Dedicated to Joe Chase, a tireless advocate of prairies

Those of us who love plants with all of their variety and uniqueness have to love prairies. These plants have extraordinary ways of surviving and flourishing, giving us animals the means to survive. Early settlers saw these plants as 'weeds' when they were trying to produce harvestable crops in the thousands of fertile acres of grassland. But as we have come to know more about our environment, we have realized that the prairies and all of their plants and creatures are our heritage. Though in the short term those plowed prairies have given us a breadbasket to feed the world, we destroy those ecosystem of prairies at our peril. It is our hope that the Sun Prairie Public Library prairie will educate our people about the life systems of which we all a part just as the books and the resources of this library do about the accumulated knowledge and art of humankind.

Research by Mr. Mark Smith and his 2012 fall semester 7th grade class at Patrick Marsh Middle School. Specific students are noted after certain descriptions.

Illustrations by Patricia Zastrow and Jacki Martindale Written by Jacki Martindale Layout and production editor: Anthony Tardiff First Edition, 2013

at the Sun Prairie Public Library

Edited by Jacki Martindale

A Guide to

Prairie Plants

Blue Wild Indigo(Baptisia australis)

Found in dry-mesic prairies. Grows 3 to 5 feet. Trifoliate leaves with smooth edges. Blooms in June in shades of blue. Has large seed-pods.

Interesting details: “Bapto” in Greek means “to dip.” Many ancients used this plant for dye. It was also used by Native Americans to treat toothache.

Butterfly Weed(Aesclepia tuberosa) (orange milkweed)

Found in dry or mesic prairie. Grows 10 inches to 3 feet. Hairy stems, not milky, with clumps a foot or more tall. Has small flowers in blazing orange clumps in midsummer. Has long taproot that makes it drought resistant.

Perennial, can be planted by seed. Spindle-shaped seed pods; smaller leaves than asclepias syrica (common milkweed). Lovely in bouquets. Attracts butterflies.

Interesting detail: Once roots were boiled to treat pleurisy. This was not effective.

Dense Blazing Star(Liatris spicata)

Found in wet meadows. Grows 2 to 4 feet. Has spikes with thistle-like blossoms, 5 to 9 florets on scaly bracts, which are sessile, on hairless stems which have thin leaves up the stalk. Common in Wisconsin.

All blazing stars bloom from top to bottom and can be hybridized.

Prairie Blazing Star(Liatris pynocstachya)

Found in wet-mesic prairies. Grows 2 to 4 feet. Hairy with many sessile flower heads that are tufted, rose purple, on bracts that curve back. Flowers spikes bloom from top to bottom. Many thin, pointed leaves crowd up the stem. Small fluffy seed heads.

Forms corms (like rooty bulbs) to survive severe winters and droughts.

Interesting details: Root tastes like carrot and was eaten by Native Americans. Used in early New England to treat gonorrhea.

(contributed by Nina Boals)

Rough Blazing Star(Liatris aspera)

Found in dry-mesic prairie. Grows 6 to 30 inches. Has 25 to 40 broad flowers with curved sessile bracts. Long, narrow, pointed leaves, with corms (rooty bulbs). Likes sun and partial shade.

Interesting detail: Roots used for sore throats and snakebi tes by Nat ive Americans.

(contributed by Michaela Hanks)

Cream Wild Indigo(Baptisia leucophea)

Found in dry-mesic prairie. Grows up to three feet but is normally one foot high. Grows in partial shade to full sun. Has white or creamy blossoms like large alfalfa blossoms. Blooms in June.

In fall it produces dark, dry seed pods which rattle in the wind.

Rattlesnake Master(Eryngium yuccifolium)

Found in wet or dry-mesic prairie. 2 to 6 feet tall. Has spiny, yucca-like leaves, gray blue, green, that wrap around the stem at base. Starts blooming in June with greenish-white blooms that turn to prickly balls of seeds. Thick and deep roots.

Interesting detail: part of the carrot family, Native Americans thought the plant was likely food for rattlesnakes.

(contributed by Antilica Xiong)

Yellow or Gray Headed Coneflower(Ratibida pinnata)

Four feet in bloom. Has longish gray button and almost wilted-looking (very reflexed) rays (petals). Deeply lobed leaves are long and slender, with deep taproot in tight clumps. Blooms June to Sept. Often confused with black-eyed Susans.

Interesting detail: Ratibida means hedgehog. The plant was given the name because of its pointy seed head.

Woodland Sunflower(Helianthus divaricatus)

Found in wooded openings and dry prairie. 2 ½ to 6 feet tall with 2 to 6 inch long, thin ovule leaves, toothless or widely spaced, with stiff hairs under leaves. Golden yellow blooms July to September.

Interesting detail: Roots once used to treat worms and lung problems.

(contributed by Destiny Boeck)

Ox-Eye Sunflower(Heliopsis helianthoides)

Likes very sunny habitat, will grow in any kind of soil. Tall plant at 3 to 5 feet. Has mostly smooth leaves and stems, with leaves in pairs. Yellow, daisy-like flowers bloom June to September “Heli” means sun in Latin. Not a true sunflower — seeds differ.

(Contributed by Madelyn Prizl)

Cup Plant(Silphium perfoliatum)

Two upper leaves surround the flowering stalks form a cup which catches water, rough and sandpapery, coarsely toothed. Stands 4 to 8 feet.

Interesting details: Rosin gum used to prevent vomiting and morning sickness, also to treat livers and spleen disorders, and used for face and body wash. Winnebago (Ho-chunk) Indians believe that drinking water from the stem gave them good luck in a buffalo hunt.

