Prairie

1. Fox Sedge / Carex stipata

-slender, bunchgrass-like perennial sedge grows 2-3 ft. tall, with a cluster of brown seed capsules clinging high on each stem.
-Leaves are coarse, elongate, narrow, 0.6 cm wide, smooth with rough margins; clustered at the base of the plant and usually taller than the stem, growing up to 1.2 m tall.
-Common Fox Sedge actively grows during the spring and fall when soil temperatures are cool.
-Stems are slender and firm, triangular, brownish at the base and have whitish, thin sheaths that are conspicuously cross-wrinkled near the top.
-The inflorescences are made up of densely flowered spikes that are 4 to 10 cm long and up to 1.5 cm wide. The distinctive inflorescence makes fox sedge easy to identify.

-The seedheads mature in late summer and spray out from the center of the clump, resembling a fox’s tail.

Special Adaptations:
-Makes up 25% of the diet of the swamp sparrow

2. Soft Rush /Juncus effusus L. – common rush

Order Juncales Family:Juncaceae

-Each stem is medium green, terete (round in cross-section), soft, and hairless; it is typically about 4 mm. across at the base, becoming gradually more slender to about 2 mm. across near the inflorescence. Because each stem lacks cauline leaves, it has a naked appearance.
-At the base of each stem, there is a prominent dark-colored basal sheath; it is usually about 2-3" long and lacks any blade. Older sheaths often exist underneath this basal sheath, but they are withered and inconspicuous.

-It can be distinguished from most other rushes by the absence of alternate leaves along its soft stems.


3. Crinkled hair Grass / flexuosa

Family: Poaceae Genus: Deschampsia

-tight clump of narrow, wiry foliage 6” to 12” tall.gold or purplish panicles twisted or "crinkled" later in summer
-individual flowers silver, green or purple often all in same panicle; bloom mid-summer to fall.
-In mid-Summer, glossy, nodding, frothy-looking panicles emerge & mature to golden color

4. Side Oats Granma /Bouteloua curtipendula



-The larger leaf blades often have [Raceme of Spikes] prominent central veins. The leaf sheaths are light green, finely ribbed, and hairless.

-The alternate leaves are more common toward the base of each culm.

-The root system has fibrous roots and short rhizomes. Side Oats Grama often forms tight bunches of culms from its rhizomes, although it also occurs as scattered plants. In moist areas where there is little competition, it may form a dense sod.

Special Adaptations:

Many grasshoppers feed on this prairie grass, as do the stinkbugs Moromorpha tetra and Mecidea major. Some upland gamebirds and granivorous songbirds are known to feed on the seeds of Grama Grasses. In Texas and states of the Great Plains, the McCown Longspur and Wild Turkey eat the seeds of various Grama grasses. Some hoofed mammalian herbivores, including bison, horses, and cattle, graze on Grama grasses readily, including Side Oats Grama.

5. Panic Grass


-The culms are green to reddish green and terete, branching occasionally to produce side stems. Each node of the culms has a dense ring of long white hairs; sometimes the culms are reddish near the nodes.

-The seeds of Panic Grasses are an important source of food to many birds, particularly upland gamebirds and granivorous songbirds (see the Bird Table for a listing of these species). Panic Grasses are eaten occasionally by the Cottontail Rabbit and hoofed herbivores (primarily livestock); the foliage of these grasses is palatable while it is young.

-grasses remaining in the Panicum genus tend to be taller warm-season grasses that bloom from mid-summer to the early fall, after which they die down and become dormant during the winter.


6. Rosinweed


-A panicle of composite yellow flowers appear at the top of the plant, resembling small sunflowers. Each flower is about 2–3" across, consisting of numerous disk florets surrounded by 12-25 ray florets. There is no noticeable floral scent.
Often, there are side stems that bear smaller panicles of flowers.
-The blooming period occurs from mid-summer to fall, and lasts about 1-2 months. The seeds are large, flat, and lightweight – they can be carried several feet by the wind. -The root system consists of a taproot and short rhizomes, which enable this plant to form clumps.
-This plant can survive significant degradation, and recovers readily from occasional wildfires. It competes well against most prairie grasses and forbs in mesic to dry areas.


7. Prairie Dropseed / S. heterolepis
Order: Cyperales Family: Poaceae Genus: Sporobolis

- a beautiful ‘clump’ grass found in high-quality prairies throughout the region. -Narrow long leaves, rarely wider than 1/8 inch, which spring from the soil and fall to the ground like a smooth waterfall.
-Leaves grow densely around a circular base. They vary in color from green to steely blue-gray, and grow up to three feet long.

