Softstem Bulrush Winterized

Soft-stem Bulrush in a frozen pond in Marquette Park.

Soft spongy interior of the stem, hence, its name.

Longitudinal section of the spongy soft interior of stem.

Palm Sedge Winterized

Palm Sedge likes to grow along the edges of lakes and ponds as shown above in the frozen pond in Marquette Park, Chicago.

A dead give away for this plant is the tall height of this plant and its highly triangular stem. Triangular stems are characteristic of carex species as the one above (Carex muskingumensis).

The stem is sharply triangular and tough.

Can you guess?? Sawtooth Sunflower Winterized

Bottlebrush Grass Winterized

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Bottlebrush grass likes to grow in mesic semi-shade environments like savannas and open woodlands.

Beggar's Ticks Winterized

Beggar's ticks also commonly called by the scientific name bidens, is a plant that you have to watch out for if you don't want a whole bunch of sticky seeds on your clothes. That is where they got their common name beggar's ticks because they are like ticks/beggars that cling on to you.

Common Milkweed Winterized

Common milkweed can be distinguished from swamp milkweed by its larger and wider seed pods. The seed pods on swamp milkweed can be seen terminally on the plant as opposed to common milkweed where the seed pods can be seen all over the plant. Also to triple check, make sure that the milkweed is growing in a mesic area and not a wet area during the growing season. 

Pale-Spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata)

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/ps_lobeliax.htm

 

Pale-Spiked Lobelia is a native short-lived perennial plant native to the eastern half of Canada and the United States. It is found in mesic prairies, opening of woodlands, and savannas. I have never seen it in my experience since it is not very common in disturbed areas, or even in remnant prairies. It is related to the more common and popular cardinal flower and great blue lobelia. The latter two are commonly used in home gardens, but pale-spiked lobelia not so much since the flowers are not as showy and smaller.It blooms in mid-summer which is earlier than cardinal flowers and about the same time as great-blue lobelias. The seeds of all lobelias are extremely small and easily carried by the wind. 

Lobelia spp. Winterized

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Lobelias are very indistinguishable in the winter. Maybe someone who has more experience with lobelias in the winter would know, but they are very hard to tell them apart in the winter. The above plant can either be a cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, or even a pale-spiked lobelia.

Swamp Milkweed Winterized

Swamp Milkweed can be distinguished from Common Milkweed first by looking at its habitat, whether it is in a wet or dry area during the growing season, or by looking at the "husk" of the seedpod. The thinner seedpods are from swamp milkweed  and the thicker, larger husks are from common milkweed. Here, the husks are thinner and slightly smaller than common milkweeds. 

Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa)

Hairy vetch is an exotic invasive plant from Eurasia. It likes to grow in mesic soils in abandoned fields and disturbed areas. It was introduced to the United States and other areas as a forage crop and in organic farms for nitrogen fixation and as a ground cover to keep other weeds out. It fixes as much as 200 lbs./acre of nitrogen into soils, but can overtake a field as a weed very quickly. In my own experience I have not seen it as problematic as Crown Vetch, and have only seen it a couple of times in abandoned fields. 

Prairie Blazing Star Winterized

Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)

https://www.prairiemoon.com/Lupinus-perennis-Wild-Lupine.html

Wild Lupine is one of my all time favorite wildflowers. It is beyond elegant in its foliage and flowers. The leaves are palmate multi-foliate that are very showy and beautiful to look at. The flowers different shades of bright blue, but can sometimes be pink, magenta, or dark purple. It adds a distinct flare to a prairie, especially after a fiery prairie flare. They are one of the first plants to come up after a fire along with fireweed. 

Wild Lupine likes to grow in mesic to dry sandy soils. This prairie plant is highly endangered because habitat for this plant has been highly disturbed and destroyed. It is uncommonly seen along the eastern part of the United States and Canada. It is more common in Canada because less of its habitat has been impacted. A site where it is seen is in the United States is in the Indiana Dunes where it grows in sandy dry soil.

This plant is not confused with any other plant in the eastern United States and Canada because there are no other plants that come close to its resemblance. Even plants in its family Fabaceae are easily distinguishable from this plant.

This plant is highly important for the highly endangered Karner Blue Butterfly because it feeds exclusively on it. It is amazing how a gorgeous bright blue butterfly feeds solely on one of the most beautiful blue prairie plants.

http://animalcogz.blogspot.com/2012_10_07_archive.html

Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadense)

http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/fieldbio/medicinal_plants/pages/Canada_Goldenrod.htm

Canada Goldenrod is the most widespread Goldenrod in the United States. It is considered highly weedy and invasive. It can easily colonize a large disturbed area within a few years because its seeds can easily fly away to short and long distances in the wind. Canada Goldenrod likes to grow in almost any habitat except really shady or wet areas. If you see a large stand of it in a prairie or, really, A goldenrod in a prairie 9 out of 10 times it will be Canada Goldenrod. Although it is highly invasive, it can easily be taken out by hand pulling or aggressive mowing so that the seeds won't proliferate. A very effective method would also be to dump boiling water over large stands and it will die very quickly. Although the large stands of Canada Goldenrod are not very good environmentally, they are very beautiful to see and to walk through.

Canada Goldenrod Winterized

Canada Goldenrod, while being a native plant, it is considered an invasive species because it can easily colonize a large area of disturbed land. The seeds are easily carried away by wind to far distances and scatter easily. In many disturbed lands such as Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, there are thick stands of Canada Goldenrod and very few to nothing else in them. In my own opinion, I would rather see thick stands of Canada Goldenrod than say Canada Thistle or Queen Anne's Lace just because it is so much easier to take out and it is already one step ahead of the game being native.

Spring Time Iris

Are the iris' coming up already? Hopefully, because I want to see the prairie green and beautiful again. Iris' like to bloom in wetlands in the spring time, but their blooms are ephemeral. I'll come back here soon to check out how these guys are doing so that I don't miss their color extravaganza show.

Can you guess?? Winterized

Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium) Winterized

Eastern Black Oak Winterized

Eastern Black Oak (Quercus velutina) is a tree native to Eastern North America that especially likes to reside in the southern part of Lake Michigan along sandy dunes and prairies.

Evil Queen of the Prairie Winterized

Wild Bergamot (Monarda Fistulosa) Winterized

Mountain Mint in Sundown Meadow

Queen Anne's Lace in Sundown Meadow

Rattlesnake Master in Sundown Meadow

Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)

http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=pontederia+cordata

 

A wetland plant that grows anywhere from North to South America. It has special stem tissue called aerenchyma used to carry oxygen to the roots of the plant since they have little access to oxygen in standing water. This plant is found in higher quality wetlands since it does not tolerate much disturbance and does not like the soil to dry out. It is found along the margins of ponds and lakes, swamps, bogs, and marshes. This plant can be confused with arrow arum and arrowhead when it is not in flower. It can be distinguished from the other two by having leaves that have a very fine venation pattern.

Prairie Crocus (Pulsatilla patens) (Anemone patens)

Prairie Crocus, also called pasque flower, is one of the earliest spring wildflowers to bloom. It blooms so early that the flowers come up before the leaves do. Prairie Crocus is a  perennial plant native to virtually all of the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere. It is seen in dry  prairies across United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, China, and Mongolia. Its flowers come in different colors such as blue, purple, and white. From my own experience, I have seen mostly purple blooms no taller than a few inches tall. Prairie Crocus is a rare wildflower and is an indicator of a virgin prairie or high quality prairie.