The prairie, although not as sprawling as it once was, is an ever-changing beauty to behold to anyone who sets their eyes on it. The beauty of the prairie can easily be captured, in my opinion, through the lens of a camera. In general, I feel more people need to know what the prairie has to offer and I hope my photos can help to inspire many.

June:

In June, a majority of the plants I photographed tended to be species that preferred dryer, sandier soils like Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens), Canada Milkvetch (Astragalus canadensis), and Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida). The Troublesome Sedge (Carex molesta) was an exception since it grew in a seasonably wet field with clay. I also felt like a sedge needed to be included in the group of photos, as sedges are more than just plants with edges!

July:

The photos from July were taken from a diverse amount of locations such as the typical tallgrass prairies, dolomite prairies, and wetlands. For the typical tallgrass prairie habitats, Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya) and Sullivant’s Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) were somewhat uncommon sights, as compared to their more common relatives, Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata) and Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). As for the dolomite prairie and the wetland habitats, Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) and Dark-Green Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens) were very common plants to see and photograph.

August:

For August, we visited primarily typical tallgrass prairie habitats. The first two species I photographed this month were the Tall Coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) and Sawtooth Sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus). Other species in this habitat included the Round-Headed Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata) and the Great Plains Ladies’ Tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum).

September: 

In September, there was an abundance of golds and yellows as most of the Goldenrods (Solidago sp.) were in bloom. Of the goldenrods, the Old Field Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) was one of the first that I noticed blooming. Nearby, Prairie Dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum) was still in full bloom with an insect that I believe to be one of the signs of fall, the Goldenrod Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus). In addition to the Goldenrods and Silphiums, the white ray flowers of White Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) were also present. Also in bloom within the wetlands was the carnivorous Common Bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza).

October: 

At last, October! During October, we primarily cleaned seed from the collections we made during the summer, so I did not take many photos on my camera. When we did collect seeds, we went to the wetlands and back to the dolomite prairies. In the wetlands, we came across the tiny Mosquito Fern (Azolla caroliniana), whereas in the dolomite prairie, we were greeted by the Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium).

Although I may have missed the prairie’s beauty during the spring, I am glad I witnessed the beauty it offered throughout the summer and fall with my fellow Midewin CLM interns! The photos, although just of plants, remind me of the fun memories we made during our five months as interns. Although this is bye, for now, Midewin, I will be back to continue appreciating and photographing the prairie!

September greeted us with a plunge into the wetlands of Midewin! Toward the beginning of the month, we participated in a volunteer seed collection day at Schoolhouse Wetland. Here, we primarily collected the abundant Dark Green Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens) and Spotted Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum). During collection, I scouted the area for more species to collect and I found a floating mat of vegetation in the center of the wetland! It was very interesting to see the movement of the mat as I bounced on it! 

Aside from the Schoolhouse wetland, we also visited another wet location and were greeted with a field of the Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)! I initially spotted the population from the road, which surprised all of us as this beautiful critter was right in front of our eyes the whole time! 

Other than the wetlands, we also spent the majority of our time this month at the dolomite sites. On the dolomite pavements, we pulled the annoying Hairy Cupgrass (Eriochloa villosa) at the beginning of the month. It was a very daunting task to pull every individual of the plant, however, it was satisfying to see the immediate results with the annual grass now gone! Aside from weeding Hairy Cupgrass, we also collected seeds from the minuet Poverty Dropseed (Sporobolus vaginiflorus), Rough Dropseed (Sporobolus compositus), and the fruits of the Prairie Prickly Pear (Opuntia macrorhiza). The prickly pears were my personal favorite as the collection bag smelled incredibly sweet with all the fruits in it! 

Lastly, as the month neared its end, we wrapped it up by cleaning the Dark Green Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens) in the brush machine. It felt satisfying to not only collect the species but also clean it and prepare it to be used in a seed mix.

Overall, September was eventful on the prairie and the month was over quickly! 

