Rosin WeedSilphium integrifolium
3' tall
Up to 4' wide as clump spreads
Leaves are rough and sandpapery to the touch
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Rosin Weed
Rosin WeedSilphium integrifolium
3' tall
Up to 4' wide as clump spreads
Leaves are rough and sandpapery to the touch
Indian Grass
Indian Grass
Sorghastrum nutans
Foliage 4' to 5' tall
Flower and seed plume 5' to 6' tall
This plume is in full flower. Each tiny yellow droplet is a tubular flower. They vibrate in the wind.
Black-eyed Susan
Black-eyed SusanRudbeckia fulgida
2' tall
Long Blooming
Short lived plant that needs to be reseeded in the landscape
Prairie Dropseed
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heterolepsis
Foliage is 24" to 30" long but arches for form a mound only 12" to 18" tall.
Flower and seed are airy and 24" to 30" tall on a thin stiff stem.
Grown as a monoculture, it makes a good lawn supstitute, but needs paths through it, because each plant forms a tussock so it is a bit difficult to walk through.
Also called Northern Dropseed
Mountain Mint
Mountain mintPyncanthemum virginianum
18" to 24" tall
Fine foliage in fine straight stem
Fragrant foliage
Spreading airy plant
Attractive to a great many pollinators such that the plants can be abuzz with life: Bees, bumblebees, wasps, flies, butteflies, clearwing moths. Often visited by beautiful blue mud dauber wasps.
Getting There
Sometimes you just have to go through a little mud and dirt to get to that prairie remnant!Summer Scene
Mix of yellow coneflower, rosin weed, prairie dock with bur oaks and shelter belt trees at horizon.
What Is This?
Taken in mid August, this plant has a late flower and a developing seed pod. The leaf is a compound leaf with many paired tiny leaflets.
Bur Oak
Bur OakQuercus macrocarpa
70' tall
90' wide
Prairies are kept free of trees and shrubs by prairie fires. The fire kills a woody plant not by burning it but by boiling the water in the vascular system near the surface of the thin bark. This oak seedling would be killed or at least knocked back by a fire. It might sprout back from the root. If there is no fire for a number of years, maybe 5 to 10, the tree sapling will develop a corky bark about an inch thick thick enough to insulate the the tiny water carrying tubes just below its surface from the fire and the tree will continue to thrive.
Illinois Bundleflower
Illinois bundleflower3' tall
but flops over for lower effect
'Bundleflower' actually refers to this, the seed head, made up of tiny pods curled together
Actual flower is iny white ball
Yellow Coneflower
Yellow coneflowerRatibida pinnata
4' tall
Flower attractive to butterflies
Fragrant seed head
Loved by songbirds
What Is This?
VineMid August
Clusters of flowers
Compound leaf
More than 3 parts
Maroon petals
Substantial petals
Pink outside of unopened flowers
Two Oaks and Beebalm Meadow
Bee balm
Monarda fistulosa
2' tall
fragrant foliage
also called wild bergamot, Oswego tea
square stem shows membership in mint family
attracts many pollinators including butterflies
Compass Rose
The compass rose
in the stone floor of the
Morton Arboretum
Sculenburg Prairie
Visitor Kiosk
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Pale Indian Plantain
Pale Indian PlantainCacalia atriplicifolia
5' tall
Red to purple waxy coated stem
Monday, August 25, 2008
Compass Plant
Silphium lacineatum
Leaves to 30 inches high
Flower stalk to 48 inches high.
Studies of mature prairie found roots of this plant extending over 35 feet deep down into the prairie subsoils.
Leaves align their edges north and south to take advantage of morning and late afternoon sun but avoid midday sun. This is a water conservation attempt, so mature plants that have deep enough roots no longer need to align their leaves to conserve moisture.
Indian Grass with Forbs
Indian Grass
Sorghastrum nutans
5' tall
Upright form good for landscaping
Bright rusty tan flower head followed by pale tan seed plume.
Compass plant in foreground and tall coreopsis in background.
Urban Prairie Dock
Prairie DockSilphium terebinthinaceum
Thick stiff sturdy basal rosette of sandpapery leaves about 2'tall
Wiry airy flower stalks that bob in the wind like a mobile sculpture with brilliant yellow blossoms in summer and seed heads in fall and winter that are favorites of songbirds.
Urban Rattlesnake Master
Rattlesnake master
30" tall with a lower basal clump of bluegreen foliage
Sculptural branched heads of spherical flowers
Contrastiing white to the black fence
Urban Rosinweed
Rosinweed used as landscaping with switchgrass
Silphium integrifolium
3' tall
Yellow flowers in August
Stiff stocky plant that holds up well
Seed heads loved by songbirds later
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Prairie Dock
Prairie DockSilphium terebinthinaceum
Basal leaf cluster 2' tall
Flower stalk 7' tall
A cool plant that kids find interesting
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Butterfly Milkweed with Solitary Bee
Butterfly MilkweedAsclepias tuberosa
2' tall
Brilliant orange flowers followed by narrow pointed pod
Favorite of pollinators
This one has a tiny native solitary bee
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