It consists of a diverse landscape that extends from north Alabama across central Tennessee and Kentucky into southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

[3] The underlying bedrock of the Interior Low Plateaus consists of sedimentary rocks such as limestone, sandstone, and shale.

In more acidic dry woodlands there are stands of chestnut oak (Quercus montana) and Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana).

[4] The woodlands in this region contain a rich sun-loving herbaceous layer, with many species of goldenrod (Solidago), sunflower (Helianthus), and aster (Symphyotrichum).

The flat surfaces of the Interior Low Plateaus historically contained extensive areas of open prairie.

Early settlers describe these areas as nearly treeless expanses, containing Greater prairie chicken and herds of Bison.

[5] Today, some prairie remains in areas that are managed by controlled burns, or other forms of tree removal such as powerline and roadside clearings.

The few existing remnants have species such as gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides), prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), and many rushes (Juncus) and sedges (Carex).

Significant prairie remnants now remain at Ft. Campbell and Arnold Air Force Base, as well as in a few small nature preserves.

Closed-canopy forests in this region are also naturally found in many areas, such as riparian zones, river bottoms, and dissected terrain.

They are dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum), beech (Fagus grandifolia), basswood (Tilia americana), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), and tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

These forests were dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum), bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis), Ohio buckleye (Aesculus glabra), blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), and chinquapin oak (Quercus muhlenbergii).

[4] They are usually dominated by short grasses such as little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and large showy forbs such as prairie dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum) and blazing star (Liatris).

[11] Although historically with a more open grassland border, many are now surrounded by dense thickets of redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) and redbud (Cercis canadensis).

[6] The glades of the Nashville Basin and Moulton Valley are considered a center endemism due to their large number of restricted species.

These contain trees such as green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), along with many herbaceous plants that are considered regionally rare.

[19] Today there is very little intact habitat in this ecoregion, with a reduction of bottomland hardwood forests by 70–95%, and only 0.02 percent of the original oak savannas remain.

[19] In some areas, habitat is threatened by urbanization and invasive species such as non-native privet, honeysuckle, garlic mustard and kudzu.