Photos from a visit to the Prairie Grove Glades preserve in northwest Alabama, maintainted by The Nature Conservancy. April 27, 2003

Updated on August 26, 2004

This preserve is an example of a cedar glade.
I'm not familiar with all of the plants of this region (this is my first year in Alabama), so assistance with identifications will be appreciated. Please send information and comments to bobrien@gustavus.edu.

Click on any thumbnail image below to see a larger version.
Alabama glade cress (Leavenworthia alabamensis) a dominant plant; forms a white carpet of flowers
Overall views of the cedar glades

Prairie Grove
Glades sign
closeup seed pods
sunny bells (Schoenolirion croceum);
a dominant plant
Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium sp., Iridaceae);
a very common plant
Oxalis priceae - yellow sp. (very common in open areas) & pink/lavendar (O. violacea) - occurs mainly at forest edge
spider milkweed (Asclepias viridis);
one plant found
Salvia lyrata
very common at forest edges
Sedum pulchellum (across the road from the preserve)

 Pinks (Phlox spp., pink and white); at forest edge; more common outside of the preserve
Houstonia longifolia,
moderately common in moist areas
Nashville Breadroot (Pediomelum subacaulis); found here and there
Astralagus tenneseensis; found here and there

Photos from the intertior of the forest, near the edge
epiphytic fern growing on cedar-
Polypodium polypodioides