Sugar Maple-Basswood Studies in the Forest-Prairie Transition of Central Missouri

Composition studies of sugar maple-basswood communities have been reported in Minnesota, (Daubenmire, 1936), Wisconsin, (Eggler, 1938), and in Iowa, (Aikman and Smelser, 1938). In Minnesota and Wisconsin the principal associate of the basswood, Tilia americana L., was the sugar maple, Acer saccharum Marsh. The black maple, A. nigrum Michx. f., in central Towa replaced the sugar maple as a codominant species. In a later study in central Iowa red oak, Quercus rubra L., was reported as a common species in mesic sites, (Kucera, 1950). Red oak ill Wisconsin was reported by Eggler as a third species of importance in the type. Red oak as well as American elm, Ultm?us americana L., and slippery elm, U. rubra MuhI., were ranked next in importance in the Minnesota stands. It is the purpose of this paper to present comparative data pertaining to hitherto-unreported maple-basswood examples in central Missouri. Steyermark (1940) reported sugar maple-white oak and sugar maple-bitternut associations in the Ozark region. These studies, however, generally excluded the forestprairie transition in central Missouri. Settler reports (Ind. World Comm. Adv., 1880) referred to the timber resources of Boone County in which sugar maple and basswood as well as other species were considered abundant.