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Native Plants Blogs

landscape view of turkeyfoot seed heads of Big Bluestem

Illinois’ state grass: Big Bluestem

Grasses at a Glance
Most pictures and drawings of the tallgrass prairie feature one grass – Big Bluestem. This grass is a quintessential prairie grass that once covered Illinois. Also called Turkeyfoot, it’s likely that even if you aren’t familiar with grasses, you’ve seen this one. Today used extensively in prairie...
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closeup of the inflorescence of purpletop

Grasses can be purple?

Grasses at a Glance
While driving to work today, I scanned the sides of the road to see what grasses are in bloom. I was happy to see large patches of a grass with purple inflorescences. These dark purple grass spikelets belong to Purpletop (Tridens flavus). Ah, a common name that accurately describes...
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clump of Canada wild rye in bloom

Breaking down the rye grasses

Grasses at a Glance
I’m sure many of us have been hiking in the woods and been able to make general plant identifications – I know that’s a maple over there, here’s an oak, that’s definitely a hickory. But what about taking the next step to find out which type of maple, oak, or hickory? Getting an identification down...
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close up of the spikelets of side oats grama grass, looking like little red eyelashes

Identifying the Grama Grasses

Grasses at a Glance
One of my favorite grasses started blooming during this past week – Side Oats Grama. I planted some in my garden last fall and am thrilled to see it blooming. Side Oats Grama is one of four grama grasses that can be found in Illinois, and by far the most common. The other three look much more like...
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grassy edge with gama grass in bloom

What’s growing? A look at Gama Grass

Grasses at a Glance
I spent a lot of time exploring restored grasslands during grad school while collecting data for my research. I had become familiar with the most common grasses in the area, but one day I ran across something that didn't look super familiar. I didn’t know what to think at first, because it looked...
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