The Panmure Alvar is an

alvar An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie ...

that lies on a limestone plain straddling the north eastern edge of

Lanark County Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, which was first settled in 1816.Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth Century Glimpses of on Ontario County. Corporation of the Cou ...

and the western boundary of the City of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada, east of the town of Pakenham.Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 1991. Area of Natural and Scientific Interest - Life Science Checksheet. Page 73 in David J. White. 1992. Life Science Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest in Site District 6-11, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Toronto, Ontario. In alvars, shallow soil with alternating drought and flooding conditions creates open clearings with distinctive plant and animal communities. Fire may also play a role. The forests are mostly white cedar, white spruce and poplar, with openings dominated by common juniper. The alvar clearings contain regionally significant plants such as Crawe's sedge (''Carex crawei'') and Hookedspur violet (''Viola adunca''). A total of 82 native plant species have been recorded from this location, including the provincially significant Cooper's milk vetch (''

Astragalus neglectus ''Astragalus neglectus'', or Cooper's milkvetch, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae native to northeastern North America. Description ''Astragalus neglectus'' is a perennial, herbaceous plant growing 30 to 90 cm tall. The al ...

'').Brownell, Vivian R. and John L. Riley. 2000. ''The Alvars of Ontario. Significant Alvar Natural Areas in the Ontario Great Lakes Region''. Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Toronto, Ontario. p 225-7. The nearest alvar is the provincially significant

Burnt Lands alvar The Burnt Lands is an alvar between Almonte and Ottawa near Upper Huntley, Ontario, Canada. It probably obtained its name from one of the forest fires that swept the area during early European settlement. It is possible that fires assist in crea ...

. Panmure is considered to be the second best example of limestone plain with open alvar in the Smiths Falls Plain physiographic region of site district 6-11. About are considered as a candidate

Area of Natural and Scientific Interest Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...

. The TransCanada natural gas pipeline goes through the middle of the alvar.

References

{{coord, format=dms, region:CA-ON_type:landform, display=title Geography of Lanark County Alvars (landform) Geography of Ottawa