Sand prairie is a dry native grassland community dominated by grasses such as little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), June grass (Koeleria macrantha), panic grasses (Dichanthelium spp.), and poverty-oat grass (Danthonia spicata). Common herbaceous associates include sand cress (Arabidopsis lyrata), wormwood (Artemisia campestris), western ragweed (Ambrosia psilostachya), several sedges (e.g., Carex muhlenbergii, Cyperus filiculmis, and Cyperus schweinitzii), flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata), frostweed (Crocanthemum spp.), round-headed bush-clover (Lespedeza capitata), western sunflower (Helianthus occidentalis), false-heather (Hudsonia tomentosa), long-beard hawkweed (Hieracium longipilum), stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida), and spiderwort (Tradescantia ohioensis). Drought-adapted fungi, lichens, and mosses are significant components of sand prairie communities.
At least some stands classified as sand prairie are oak or pine barrens remnants that now lack appreciable woody cover. Extensive stands may have occurred historically on broad sand terraces bordering the Mississippi, Wisconsin, Black, and Chippewa Rivers. Sand prairies may be more prevalent now in some areas than in historical times. Failed attempts to farm many of these prairies created blowouts and may have even reactivated small dunes when the prairie sod was removed.
