Prairie on the Brain

I've got prairie on the brain.  It's -25C outside but I'm working on finalizing an order for plugs to be contract grown for a prairie-savanna site that our group, the Waterloo Stewardship Council, has been working on for a few years.  The site is adjacent to remnant rail line prairie, part of the Branchton Prairie.  We've done all sorts of work on the site, cutting/coating of  successional and invasive trees and shrubs, a slow creeping prescribed burn in the savanna, bringing in an industrial grubber to mulch a field filling in with Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo), seed collection, and our sights are set on converting the old agricultural field to tallgrass prairie.  I wrote an article about the Branchton Prairie remnants for the Tallgrass Ontario Bluestem Banner publication, check it out.

This first picture is kind of interesting in that it shows how 'adventive' prairie has established on a strip of rail ballast which cuts right through a large expanse of cattail marsh.  The abandoned rail line is a great spot for turtle nesting.  It's also interesting that beaver keep the poplars, willows and dogwoods at bay along the rail line, it can get tough walking through a bunch of knee-high spikes.

Showy Tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense) does very well on the rail line.  One pass through this and your clothes are covered in hundreds of the seeds.

Early Goldenrod (Solidago juncea) and Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) are also fairly common at the site.

It's neat to have a xeric rail line right next to a deep organic wetland, along the edges you get wetland species like this Marsh Skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata).  Scutellaria comes from the latin scutella meaning little dish, while galericulata means hood (this species is also referred to as Hooded Skullcap).

Another wetland species, Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).  I've found this to grow quite well in fresh loam soils in my garden but naturally you'd tend to find it in wetter conditions.

One of a few Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus).  Sometimes I find this species to grow sparsely here and there, other times it can create huge clonal populations.  It can get a little tricky to differentiate H. divaricatus from Pale-leaved Sunflower (Helianthus strumosus).  Michigan Flora notes that divaricatus normally has glabrous stems versus hairy or scabrous stems.  Also, where the lowest lateral vein on the leaf joins the midrib...at the base (divaricatus) or slightly above the base (strumosus).  There's plenty of literature on hybridity in sunflowers, it can get confusing.

I'm going H. divaricatus on this one based on the smooth stem, even though clearly the lowest lateral vein is above the base of the leaf. 

The drooping inflorescence of Kalm's Brome (Bromus kalmii).  The easiest way to distinguish it from Fringed Brome (Bromus ciliatus)is to check the number of nerves on the first and second glumes (the parts which cover each seed).  Have I lost the birders yet?

This next plant, well I don't know what it's called.  I was going to call it Sicklepod (Arabis canadensis), but the scientific name didn't show up in Michigan Flora.  So I checked VASCAN, ok ok so we've got a name change on our hands, Borodinia canadensis, doesn't flow as nicely but I can dig it.  Well as it turns out Michigan Flora has it listed as Boechera canadensis as a result of some recent DNA testing. 

 

Best for last, a nice population of Smooth False Foxglove (Aureolaria flava).  This species is listed in Ontario as S2? (20 or fewer occurrences in the province).  This species is hemi-parasitic on oak roots.  There are two other Aureolaria species known from Ontario (and Waterloo Region), Annual False Foxglove (A. pedicularia) and Downy False Foxglove (A. virginica).  All 3 species are on the table for COSEWIC fall 2015 evaluation.

Leaves of a non-flowering plant.