Grassland Flora
Grass is the dominant vegetation, but there are also many wild flowers like prairie rose, gumweed, gumbo primrose, spiderwort, golden rod, clover, wild indigo, and coneflower in the grasslands.
Wildflowers
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/6297527.jpg?250)
- Common Name: Prairie Rose
- Scientific Name: Rosa arkansana
- Family: Rosaceae
- Flowering Period: June and July
- Flower Type: Rose, 5 petals on the Wild Prairie Rose vary from pink to white or rarely deep roselight and the flowers usually bloom in groups at ends of branches.
- One additional fact you find interesting: This is Iowa's state flower.
- Location (where you found it): East 1/4 of Kansas and Riley County
- http://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/tree-shrub/prairie-rose
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=569
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/5725333.jpg?253)
- Common Name: Gumweed
- Scientific Name: Grindelia squarrosa
- Family: Asteraceae
- Flowering Period: Biennial or short-lived perennial. July or August
- Flower Type: the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery
- One additional fact you find interesting: They are considered to be toxic depending on the soil that they grow in.
- Location (where you found it): Throughout, more frequently in north 1/2 of Kansas
- http://montana.plant-life.org/species/grindelia_squarro.htm
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=159
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/3526023.jpg?247)
- Common Name: Gumbo Primrose
- Scientific Name: Oenothera
- Family: Onagraceae
- Flowering Period: bloom in early spring, offering a variety of form, size, and color. Blooming often lasts throughout summer and in some areas, they will continue to delight the fall season with their outstanding colors.
- Flower Type: Each large, white flower has four, heart-shaped petals and eight yellow stamens. The flowers open in late afternoon, close the next morning, and wither to pink or red-violet.
- One additional fact you find interesting: Most primroses seen in gardens are hybrids and can be a multitude of colors.
- Location (where you found it): East 3/4 of Kansas
- http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OECA10
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=225
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/3662452.jpg?271)
- Common Name: Spiderwort
- Scientific Name: Tradescantia
- Family: Commelinaceae
- Flowering Period: May through July
- Flower Type: The spiderwort flowers grow in terminal clusters. The three broadly ovate petals are generally bright blue but depending on various circumstances, they are sometimes violet, purple, rose, and (rarely) white. Individual blossoms are short-lived (one or two days), but new blossoms appear daily throughout the blooming period.
- One additional fact you find interesting: This is an edible plant that can provide plenty of nutrients to a person.
- Location (where you found it): Principally east 1/2 of Kansas
- https://www.prairiemoon.com/seeds/wildflowers-forbs/tradescantia-ohiensis-ohio-spiderwort.html
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=76
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/4144358.jpg?296)
- Common Name: Golden Rod
- Scientific Name: Solidago
- Family: Asteraceae
- Flowering Period: late Summer into the Fall
- Flower Type: There can be wide variations in characteristics, but generally, goldenrod leaves are about 10 cm long and 2 cm wide, tapering to a point at the tip and narrowing at the base, with no leaf stem and small teeth around the edges. Three veins run parallel from near the base of the leaf.. The underside of the leaf is hairy, especially along the veins and the upper side has a rough texture.
- One additional fact you find interesting: No one is, no one can be, allergic to Goldenrod pollen.
- Location (where you found it): East 1/2 of Kansas
- http://www.ediblewildfood.com/goldenrod.aspx
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=379
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/2283213.jpg)
- Common Name: White Clover
- Scientific Name: Trifolium
- Family: Fabaceae
- Flowering Period: May, June, July, August, September
- Flower Type: heads or dense spikes of small red, purple, white, or yellow flowers; the small, few-seeded pods are enclosed in the calyx
- One additional fact you find interesting: Can cause bloating in livestock but rarely a death because of its toxicity.
- Location (where you found it): Throughout Kansas
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=496
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/4365272.jpg?194)
- Common Name: Wild Indigo
- Scientific Name: Baptisia australis
- Family: Fabaceae
- Flowering Period: mid to late spring and summer
- Flower Type: Flowers are blue-purple and pea-like, congested in dense, upright, terminal spikes, 4-16 in. long. Leaves are divided into three leaflets
- One additional fact you find interesting: Held in mouth to treat toothaches
- Location (where you found it): East 3/4 of Kansas
- http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=BAAU
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=129
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/3336802.jpg?295)
- Common Name: Coneflower
- Scientific Name: Echinacea
- Family: Asteraceae
- Flowering Period: spring to autumn
- Flower Type: Rough, scattered leaves that become small toward the top of the stem. Flowers occur singly atop the stems and have domed, purplish-brown, spiny centers and drooping, lavender rays. An attractive perennial with purple (rarely white), drooping rays surrounding a spiny, brownish central disk.
- One additional fact you find interesting: Native Americans reportedly used echinacea for treating things as varied as headaches, toothaches, snake bites, arthritis, mumps, tumors and malaria. Today, it is recommended as a way to boost the immune system, treat skin diseases and aid in healing respiratory illnesses like bronchitis, tuberculosis and whooping cough.