One of the things that got me into botany was interest in plants that are overlooked by the majority of people. When I started volunteering at the Cook County Forest Preserves in 2019, one of the volunteers, a young botanist named Derek Ziomber, showed me a violet that looked just like any other violet I had seen. But he pointed out that this was not a common blue violet (Viola sororia) but a marsh blue violet (Viola cucullata). The difference was subtle – the latter has shorter beard hairs with a club-like tip, and there are some differences in sepal shape and overall hairiness. This made me realize that there were probably interesting, unusual plants all around that nobody knew about because nobody took the time to examine them closely. 

Ever since then, I have been an advocate for the overlooked and underappreciated plants. In restoration, people tend to focus seed collection on the most abundant and apparent plants. In the prairie, this would include species like Eryngium yuccifolium, Coreopsis tripteris, Silphium laciniatum, Lespedeza capitata, and Liatris spicata. While these species are all important “workhorse” species that are necessary to provide structure and compete with invasive vegetation, if they are the only thing that is collected and seeded, your restorations will never look like remnants. There are many other species that aren’t as showy or glorious that nonetheless make up an important part of the ecosystem.

Throughout my time at Midewin, I have tried to show some love to the overlooked plants. Something like Monarda fistulosa can easily be purchased from a commercial seed company relatively cheaply, but many of the less common species cannot. My fellow interns and I have collected species like Aristida oligantha, Alisma subcordatum, Ammania robusta, Coleataenia rigidula, Dichanthelium implicatum, Dichanthelium leibergii, Scutellaria lateriflora, Eleocharis erythropoda, Galium obtusum, Juncus torreyi, Juncus articulatus, Ludwigia polycarpa, Lycopus americanus, Muhlenbergia cuspidata, Triosteum perfoliatum, and others. 

We were also asked by our mentors to collect Sporobolus vaginiflorus, an annual cousin of the familiar prairie dropseed which looks nothing alike. I noticed that there was also a very similar species, Sporobolus neglectus, mixed in with it. Although neglectus makes up a significant portion of the population of these annual Spororboli in barren areas, the land managers were unaware that it was here, showing the lack of attention given to such underappreciated plants. These and some of the species I mention above are slated to be put into a recently disturbed area (a scrape) that is ideal habitat for these early succession annuals. If these species are not put in, the site will likely fill in with non-native annual weeds. 

June is over and the heat of July is finally here!

July at Midewin started with placing transect flags at various locations on the prairie that had their fair share of hazards! I was in primarily mesic habitats with the botany technician, Anna, where we faced thickets of sandbar willows (Salix interior), horsetails (Equisetum sp.), and of course the disgusting Phragmites (Phragmites australis).

Following setup, we began the transects and gathered data for the Floristic Quality Index (FQI). During data collection, it reminded me of a live auction where people would shout their bets at a person, but instead it was the latin/common names of the plants being shouted at the tablet holder!

Within the middle of transect season, a few of us CLMs assisted the previous CLM interns, Harsha and Veronica, in brush cutting the awful Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellatum). As a whole, we managed to cut down a great amount of the shrubs and also break a sweat which attracted the sweat bees!

Aside from transects and brush cutting, the latter half of July was spent collecting and scouting for sedges, rushes, and wetland species. While collecting on the prairie, we found ourselves to be dwarfed in comparison to the pillaring beasts that are in the genus Silphium. The largest plants tended to be seven feet tall (or taller) and had golden inflorescences that would sometimes had a critter in the bloom! All four species of rosinweeds were also relatively abundant in most habitats, but only 3 of the 4 species tended to grow with each other. How rude of the plants to not include the fourth species!

The Silphium, in my opinion, are like the trees of the prairie, as they pillar over most prairie vegetation aside from some Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi). Additionally, they also act as pillars within the prairie as they are workhorse species within restorations. Truly, they act like pillars with other species to support a small part of the prairie’s foundation.

I hope to one day view these pillaring plants, with their immense leaves, tickle the bellies of Bison within the tallgrass prairie once again just as Aldo Leopold wished. With that, I hope other people can appreciate the absolute behemoths that are within the genus Silphium as much as I do!

Hopefully August will bring more fun on the prairie when the season changes and more plants bloom! See y’all soon!