The west unit of Staffanson burned this spring, so we expect a multitude of flowers this year. When Jared, Lindsey, and I visited Staffanson to stake random points on Wednesday, we noted which plants were flowering after the burn. Here’s what we found, from A to Z:
- Anemone patens (pasqueflower)
- Astragalus crassicarpus (ground plum)
- Comandra umbellata (bastard toadflax)
- Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
- Geum triflorum (prairie smoke)
- Hypoxis hirsuta (yellow star-grass)
- Lathyrus venosus (veiny pea)
- Lithospermum canescens (hoary puccoon)
- Maianthemum stellatum (starry false Solomon’s seal)
- Nothocalais cuspidata (prairie false dandelion)
- Oxalis violacea (violet wood sorrel)
- Pedicularis canadensis (wood betony)
- Ranunculus rhomboideus (prairie buttercup)
- Sisyrinchium campestre (prairie blue-eyed grass)
- Viola pedatifida (prairie violet)
- Zizia aptera (heart-leaved Alexander)
Honorable mention goes to several plants that weren’t blooming yet. We’ll check on them later in the summer:
- Amorpha canescens (lead plant)
- Anemonastrum canadense (meadow anemone)
- Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
- Cypripedium parviflorum (yellow lady’s slipper)
- Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alumroot)
- Lilium philadelphicum (wood lily)
- Pediomelum esculentum (prairie turnip)
- Thalictrum dasycarpum (tall meadow-rue)
We spotted several Echinacea plants on our walk. No flowers yet, but the leaves were as long as my finger!
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