-The seeds are quite fragrant, and Native Americans used to ground them into a tasty flour.



8. Big Tooth Aspen / P. grandidentata

Order: Salicales Family: Salicaceae Genus: Populus

- medium-sized tree that grows up to 60 feet tall. The trunk is one to two feet wide. It has rounded leaves about four inches long with large teeth.

-Aspens get flowers early in the spring, before they get their leaves. Aspen flowers are called catkins. Catkins are 2 to 3 inches long, tan-colored, and droopy. Later, catkins are replace with fruits. Bigtooth Aspen fruits have small seeds combined with silky hairs. They travel by wind to new places, where they may be able to grow into a new tree. One tree can make over a million seeds.

-Bigtooth Aspens do not like shade. They usually grow on the edges of woods or along streams. They grow fast, but do not live long. These trees live for about 50 years.

On our Own Species...

Self-heal
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Prunella


-Growing from 1 to 2 feet high, with creeping, self-rooting, tough, square, reddish stems branching at leaf axis. The leaves are lance shaped, serrated and reddish at tip, about an inch long and 1/2 inch broad, grow on short stalks in opposite pairs down the square stem.

-The flowers grow from a clublike, somewhat square, whirled cluster, immediately below this club are a pair of stalkless leaves standing out on either side like a collar. Flowers are two lipped and tubular, the top lip is a purple hood, and the bottom lip is often white, it has three lobes with the middle lobe being larger and fringed upwardly.

-Self-heals are low-growing plants, and thrive in moist wasteland and grass, spreading rapidly to cover the ground. They are members of the mint family and have the square stem common to mints.
-Prunella vulgaris has been shown to be an antioxidant, immune stimulant, viral replication inhibitor and an anti-inflammatory agent


Little Brown Bat /little brown myotis / M. lucifugus
Order: Chiroptera Family:Vespertilionidae Genus:Myotis

Characteristics:
-its fur is uniformly dark brown and glossy on the back and upper parts with slightly paler, greyish fur underneath.
-Wing membranes are dark brown on a typical wingspan of 22–27 cm (8.7–11 in).[
-Ears are small and black with a short, rounded tragus.
- Adult bats are typically 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) long and weigh 5–14 grams (0.2–0.5 oz).
-All teeth including molars are relatively sharp, as is typical for an insectivore, and canines are prominent to enable grasping hard-bodied insects in flight.
Little brown bats are insectivores, eating moths, wasps, beetles, gnats, mosquitoes, midges and mayflies, among others. Since many of their preferred meals are insects with an aquatic life stage, such as mosquitoes, they prefer to roost near water. They echolocate to find their prey.

Special Adaptions:

Bats perform valuable ecosystem services to humans, in terms of suppression of insect populations that can be agricultural or forest pests and these bats do eat some insects that are annoying or pose health risks to humans. An individual bat can consume its body weight in insects in a night, so the loss of a regional population of millions of bats adds up to a huge number of uneaten insects in the night sky.

Most temperate bats either migrate or hibernate, but little brown bats do both. In summer, the males and females live apart, the females raising young. When fall comes, both sexes fly south to a hibernaculum, where they mate and then hibernate.

White Nose Syndrome is known to affect all six species of hibernating bats that occur in the northeastern U.S. and has recently been confirmed in three other species — making the total number of species affected at nine. Two of the species are already listed as federally endangered (Indiana bat, Gray bat).


Little Blue Stem /S. scoparium
Order:Poales
Family:Poaceae
Genus:Schizachyrium

-Also known as Beard Grass, is an American prairie grass. Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass.
-The leaf sheaths are light green or light blue, hairless or slightly pubescent, and finely ribbed. Each culm terminates in several ascending racemes of spikelets.
-Little Bluestem grows to a typical height of 3 feet. Although it has a blue tint in the spring, in fall its predominant color is more red, which color it may retain throughout winter into spring. The culms and leaves become various shades of tan, brown, or wine-red during the fall and winter.



