bell tree. (Snow drop tree.)
Mohrodendron Carolinum.

OLIVE FAMILY. OLEACEAE.
ASHES. GENUS FRAXINUS.

White ash. Blue ash.

Fracinus Americana. . Fraximus quadrangulata
Swamp ash or water ash. Green ash.

‘Frazinus platycarpa. Frazinus viridis.

FORESTIERA. GENUS ADELIA.
Adelia. (Forestiera. Swamp privet.)
Adelia acuminata.
PRIVET. GENUS LIGUSTRUM.
Privet. (Prim.)
Ligustrum Vulgart.
SYRINGIA. GENUS SYRINGIA.
Common lilac. Japan lilac.
Syringia vulgaris. - Syringia Japonica.

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 65

GENUS CHIONANTHUS.
Fringe tree.
Chionanthus Virginica.

FIGWORT FAMILY. SCROPHULARIACEAE.
GENUS PAULOWNIA.

Imperial paulownia. (Paulownia tree.)

BIGNONIA FAMILY. BIGNONIACAE.
CATALPAS. GENUS CATALPA.
Indian bean. (Southern catalpa.)
Catalpa bignonioides or Catalpa catalpa.
Hardy catalpa. (Western catalpa. Catawba tree.)
Catalpa speciosa.
Japanese catalpas. (c).
Catalpa Kaempferi and Catalpa Bunget.
Dwarf forms growing from 5 to 10 feet, umbrella-shaped tops. Grown
in cities and parks.
LAUREL FAMILY. LURACEAE.
BAY TREE. GENUS PERSEA.
Red bay.

Persea Borbonia.

SASSAFRAS. GENUS SASSAFRAS.

Sassafras.
Sassafras sassafras or Sassafras officinale.

GENUS LINDERA.

Spice bush. (Benjamin bush.)
Lindera Benzoin.

OLEASTER FAMILY. ELAEAGNACEAE.

Several members of the family in cultivation. A specimen of the
RUSSIAN OLIVE, or OLEASTER, was observed which was at least
20 feet in height. The DESERT WILLOW, chilopsis linearis, from
Texas is found in Oklahoma City. The BUFFALO BERRY or RABBIT
BERRY has been found by the writer growing along the Canadian in
the western part of Cleveland County.

NETTLE FAMILY. URTICACEAE.
ELMS. GENUS ULMUS.

American or white elm. Slippery or red elm.
Ulmus Americana. Ulmus fulva or U. pubescens.
Wahoo or winged elm.
Ulmus alata.

GENUS PLANERA.
Planer tree. (Water elm.)
Planera aquatica.
HACKBERRIES. GENUS CELTIS.
Sugar berry. (Hackberry.) Hackberry.
Celtis occidentalis. Celtts var.

66 PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA.

Mississippi hackberry. (Sugar hackberry.)
Celtis Mississippiensis.
OSAGE ORANGE. GENUS MACLURA.
Osage orange. (Bow-wood. Bois d’Arc.)
Tozylon pomiferum, or Macliura aurantiaca.
MULBERRIES. GENUS MORUS.
Red mulberry, White mulberry.

Morus rubra. Morus alba.

Both of these mulberries are grown for shade. The largest white
mulberry known in the State is in Norman. This tree is a foot in diam-
eter and 50 feet high. The Russian or barren mulberry, extensively
grown for shade, is the staminate white mulberry. It is a rapid grower
and a good tree to plant.

3 GENUS BROUSSONETIA.
Paper mulberry. French mulberry.

Broussonetia papyrifera. Callicarpa Americana,

A shrub reported as occuring in the northeast corner of the State.
Does not belong to the Mulberry family.

PLAN-TREE FAMILY. PLATANACEAE.
GENUS PLATANUS.
Sycamore. (Buttonwood.) Oriental plane. (c).
Platanus occidentalis. Platanus orientalis.

WALNUT FAMILY. JUGLANDACEAE.
WALNUTS. GENUS JUGLANS.
Butternut. (White walnut.) Black walnut.
Juglans cinerea. Juglans nigra.
HICKORIES. GENUS CARYA OR HICORIA.
Bitternut hickory. (Swamp hickory.)
Hickory minima.
Water hickory. (Swamp hickory.)
Hicoria. aquatica,
Big shell bark hickory. (King nut.)
Hicoria ovata or Carya sulcata.

Mocker-nut hickory. Pignut hickory.

Hicoria alba or Carya tomentosa. — Hicoria glabra or Carya porcina.
Pecans. Pale-leaf hickory.

