Threatened Prairie Buttercup Discovered in Kane County

June Keibler discovered the state-threatened prairie buttercup (Ranunculus rhomboideus) while conducting a routine restoration burn in Kane County last April. Though this rare native plant has been found in other Illinois counties, this is the first sighting in Kane County.

Keibler has been a volunteer conservationist for more than 20 years and is a part-owner of an ecological restoration business, Witness Tree Native Landscapes. She and other volunteers were burning on land recently brought under restoration as part of the Dundee Township Open Space program. "When this area was first saved, we had no idea it was so ecologically significant," she says. "Every time we burn up there, another species comes back."

While preparing to ignite a patch of scrub, Keibler caught sight of some bright yellow blooms. "I knew right away it was prairie buttercup because I'd seen them in another prairie area," she says. So far, Keibler and her husband, Steve, have counted 24 individual plants in the area. Found in dry prairie areas, this native plant has hairy stems and five-petaled yellow flowers. Sky blue aster, shooting stars, and dropseed are often found growing around it and were also present at the site in Kane County.

— Viveka Neveln

See a photo of prairie buttercup at Blythe Park School's Living Classroom pages (Riverside, Ill.)