Starr\u27s Cave State Preserve is a 140 acre tract of wooded bottomlands and limestone bluffs along Flint Creek in Des Moines County, southeastern Iowa. The vascular flora of the preserve was inventoried in 1975-79. This flora consists of 339 species in 79 families. Several rare species of southern and Ozarkian distribution occur here, including four species whose status in Iowa is threatened: blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), winged monkey-flower (Mimulus alatus), winter grape (Vitis cinerea), and pagoda mint (Blephila ciliata). Twelve plant communities are found within the preserve, including 5 forest communities, 3 disturbance communities, 2 limestone exposure communities, a prairie opening community, and a streambank community. A quantitative comparison with the floras of 3 physiographically similar preserves in northern Iowa showed a 40-44% similarity among these northern preserves, and a 35-37% similarity between each of these and Starr\u27s Cave
