The Fort Worth Prairie’s Cretaceous geology erodes into unique bench and seep topography that creates habitat for many native endemic plants that exist nowhere else in the world.
On the rocky, dry benches and hilltops known as barrens, drought-tolerant plants such as pale yucca (Yucca pallida), white rosinweed (Silphium albiflorum) and Engelmann’s sage (Salvia engelmannii) are found.
In the seeps, endemic plants such as seep muhly (Muhlenbergia reverchonii) and limestone spike-rush (Eleocharis occulta) are adapted to extreme wet and dry conditions. At the base of each bench lays deeper soils that host tallgrass prairie habitat.
Palle yucca is found nowhere else in the world besides north central Texas
Engelmann’s sage also has a narrow range confining it to north central Texas
White rosinweed also is a north central Texas endemic. (Photo by Bob O’Kennon)
Check out our iNaturalist page to see what species have been found here. Use the iNaturalist map to search the surrounding Metroplex and discover what your fellow citizen scientists have observed.