- Location (where you found it): East 1/3 of Kansas
- http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ECPU
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=51
Grasses
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/7095453.jpg?289)
- Common Name: Mock Bishop's Weed
- Scientific Name: Ptilimnium nuttallii
- Family: Apiaceae - Parsley Family
- Height: 1-2 feet
- Inflorescence Appearance: Compound umbels, .8 to 2.4 inches across, terminal and in leaf axils; rays 4-30, slender, .4 to 1.2 inches long; flowers 5 to numerous in
each small cluster; bracts 2-15, thread-like, usually entire, shorter than
rays. - Flowering Period: June, July, August
- Blade Description: Longer blades; vertical veins running from the top to the bottom of the blade; smooth
- Ligules: Right below the blade between the blade and sheath is the ligule. It is curved and has little tiny bristles or fibers.
- Known Uses:For feeding all kinds of insects, especially the black swallowtail butterfly. The grass is perfect for the larvae to eat to help the process of metamorphosis.
- One additional fact you find interesting: This plant is native to Florida, yet it can be seen in other moist areas.
- Location (where you found it): Outside on the side of the fence on the east side of the school where construction is going on. Southeast corner of Kansas.
- http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=463
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/3557801.jpg?283)
- Common Name: Big Bluestem Grass
- Scientific Name: Andropogon gerardi
- Family: Poacae
- Height: 3 to 10 feet
- Inflorescence Appearance: This grass is also called Turkey feet because the shape of the seed heads look like turkey feet. It is also called beard grass.
- Flowering Period: It blooms from June through September.
- Blade Description: The hairy blades, which can get to be 12 inches long and 1/2 inch wide, will get a red tinge on the leaves as they get older, and turn bronze in the fall.
- Ligules: Shorter ligule, fuzzy with the hairs from the blade sheath and stem.
- Known Uses: This type of grass was an important food for the American bison, because it was the biggest type of grass there was. Also to keep the dust from blowing around in the prairies and grasslands.
- One additional fact you find interesting: Because the bluestem grass was plowed down in the 1930's, the dust bowl happened.
- Location (where you found it): Throughout, but rare in southwest corner. It is the most abundant grass in the tallgrass prairie region
- http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands_plant_page.htm
- http://www.kswildflower.org/grass_details.php?grassID=6
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/1555866.jpg?249)
- Common Name: Indian Grass
- Scientific Name: Sorghastrum nutans
- Family: Poacae
- Height: 3-8 feet
- Inflorescence Appearance: It has yellow spikelets that have white hairs, which make it look silver and gold in the sunlight.
- Flowering Period: Start growing in May and go to seed in July and August.
- Blade Description: The grass has long, flat, and narrow leaves called blades.
- Ligules: forms a distinct so-called "rifle-sight", even identifiable when the plant is young
- Known Uses: Indian Grass is used for grazing animals and for meadows on farms. It is also used as ornamental grass in gardens or border grasses.
- One additional fact you find interesting: This is the state grass for both Oklahoma and South Carolina
- Location (where you found it): Throughout Kansas
- http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands_plant_page.htm
- http://www.kswildflower.org/grass_details.php?grassID=36
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/6903817.jpg?274)
- Common Name: June Grass
- Scientific Name: Koeleria Macrantha
- Family: Poacae
- Height: 1-2 feet
- Inflorescence Appearance: Its flowers look like long fuzzy spikes
- Flowering Period: bloom in May-July and mostly June
- Blade Description: Grass has small and skinny leaves
- Ligules: short, less than 1/16 inch, membranous, collar-shaped, finely toothed at margin; auricles absent
- Known Uses: June Grass is usually eaten by grazing livestock and is also eaten by wild animals during the summer time. Songbirds and small mammals eat the seeds.
- One additional fact you find interesting: The common name “junegrass” refers to its habit as a cool-season grass that tends to flower in June.
- Location (where you found it): Throughout except southwest corner of Kansas
- http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands_plant_page.htm
- http://www.kswildflower.org/grass_details.php?grassID=27
![Picture](/uploads/3/8/7/5/38756005/5158924.jpg?362)
- Common Name: Buffalo Grass
- Scientific Name: Bouteloua dactyloides
- Family: Poacae
- Height: 2 and 5 inches (5-13 cm) tall and spreads out between six feet and 12 feet (3-4 m)
- Inflorescence Appearance: The female seed head of buffalo grass grow in clusters of three to five hairy spikelets. The tiny clusters of yellow to golden male flower of buffalo grass grow about 2 inches (6 cm) above the blades.
- Flowering Period: Buffalo grass is a warm-season, native, perennial shortgrass. It goes dormant in the colder months, but then rejuvenates in the warmer months.
- Blade Description: It has a round hollow stem with gray, green curly leaves.
- Ligules: composed of very short ridge of stiff hairs, at the side of which much longer hairs arise
- Known Uses: Both livestock and white-tailed deer, buffalo, pronghorns, jackrabbits and prairie dogs use it as forage. It was the main source of food for the buffalo when huge herds roamed the prairies. Mountain plovers build their nests in buffalo grass.
- One additional fact you find interesting: Buffalo grass has both male and female plants.
- Location (where you found it): Throughout Kansas
- http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/grasslands_plant_page.htm
- http://www.kswildflower.org/grass_details.php?grassID=42
Noxious Weeds
|