SURVEY OF THE VASCULAR FLORA OF THE BOEHLER SEEPS AND SANDHILLS PRESERVE

Located in Atoka County of southcentral Oklahoma, The Nature Conservancy’s Boehler Seeps and Sandhills Preserve comprises sandhills, acidic hillside seeps, marshes, intermittent and permanentstreams, and shallow lakes. The sandhills are the site of the highest quality, old-growth vegetation of the Western Gulf Coastal Plains (S. Orzell, pers. comm. to Ian Butler). The flora is a unique assemblage of plants that is present nowhere else in the state and 0considered globally rare. Approximately 400 species are believed to be present (Jones 1993). More than 20 rare species have been reported to occur in the area, including some that are globally rare (Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory 1997). Eriocaulon kornickianum, for example, is designated G2 and S1. Other rare species in the preserve include Penstemon murrayanus (G4, S1S3), Polygonella americana (G5, S1S2), andParonychia drummondii (G4G5, S1S2).