Bluff Prairie Ecosystem

Typically, bluff prairie communities are found along bluff tops, hillcrests and moderate to steep eroding slopes along major streams or tributaries that have cut through till and continue to erode and undercut their slopes. Soils are generally shallow, well drained to excessively well drained and occur over glacial outwash or till. The vegetation is generally sparse and sites are typically very small (less than one acre). Herbaceous species composition is variable but trends toward dry-adapted prairie species. Woody canopy cover is generally less than 25-75% and represented by oak species, including black oak, with associated hickories and occasional red cedar.   

                                                                               
Their location makes them inaccessible to mechanized agriculture and has been a factor in their survival into the 21st century and their significance as a source for native prairie seeds. Bluff prairies, sometimes called slump prairies because of the relation to rapidly eroding, high slope areas, are most commonly found along and near the mid to lower reaches of the Big Darby Creek mainstem, as in Battelle-Darby Metro Park and downstream.
 
 
Some indicative plant species of tallgrass and bluff prairies are:
 
Andropogon gerardii - (big bluestem)
Schizachryum scopariums - (little bluestem)
Sorghastrum nutans - (Indian grass)
Tradescantia ohiensis - (Ohio spiderwort)
Allium cernuum - (nodding wild onion)
Astragalus canadensis - (Canada milk vetch)
Cassia fasciculata - (partridge pea)
Euphorbia corollata - (flowering spurge)
Gentiana quinquefolia - (stiff gentian)
Lithospermum canescens - (hoary puccoon)
Castilleja coccinea - (Indian paintbrush)
Echinacea purpurea - (purple coneflower)
Helianthus grosseserratus - (sawtooth sunflower)
Liatris squarrosa - (scaly blazing star)
Ratibida pinnata - (gray-headed coneflower)
Silphium trifoliatum - (whorled rosinweed)
Sporobolus asper - (rough dropseed)
Aesclepias tuberosa - (butterfly weed)
Sabatia angularis - (rose pink)
Dasistoma microphylla - (mullein foxglove)
Swertia caroliniensis - (American columbo)

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