Dedicated to Joe Chase,

a tireless advocate of prairies

A Guide to

Prairie Plants
at the Sun Prairie Public Library

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.
Edited by

Jacki Martindale

Illustrations by Patricia Zastrow and Jacki Martindale

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

Blue Wild Indigo

(Baptisia australis)

Butterfly Weed
(Aesclepia tuberosa) (orange milkweed)

Dense Blazing Star

(Liatris spicata)

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.

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.

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.

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

All blazing stars bloom from top to bottom and

can be hybridized.

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.

Interesting detail: Once roots were boiled to

treat pleurisy. This was not effective.

Prairie Blazing Star

(Liatris pynocstachya)

Rough Blazing Star

(Liatris aspera)

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.
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)

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 snakebites by Native
Americans.

(contributed by Michaela Hanks)

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

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)

Cup Plant
(Silphium perfoliatum)

Compass Plant
(Silphium laciniatum)

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.

Two upper leaves surround the flowering stalks

form a cup which catches water, rough and
sandpapery, coarsely toothed. Stands 4 to 8
feet.

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.

(Contributed by Madelyn Prizl)

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.

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
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)

Showy Goldenrod
(Solidago speciosa)

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.

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.

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 coneshaped 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 ballsized 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.

Wild Bergamot
(Monarda fistulosa)

Found in upland, dry meadows and

In the mint family. Has a square
fragrant leaves, pink or pale lilac
pompon-like head. Hairless 4 inch
leaves are paired on 24 inch stalks.

Side Oats Gamma

(Bouteloua curtipendula)

roadsides.
stem and
bracts on
by 2 inch

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.

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.

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)

(contributed by Jade Yang)