A descriptive study of the vascular flora and vegetation was conducted during 1987 on a 12-year-old contour surface-mined area, the 2.5 ha Trace Branch site, in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. An annotated list of vascular plants comprised 272 specific and infraspecific taxa (220 indigenous, 52 nonindigenous) from 63 families. These taxa consisted of 13 Pteridophyta, 4 Pinophyta, and 255 Magnoliophyta. The numerically most important plant families were the Asteraceae (43), Poaceae (36), Fabaceae (25), Cyperaceae (11), and Rosaceae (11). A total of 160 Rockcastle County distributional records were documented. Hedeoma hispidum Pursh, an endangered species in Kentucky, was present on the site. The plant communities were described on the bench, outslope, highwall, access road, and seasonally wet habitats. Twenty-four herbaceous and woody species (10 indigenous, 14 nonindigenous) have persisted of the 30 initially planted by personnel of the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service. Vegetation consists of a complex mosaic of natural and semi-natural plant communities on unplanted and planted areas on the mined site. Flora and vegetation are a result of invading native and naturalized species, planted native and exotic species, mine soils characteristics, and habitat diversity created by surface mining and reclamation in 1975.