Plant communities The plants that compose a flora are generally found in distinctive associations called plant communities. That is, within different local environments in a region like the Palouse, certain groups of plants tend to occur together, and biologists describe these groups as communities. Certain plants grow in shady, moist spots, for example, while other plants occur in open, dry, sunny places. In the Palouse, there are several different native plant communities. The major examples described here include:

1. grassland communities;
2. butte communities, including those on south-facing slopes, ridges, and north-facing slopes; and
3. hawthorne communities