Vegetation of limestone and dolomite glades in the Ozarks and midwest regions of the United States

Literature on the vegetation of limestone and dolomite (cedar) glades in th e Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas and in the midwestern United States (Illi nois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin) is reviewed. Dominant plants in these glade s are C-4 perennial prairie grasses, of which little bluestem (Schizachyriu m scoparium (Michx.) Nash) is the most important. Without removal of invadi ng woody plants by fire or other means, succession in these rocky, calcareo us openings is to forest. They differ from cedar glades in the southeastern United States, which are dominated by C-4 annual grasses (primarily Sporob olus vaginiflorus (Torr. ex Gray) Wood) and do not require management or na tural disturbances to maintain them. We suggest that the anthropogenic, pra irie-grass-dominated openings in the Ozarks and Midwest he called xeric lim estone (or dolomite) prairies and that the term cedar glades be used for at l edaphic climax dominated by C-4 summer annual grasses in natural openings on limestone or dolomite bedrock.