Word for 'prairie'?

[R. Rankin]

Personally, I've always distinguished 'prairie' from 'plains'.  Prairie has more
trees scattered about, plains fewer.  This, in turn, relates to annual rainfall
in large degree.  And I assume lots of other factors like soil type, etc. are
involved.  The folks I'm corresponding with in Central KS are botanists however,
and their primary interest is in the "tall grass prairie" found in that area.  I
sort of suspect they might have naming in mind or maybe some sort of newsletter
article.

I have one or two linguistic comments on the Hochunk and Hidatsa forms, but I'll
get to them after classes today.

Bob