Compass Plant(Silphium laciniatum)

Found in mesic or wet-mesic prairie. Stands 6 to 12 feet, with very large, stiff, and deeply lobed leaves which alternate on stem at base of plant. Long woody roots that can reach up to 10 feet. Yellow flowers atop tall, bristly stems.

Interesting details: Name came from the way the leaves move toward the sun. Once thought a painkiller.

(Contributed by Jordan McWilliams)

Prairie Dock(Silphium terebinthinaceum)

3 to 10 feet tall, with thick, sandpapery leaves having hairy undersides, large, up to 18 inches long and 12 inches wide. Very deep roots (up to 14 inches) able to penetrate the water table, football size near the surface. Blooms in August. Small yellow flowers bloom atop the tall stock. Rosin-like sap.

Interesting detail: the leaves were used by Catawba Indians to treat burns.

Rosinweed(Silphium integrifolium)

3 to 5 feet tall. Looks like a sunflower but flowers earlier. Periennial plant. Unbranched. Middle stem usually covered with short, stiff hairs, light green turning red in bright sunlight. Opposite leaves up to 5 inches long and 2 ½ inches wide, smooth leaves perhaps with tiny teeth, which rotate their direction by 90 degrees. Roots are thick, tough and regular keeping the plant vertical. Found in dry-mesic prairies native to Wisconsin.

Interesting detail: Native Americans used rosin for chewing gum.

(Contributed by Erin Ruland)

White Prairie Clover(Dalea candida, also Petalostemum)

Lives in dry-mesic areas in sandy prairies. 2 to 3 feet tall with fine textured, pinnate leaves, stems ribbed longitudinally with 5 to 9 leaflets, dense white flower on a head which dries long and thin, with long-stemmed taproot perhaps 5 feet long.

Interesting detail: noted for its nitrogen-fixing characteristics and is often planted by the roadside or in park restoration. Native Americans used it for tea and medicine. Lakota used it for its taste and chewed on its roots. Other Great Plains Indians used it to treat fresh wounds by soaking the leaves in water and applying it. Pawnees called it “broom” weed because they used it to sweep the floors of lodges.

(Contributed by Ally Keuler)

Hard-leaved, Rigid or Stiff Goldenrod(Solidago rigida)

Found in dry thickets, sandy prairies. Stands 1 to 5 feet tall. Hairy stem with broad leaves, upper leaves very rigid with large flowers. Rigid oval leaves on upper stem. Deep, fibrous roots.

Interesting details: There are many varieties of goldenrod. It has been used as an antiseptic, astringent and as a remedy for hemorrhage. Sap from leaves has been used to make rubber. Indians chewed leaves for sore throats and roots for toothaches. Used for tea.

Showy Goldenrod(Solidago speciosa)

Found in rich thickets, growing in fields and prairies. Grows 2 to 6 feet. Full, showy flowers with smooth reddish stem and smooth leaves lacking sharp teeth. Blooms August through October.

Interesting details: There are many varieties of goldenrod. It has been used as an antiseptic, astringent and as a remedy for hemorrhage. Sap from leaves has been used to make rubber. Indians chewed leaves for sore throats and roots for toothaches. Used for tea.

Purple Cone Flower and Tall Purple Cone Flower

(Echinacea purpuera and E. angustfolia)

Very similar plants, though the latter has taller cone. Found in dry sunny prairies. 2 to 5 feet tall, with smooth stems and rough scattered leaves. Very showy — orange, spiny cone-shaped center with 14 to 20 droopy purple petals.

Now hybridized, often planted in roadside gardens. Strong seeder, good in bouquets. Attracts butterflies.

Interesting detail: Used treating sore teeth, burns, scratchy throats and colds.

(contributed by Michael Lipps)

Common Milkweed(Asclepias syrica)

Stout 3 to 5 ft. plant found in dry areas, roadsides. Has thick milky sap if broken. Has small, fragrant mauve flowers in tennis ball-sized clusters during midsummer. Pointed, warty seed pods which when dried pop open to release seeds attached to silky hairs which float like parachutes. Rubbery, oval leaves have mauve veins and are opposite. One plant commonly lives for several years, some as long as 25. Blooms in midsummer.

Attracts butterflies; is the chief food for larvae of monarchs, making the critters toxic to birds.

Interesting details: The “silk” was used to stuff life-preservers in WW I; dried pods are used in dried winter arrangements, flower clusters when tightly bud can be eaten like broccoli.

(contributed by Noah Potts)

Wild Bergamot(Monarda fistulosa)

Found in upland, dry meadows and roadsides. In the mint family. Has a square stem and fragrant leaves, pink or pale lilac bracts on pompon-like head. Hairless 4 inch by 2 inch leaves are paired on 24 inch stalks.

Related to the scarlet-flowered beebalm or Oswego tea (Monarda didyma) found in the eastern US which is used to make Earl Grey tea by the English and Oswego tea by Native Americans.

Side Oats Gamma(Bouteloua curtipendula)

Common in short grass mesic prairies. Grows 15 to 30 inches tall. Looks like a coarse grass growing in blue green clumps, with small bright to brownish red flowers which turn into white and feathery sigmas with oat-like seeds that hang off the side of the plant. Plant turns red/purple with tan seeds.

Gamma means grass in Spanish.

Used to prevent erosion because of its deep, thick and long roots. Is a good grazing plant for cattle.

(contributed by Jade Yang)