Big bluestem /A. gerardii /"turkey foot"

Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Genus: Andropogon

-Big bluestem, is a perennial bunch grass tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture. Depending on soil and moisture conditions, it grows to a height of 1 – 3m (3 – 10 ft).
- The stem base turns to a blue-purple as it matures. The seed heads have three spike-like projections, resulting in another common name for big bluestem — "turkey foot."
-Each culm terminates in 2-6 narrow racemes of spikelets. These racemes originate near the base of the inflorescence and spread outward, forming a claw-like V-shape. Each raceme is up to 6" long.
-The spikelets are dull greyish green to purplish red in color; their anthers are yellow to dull red. The blooming period occurs during late summer or early fall. Pollination is by wind. Each spikelet produces a single grain.
-The root system is fibrous and produces short rhizomes.
-Big Bluestem is an important food plant of many grasshoppers

Rosinweed / Silphium integrifolium
Aster family (Asteraceae)



-This native perennial plant is 3-5' tall and unbranched, except near the inflorescence. The stout central stem is usually covered with stiff short hairs, but sometimes becomes glabrous with age.

-The opposite leaves are up to 5" long and 2½" wide. They are broadly lanceolate to ovate, and have stiff small hairs on both the upper and lower sides, providing a sandpapery texture. The margins of these leaves are usually smooth, or they may have tiny teeth. As they ascend the stem, the opposite leaves rotate their direction by 90°.

-composite yellow flowers appear at the top of the plant, resembling small sunflowers. Each flower is about 2–3" across, consisting of numerous disk florets surrounded by 12-25 ray florets. Only the ray florets are fertile. There is no noticeable floral scent. Often, there are side stems that bear smaller panicles of flowers.

Indian grass /Sorghastrum nutans
Grass family (Poaceae)

-This native perennial grass is 3-7' tall and unbranched. It typically consists of tight bunches of flowering culms and their leaves. The culms are terete, glabrous, and light green to pale yellow. The blades of the alternate leaves are up to 2' long and ½" across; they are dull green to dark green, flat, and hairless.

-The floret of each spikelet has 3 stamens with yellow to brown anthers and 2 stigmas that are white and plumose. The blooming period occurs during late summer to early fall. At this time, the branchlets of the panicle spread outward slightly; afterwards, they become more appressed and ascending.

-Various kinds of soil are tolerated, including those that can loam, clay-loam, sand, and gravel.

Cottontail rabbit
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Genus: Sylvilagus

-Apple, willow, dogwood, hickory, rose, sumac, clover, corn, soybean - you name it, and the rabbit will probably eat it. Although some plants are favored foods, almost any plant, if it’s tender, will be eaten. In the spring, the rabbits feed on the new tender shoots of grass and clover. The young leaving the nest eat their first meal away from the doe by nibbling on the leaves of clover, grass and plantin. In the late fall and winter, when grasses have dried up or been covered with snow, the main diet is the bark of sprouts and seedlings grown the previous summer.
-At birth, the young are furless, blind and weigh less than one ounce. Each usually has the white blaze on the forehead, characteristic of the cottontail. They are nursed each night soon after dark and again before dawn, with an occasional nip between these times.
-The only other rabbit native to Indiana is the swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus) found only in the swamp lowlands along the Ohio and Wabash rivers. It spends much of its time up on stumps and logs, and swims readily when pursued. The swamp rabbit is larger then the cottontail, reaching almost six pounds. It is currently protected in its historical range in southwestern Indiana.


Woodchucks / groundhogs

Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Marmota
Species: M. monax

-Active above ground for only a few hours each day, they have an elaborate system of burrows that are constantly changing. Groundhogs are herbivores (vegetarians).

-They eat alfalfa, clover, and dandelions, They begin accumulating fat in July and early fall they have half inch of fat over all of their body They hibernate through the winter in the main chamber of their burrow that has been lined with grasses and leaves and is closed off with soil. When hibernating they curl up in a ball, their body temperature lowers and they breath about once every six minutes. They come out of hibernation in February or March.


White-tailed Deer /O. virginianus
Order:Artiodactyla Family:Cervidae Genus:Odocoileus


Characteristics:
-the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States (all but five of the states), Canada, Mexico, Central America, and in South America as far south as Peru. It has also been introduced to New Zealand and some countries in Europe, such as Finland and the Czech Republic.
Fossil records indicate that its basic structure has not changed in four million years

Meadow

1. Cockspur thorn /C. crus-galli
Order: Rosales Family: Rosaceae Genus: Crataegus

-small tree growing up to about 10 meters tall and 8 meters wide, rounded in form when young and spreading and flattening as it matures.

