Better start out with a definition of ‘weeds’ first. That means something quite different, whether you are an industrial farmer or a lawn obsessed suburbanite. Even polling our readers might yield wildly different definitions! One of my few favorite Facebook pages is ‘Illinois Botany’. Some visitors to the site barely know the difference between dandelions…
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After a hiatus of several years I have again be collecting seeds for the Chicago Botanical Gardens SOS Millennium Seed Bank Partnership. They issued a priority list but were looking for other species as well. Apparently, there have been few collectors for the Southern Illinois Tillplain Region. Not all species are easy to collect, for…
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The Illinois Native Plant Society Research Fund was developed to promote the conservation of Illinois native plants and communities through scientific research. llinois is nicknamed “The Prairie State,” but many woodland species also make their home here, visible in our forest preserves and other natural areas. One of these species is starflower (Lysimachia borealis), an…
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What ecological potential can a former steel processing site hold? The answer is being explored at Big Marsh Park in the Calumet Region on Chicago’s Far Southeast Side. Dr. Lauren Umek, an ecologist and project manager with the Chicago Park District, gave an overview of the site’s history and possible future during the INPS Northeast…
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Sixteen participants had the great privilege of visiting Montrose Beach Dunes on July 16 under the guidance of its longtime and very knowledgeable site steward. Montrose Beach Dunes development began in the early 1990s when Lake Michigan’s water level dropped to a historic low, creating a much wider beach soon colonized by plants such as…
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The distance from the Lake Michigan shore at the Wisconsin-Illinois border to the Union Pacific railway tracks is roughly one mile. In that mile lies 10,000 years of the Earth’s history, from the last glacier’s retreat to today’s ridges and swales—and you can walk it in less than half an hour. The railway tracks, dug…
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This Memorial Day, the Northeast Chapter joined a group of volunteers that have gone on a plant walk at Illinois Beach State Park for the past 35 Memorial Days. It’s a fantastic tour of a fantastic natural area every year. This year we had over 60 people attend. That’s not a typo—over 60 people! Due…
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Northeast Chapter members who joined site steward, John Balaban, and North Branch Restoration Project volunteer, Katie Miller, at Harms Woods Forest Preserve on June 8 were rewarded by a generous abundance of sedges. Thirty-one Carex species were identified during the outing, including one state-endangered and one state-threatened species (not listed here). The woodland wildflowers also did…
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Botany enthusiasts from throughout the Chicagoland region converged in Oglesby, Illinois last month at the 2019 INPS Annual Gathering. The highlights of Friday evening’s mixer, in addition to reconnecting with old friends from throughout the state, were the research updates provided by several 2018 research grant award winners and the keynote presentation on the Dixon…
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The Chicago Botanic Garden contacted me again this spring about collecting seed for their SOS [Seeds of Success] seed-banking program. I had done so some 5 years ago. One of my first collections was Oxalis violacea, a fairly common plant in our woodlands and barrens communities. When the sun shines, it is very showy with…
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