Floristic Quality Index for woodland ground flora restoration: Utility and effectiveness in a fire-managed landscape

•Floristic Quality Index (FQI) was developed to describe plant community composition.•We evaluated FQI derivation and interpretation in wooded ecosystems in Missouri.•FQI values were more strongly correlated to species richness than mean Coefficient of Conservatism (CC).•Richness and mean CC were negatively correlated at the landscape-scale but not at local scales.•Richness and mean CC each provide important, unique information for interpretation of FQI.