-Leaves are 5 to 6 centimeters long, glossy dark green in color and turning gold to red in the fall.
-Flowers are white and have a scent generally considered unpleasant.
-Fruits are bright red pomes each about a centimeter wide.
-It is native to eastern North America from Ontario to Texas to Florida, and it is widely used in horticulture.

2.New England aster / Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (L.) Nesom
Order: Asterales
Asteraceae (Aster Family)

- leaves: hairy, clasping,are arranged densely on its stout stems.
- Flower size: flowerheads around 1-1/2 inches across
Flower color: purple rays around a yellow disk
Flowering time: August to October
Compared to other native asters, New England aster flowers have more rays (around 40) and, usually, more intense purple color.

-Habitat: damp thickets and meadows
-Height: 3-7 feet

3.Closed Gentian /Gentiana clausa...also known as Bottle Gentian


Leaves: The leaf arrangement is opposite. Leaves can reach 10cm in length (4inches). Each leaf is lanceolate entire and stemless.

Flowers: The flowers have 5 Regular Parts and are up to 3.5cm long (1.5 inches). They are blue sometimes violet. Blooms first appear in mid summer and continue into mid fall. The corolla appears completely closed but can be opened at the top.

Habitat: Moist fields or open woods.

4.Tall Sunflower /Helianthus giganteus
Order: Asterales Family:Asteraceae Genus: Helianthus

Stem: 3 to 12 ft. tall, bristly-hairy, usually branching above, often reddish
Stems tall and rather stiff, hairy and rough to the touch,often purplish.
Ray flowers: ten to twenty in number, surrounding the yellow or yellowish brown disk. Bracts of the involucres lanceolate, ciliate, with slender, spreading tips. Receptacle chaffy, the chaff oblong-linear and pointed.
Leaves : Rough, firm, lance-shaped, saw-toothed, sessile, very rough above, margins serrate, long pointed at the apex, narrowed at the base, opposite or alternate, 2 to 6 inches long, one-half to 1 inch wide.

5.Daisy Fleabane /Erigeron strigosus
Order: Asterales Aster family: (Asteraceae)

-The upper stems terminate in small clusters of daisy-like compound flowers and their buds. The compound flowers are about ½" across, consisting of about 40-100 ray florets that surround numerous disk florets. The tiny disk florets are yellow, while the ray florets are usually white (sometimes light violet or pink).

- The root system consists of a taproot. This plant spreads by re-seeding itself, and often forms loose colonies.
-The alternate leaves are up to 4" long and 2/3" across, becoming smaller and more sparsely distributed as they ascend the stems. They are usually oblanceolate (shaped like a narrow spoon), narrowly ovate, or linear. Some of the larger leaves may have a few coarse teeth toward their outer tips. The base of each leaf narrows gradually to a slender petiole-like base.

Special Adaptations:
-The blooming period occurs primarily from late spring to mid-summer, and lasts about 1-2 months. Both the ray and disk florets can set fertile seed without cross-pollination. The small achenes enclosing the seeds have small bristles or white hairs that promote distribution of the seeds by wind.

-Primarily small bees and flies visit the flowers for nectar or pollen. Among the bees, are such visitors as Little Carpenter bees, Nomadine bees, Carder bees, Green Metallic bees, and Plasterer bees. An exceptional variety of flies also visit the flowers, while less common visitors include small butterflies, wasps, and beetles. The caterpillars of Schinia lynx (Lynx Flower Moth) eat the buds and flowerheads. Mammalian herbivores occasionally feed on the foliage and flowers, including livestock, deer, rabbits, and groundhogs

6.Autumn Olive /E. umbellata
Order: Rosales Family: Elaeagnaceae Genus:Elaeagnus



-native to eastern Asia from the Himalayas east to Japan. Because airborne nitrogen can be fixed in its roots, it has the capability to grow in infertile habitats.
-deciduous shrub growing to 4-10 m tall, with a dense, thorny crown
-leaves are alternate, 4-10 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, entire but with a waved margin they are silvery when they leaf out early in spring due to numerous tiny, scales, but turning greener above as the silvery scales wear off through the summer (unlike the related E. angustifolia, which remains silvery to leaf fall).
-flowers are clustered 1-7 together in the leaf axils, fragrant.
-fruit is round to oval drupe 1 cm long, silvery-scaled orange ripening red dotted with silver or brown. When ripe, the fruit is juicy and edible, and works well as a dried fruit. It is small, extremely numerous, tart-tasting, and it has a chewable seed. It has been shown to have from 7 to 17 times the amount of the antioxidant lycopene that tomatoes have.