Hicoria pecan. Hicoria villosa.

WILLOW FAMILY. SALICACEAE.
WILLOWS. GENUS SALIX.
Peach or almond-leaf willow. (Western black willow.)
Salix amygdaloides.
Long-stalked willow. (Ward willow.) Black willow.
Salix longipes. Salia nigra.
Narrow or long-leaved willow. (Sand-bar willow. Ring willow.)
Salix longifolia or 8. fluviatilis.
POPLARS. GENUS POPULUS.
White poplar. (Abele tree. Silver-leaf poplar.)

PLANT LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 67

Populus alba,
Cottonwood. (Necklace poplar. Carolina poplar.)
Populus deltoides.

Western cottonwood. Lombardy poplar. ;
Populus deltoides occidentalis. Populus nigra Italica or
P. Dilatata.

Swamp poplar. (Downy-leaved poplar.)
Populus heterophylla,
Lance-leaf cottonwood and narrow-leaf cottonwood.
Populus acuminata. Populus angustifolia.

OAK FAMILY. CUPULIIFERAE.
BIRCHES. GENUS BETULA.
River birch. (Water birch. Red birch.)
Betula nigra.
Huropean white birch.
Betula alba.
ALDERS. GENUS ALNUS.
Sea side alder. Smooth alder.
Alnus maratima. Alnus rugosa or A. serrulata.
HAZELNUTS. GENUS CORYLUS.
Wild hazlenut or common hazlenut.
Corylus Amerwcana.
HORNBEAMS. GENUS CARPINUS.
American hornbeam. (Blue or water beech.)
Carpinus Caroliniana.
HOP HORNBEAM. GENUS OSTRYA.
Tron-wood. (American hop-hornbeam. )
Ostrya Virginiana.
OAKS. GENUS QUERCUS.

Red oak. Southern red oak. (Schneck’s oak.)
Quercus rubra. Quercus Texana,

Pin oak. (Swamp oak.) Spanish oak.
Quercus palustris. Quercus digitata, or

Quercus falcata.
Yellow oak. (Black oak. Quercitron oak.)
Quercus velutina.
Black jack oak. (Barren oak.)
Quercus Marilandica or Quercus nigra.
Water oak. (Duck oak. Possum oak.)
Quercus nigra or Quercus aquatied.
Willow oak. Shingle oak.
Quercus phellos. Quercus imbricartia.
White oak.
Quercus alba.
Post oak. (Rough or box white oak.)
Quercus minor or Q. obtusiloba or Q. stellata.

68 PLANT Lili IN OKLAHOMA.

Burr oak. (Mossy cup oak.) Over-cup oak.
Quercus macrocarpa. Quercus lyrata.
Swamp white oak. Cow oak. (Basket oak.)
Quercus platanoides. Quercus Michaucit,

Chestnut oak. (Chinquapin oak. Yellow oak.)
Quercus acuminata or Q. muhlenbergit.

Live oak. Dwarf chestnut oak. (Scrub oak.)
Quercus Virginiana. Quercus prinoides.
CHESTNUTS. GENUS CASTANEA.
Chestnut. Chinquapin.
Castanea sativa or C. dentata. Castanea pumila.

BEECHES. GENUS FAGUS.
American beech.
Fagus grandtfolia.

HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY. VACCINICAEAE.
GENUS BATODENDRON.
Farkleberry. (Tree huckleberry. Sparkleberry. )
Batodendron arboreum.

MADDER FAMILY. RUBIACEAE.
GENUS CEPHALANTHUS.
Button bush.

Cephalanthus occidentalis.
HYDRANGA FAMILY. HYDRANGEACEAE,
GENUS HYDRANGEA.

Wild hydrangea.

Hydrangea arborescens.

GENUS PHILADELPHUS.

Syringa.

Philadelphus.

GOOSEBERRY FAMILY. GROSSULARIACEAE.
GENUS RIBES.

Gooseberries. Common currants. (c).

Ribes. Ribes rubrum and ribes nigrum.
Slender gooseberry. Missouri gooseberry.

Ribes gracile. Ribes Missouriensis.

Golden buffalo or Missouri currant. (Clove bush.)
Ribes aureum chrysococcum.

MISCELLANEOUS.
Prairie mesquite. False or bastard indigo.
Prosopis glandulosa. Amorpha fruticosa.

Lead plant. (Shoestrings. )
Amorpha canescens.
Trumpet flower or trumpet creeper. American mistletoe.
Tecoma radicans. Phoradendron flavescens,

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