Get Your Botany On!

Last summer while botanizing a railroad in Porter County, Indiana I noticed a dense, reddish colony of a short grass that from a distance ...

This tiny, floating aquatic fern is occasional on quiet backwaters in northern Indiana. It usually bears a reddish color, making it stand ou...

The indefatigable Pete Grube has identified this plant correctly. It is Arabis lyrata, the Lyre-leaved Rock Cress, or whatever they call it ...

Last spring, after a few lectures on the wonders of photosynthesis, I had my students each write a haiku about this magical process. Here i...

My friend Ellen in upstate New York is selling her beautiful country home and native plant nursery. The price is a bargain, especially when ...

Abby recently sent me the quote and picture of an engraving below, which reminded her of her first summer of monitoring with Tony and me.  I...

One of the most attractive goldenrods in the Chicago region, Solidago sempervirens , just happens to be introduced from the Atlantic and Gul...

Last night, I posted the following plant quiz... It's hard to believe we've let nearly three months go by without a plant quiz!  T...

If you are a regular follower of this blog, you may remember my post about an odd Penthorum sedoides individual that I saw at a mitigation ...

A few weeks ago Pete Grube and I were scouting for unusual plants in a swamp forest at the Indiana Dunes State Park and Pete discovered a co...

The magnificent rock cliffs and canyons of central Indiana support a nice variety of pteridophytes. Walking Fern, shown below, grows on damp...

If you go into a wet prairie remnant and spend 5 hours crawling through dense vegetetion looking for Thismia americana, and if you run afoul...

The exceedingly rare and elusive Three Birds Orchid flowered profusely in northern Indiana this year, in high quality forested sites. It...

Next Saturday (August 13, 2011) is Thismia Hunt 2011 . I hope to see some of you there. To learn about this tiny, mysterious plant, see my r...

I had the good fortune this spring of seeing all of Indiana's naturally occurring lady's slipper orchids ( Cypripedium spp.), save t...

Ever seen a blue thistle? Neither have I! This one got my attention as I wandered the backroads on a beautiful summer day. It's unusual ...

Good call, A.L., it is Carex frankii , Bristly Cattail Sedge. The perigynia bodies are strongly obconic and the awns of the pistillate scale...

As we moved across the playa wetlands where the Parish Phacelia was growing, we came to an emergent wetland community. Aquilegia formosa w...

Here are some of the common plants that we would see in Spring Valley. Of course there is a lot of Sagebrush and Greasewood. Some Saltbrus...