The North American Prairies Province is a large grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 floristic province lying between the Appalachian Province and the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 and including the prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

s of the Great Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...

. It is bounded by the Canadian coniferous forests on the north and the arid semideserts to the southwest. The province itself is occupied by temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome whose predominant vegetation consists of grasses and/or shrubs. The climate is temperate and semi-arid to semi-humid....

 (including such ecoregions as the Flint Hills tall grasslands, Sand Hills

Sand Hills (Nebraska)

The Sand Hills, often written Sandhills, is a region of mixed-grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska, covering just over one quarter of the state...

, High Plains

High Plains (United States)

The High Plains are a subregion of the Great Plains mostly in the Western United States, but also partly in the Midwest states of Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota, generally encompassing the western part of the Great Plains before the region reaches the Rocky Mountains...

). Endemism is rather limited in this province, and its boundaries are vague. During the Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 much of the province was glaciated.

This province is within the North American Atlantic Region

North American Atlantic Region

North American Atlantic Region is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom identified by Armen Takhtajan and Robert F. Thorne, spanning from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to the Great Plains and comprising a major part of the United States and southeastern portions of Canada...

, a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom.

Endemic taxa

Endemics of the North American Prairies Province

Species and lower taxa

Phlox oklahomensis

Lespedeza leptostachya

Lespedeza leptostachya

Lespedeza leptostachya is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names prairie lespedeza and prairie bush-clover. It is endemic to the Upper Midwest region of the United States, where it occurs in the Upper Mississipi Valley in the states of Minnesota, Iowa,...

Eustoma russellianum

Eustoma russellianum

Eustoma russellianum, is a species of flowering plant in the Gentian family. Its previous binomial name was Eustoma grandiflorum . Common names include Texas bluebells, Texas bluebell, Bluebell, Showy prairie gentian, Prairie gentian The Bolero Deep Blue, and Lisianthus.-Description:Eustoma...