7.Slender Fragrant Goldenrod /Euthamia tenuifolia (Solidago tenuifolia)


-Slender fragrant goldenrod looks quite similar to lance-leaved goldenrod. Slender fragrant goldenrod has narrower leaves -- around 1/8 inch wide, generally with only a single vein running down the leaf.

-Habitat: dry, sandy soil
-Height: 1-2 feet
-Flower size: 1/4 inch long
-Flower color: yellow


8.
Sweet /Anisescented Goldenrod /Solidago odora

Leaves: The leaves are alternate, toothless & when held up to light, there are tiny transparent dots. The leaves are entire, narrow, have only one main vein and have no petiole but instead merge smoothly with the stem. The leaves become small near the top. They have small glands appearing as dots.

Flowers: The flowers have numerous parts. They are yellow. The flowers are on the upper side of arching branches. The flowers are unusual because they grow only on the top side of the stems. When the Goldenrod gets taller, it typically droops over or lays on the ground due to the weight of its flowers and leaves.

Use: Fresh and dried leaves and flowers are highly recommended for a brewed tea. Leave in hot water for 10 minutes, and you'll get an "anise-flavored" tea.

Orange Fairy Cup -BOG

Orange Fairy Cup/Orange Peel Fungus A. aurantia

Order: Pezizales Family: Pyronemataceae Genus: Aleuria

Characteristics:
-Often called the "Orange Peel Fungus," this attractive cup fungus is bright orange, with a fuzzy whitish underside (at least when young).
Aleuria aurantia occasionally develops a slit down one side, reminiscent of species of Otidea (see Otidea onotica for an example), but it does not consistently do so, and it is more brightly colored than most Otidea species. Under the microscope, Aleuria aurantia has spores that become marvelously reticulate, clearly separating it from species of Otidea.
-Cup-shaped, often becoming flattened or irregularly shaped as a result of the clustered growth habit; reaching widths of 10 cm, but often smaller; bright orange and smooth above; undersurface usually whitish-fuzzy, at least when young, but often orange and more or less smooth; without a stem. Odor none. Flesh orangish; brittle.
-Saprobic, usually growing in clusters on the ground, often in clayey soil or disturbed ground (roadbanks, landscaping areas, and so on); summer and fall (fall and winter in California); widely distributed in North America.

Common Earthball-BOG

Common Earthball/ Scleroderma citrinum
Class: Agaricomycetes Order: Boletales Family: Sclerodermataceae
Genus: Scleroderma


Characteristics:
-Earthballs are superficially similar to, and considered look-alikes of the edible puffball, but whereas the Puffball has a single opening on top through which the spores are dispersed, the earthball just breaks up to release the spores.
- Scleroderma citrinum has much firmer flesh and a dark gleba (interior) much earlier in development than puffballs. Scleroderma citrinum has no stem but is attached to the soil by mycelial cords. The peridium, or outer wall, is thick and firm, usually ochre yellow externally with irregular warts.

Whitewash Lichen -BOG

Whitewash Lichen/ Phlyctis argena (Spreng.) Flotow
Class: Ascomycetes Family:Phlyctidaceae

-The name “whitewash lichen” is certainly fitting—this looks like dull white paint. It occurs in a thin layer (crustose) on tree bark (corticolous), on many different deciduous and some cone-bearing trees, in both open and sheltered conditions. It is found on red maple and cedar, for example. It does not have any apothecia (fancy lichen talk for fruiting bodies).
-Thallus a white to grey crust, reacting yellow to slowly red with KOH, with diffuse, extensive, pale greenish soralia that erode leaving raised lines. Widespread and common on bark, sometimes on walls.

Spring Peeper -BOG

Spring Peeper / P. crucifer

Order:Anura Family:Hylidae Genus:Pseudacris

General Characteristics:

-This is a very small, delicate treefrog, measuring only about 2.5 cm. (1 in.) in length. It is easily identified by the presence of an "X" on the dorsum.
-The ground color can vary from dull gray or tan to bright brick red or pink. The southern subspecies can be distinguished from the northern species by virtue of its darkly speckled venter.

-In the northern reaches of their range Spring Peepers must frequently endure occasional periods of subfreezing temperatures during the breeding season, and this species is tolerant of freezing of some of its body fluids. This treefrog frequently occurs in breeding aggregations of several hundred individuals, and commonly breeds in many small wetlands, including swamps, temporary pools and disturbed habitats such as farm ponds and borrow pits.