It’s the Berries

Red Dogwood Berries

Red Osier (Red Twigged Dogwood) Berries © 2008

A walk in the prairies show grasses are browning, flowers are setting seed, and this red osier shrub (red twigged dogwood) is ladened with bunches of heavy white berries. By the way, the berries do not turn red.

The dogwood’s name has nothing to do with dogs. The word is derived from an Old English wood dagge (dagger) and refers to the hardness of the wood. A European species was once used to make butchers’ skewers.

Prairie Grasses in Wisconsin

Say the word “prairie” and many people visualize Laura Ingalls in her log cabin or rolling wagons crossing open prairie land, the wagons filled with settlers on their way out West in search for a better life. But I’m thinking most really have no idea of what a prairie looks like up close.

Sure, most know there are lots of sunflowers and yellow goldenrod wildflowers and some tall grass, but ever give thought to the hundreds of varieties of grasses that make up the tall grass and short grass prairie lands. Obvious, right?

Well, maybe not so obvious at all. It’s easy to overlook grasses. I mean, it’s just grass, right?  So let me show you just how different a few of these grasses really are.

Side Oats Grama Grass

Side Oats Grama Grass © 2008

This prairie grass is found in the high prairies in southern Wisconsin and extends to central Wisconsin in fewer numbers. It’s one of my favorite grasses to look for – I love the purply-blue fruits hanging in a row like someone pinned them on a clothesline.

When buffalo roamed the region, this was their main source of food. It’s an easy grass to identify – all those oats are hanging off to one “side”. So it is side oats grama grass. Grama is from gramen, the Latin word meaning grass.  1 1/2 to 3 feet tall.

Indian Grass

Indian Grass © 2008

Before agriculture and tended crops developed, Indian grass was second only to big blue-stem grass as the most important plant in the tall grass prairie, both in its numbers and in its nutritional content.

It is extremely drought resistant because of it’s extensive deep root system – typical of the prairie plants. The frequent prairie fires do not damage these grasses – they are highly adapted to the burns. This grass was one of the taller one,  usually standing 6 to 9 feet tall.

Canada Wild-Rye Grass

Canada Wild-Rye Grass © 2008

This is one of the most important grasses in the tall grass prairie. It acts as a nurse crop for prairie seedlings early in the growing season before it declines as the warm season grasses mature. Canada Wild-rye Grass grows 2 to 5 feet tall and forms a loose sod. Native Americans used the seed for food, as did a multitude of large and small animals.

The grasses had other uses besides as food.They were used as fuels, and also the fibers were woven into mats for internal walls in small cabins, window coverings, and floor coverings.

Tall Grass Prairie Wildflowers

New England Asters

New England Asters © 2008

The last show of wildflowers in the prairies are in bloom. The prairies are full and thick, now beginning to yellow a bit. The New England Asters are easily cultivated, and found in many gardens, but they are especially handsome in the thickets of grasses on the prairie.

Rosin Weed

Rosin Weed © 2008

What a name for one of the most perfect prairie wildflowers I’ve seen in a long time! Rosin Weed is an excellent flower for the prairie, and used extensively in prairie restorations as it is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds.  Its sap contains resin which was once used as a chewing gum. (Ick – I’d rather have peppermint myself.)

Blue Vervain

Blue Vervain © 2008

This would be an easy flower to miss, except it grows so tall the flowers tend to stick out over many of the shorter grasses. The Blue Vervain flowers themselves are tiny – less than 1/4″ wide – but the plant stands up to 6 feet tall.

Vervain was a popular plant, well-known for its many medicinal uses – made into a brew and used as a tonic, an aphrodisiac, and a sedative. Centuries ago it was hung on European peasants’ doorways to ward off the devil and other evildoers, and it was worn as an amulet to bring good luck.

Grasshoppers on A Cattail (X-Rated)

Grasshoppers on Cattails

Differential Grasshoppers on Cattail © 2008

While hiking in the prairie just north of Madison, I noticed a cattail that had exploded with seeds. Upon further examination, I discovered two grasshoppers partially hiding in all the fluff. They seemed quite preoccupied and didn’t appear to mind my camera lens pointing within inches of them.

I think this may be my first ‘insect’ shot. I usually am too impatient to wait for insects, but this was a ready to take photo.

When I went to do some research on these complicated looking creatures, I found hundreds of pages of information on grasshoppers. I had no idea there were so many different grasshoppers.  I concluded that these were a pair of Differential Grasshoppers – what an odd name! – by the unmistakable black chevron pattern on their hind legs. Pretty cool pattern.

Wonders in the Tall Grass Prairie

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/2815659223_713b8ee610.jpg

Path through a Tall Grass Prairie © 2008

A path leads through a small segment of a tall grass prairie. Oak savannas are spreading into the prairie in the background. This prairie will have a prescribed burn next year.

Fire plays an important role in managing prairies, just as it has been a natural and frequent occurrence on the grasslands for thousands of years. The prairie flowers, grasses and animals all rely on the burning, which prevents invasion by larger shrubs and trees, and removes most of the accumulation of mulch that typically smothers the growth of the small prairie plants, some nearly microbial in size.

Gayfeathers

Marsh Gay-feather, A.K.A. Marsh Blazing Star © 2008

This late season prairie wildflower, Liatris spicata, blooms from the top down, instead of the more common bottom to top growing pattern. It is a favorite of many species of butterflies. It is a rather spectacular plant, ranging in height from 2 to 4 feet tall.  In fall, the deep brown seed head attracts dozens of yellow finches for a dramatic show. It is more common the further east you travel, though it was once abundant in southern Wisconsin.

Native Americans and early settlers considered the plant an important commodity due to its medicinal properties as well as its nutritional use. The Lakotas ground its roots to make an appetite stimulant, and also ate the entire plant to treat heart ailments. it was said to strengthen the “bound muscle with poor rhythm.” The plants’ corms were also used the Lakotas, as well as by other tribes and early settlers, as winter food.

Big Bluestem Grasses

Big Bluestem Grasses © 2008

The big bluestem is the tallest of the grasses, waving upwards of 8 to 10 feet tall. It is also referred to as turkey-foot grass, as the grass often splits into threes near its top.

There are five very well adapted perennial grasses which predominate the tall grass prairie or grassland biome: big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, switch grass, and prairie dropseed. This woven masterpiece of fibers, which thread themselves together in a protective matting, allows the prairie and its smaller plants and animals to survive threatening winds, fires, drought, and prolonged, harsh winters.

I think there is nothing lovelier than walking through a tall grass prairie at this time of year, the winds gently pushing the tall stems above my head, and searching in the yellow-brown for purple asters, sunflowers and other late wildflowers – the harbingers of autumn.

Sunny Yellow Prairie Flower

Sweet Coneflower © 2008

This is a close cousin of the black-eyed Susan, the foliage is firmer and the plant tends to grow taller, up to 4 1/2 feet in height.  The name comes from the plant’s perfumery – rather a sweet anise- or vanilla-scent lingers when the leaves are crushed.