Reading Pictures

Rich Thickets

Life can be rich in a changeable place.

The bright yellow is the uncommon showy goldenrod. Of the 22 species of goldenrods in our region, this one is identified by smooth leaves and a smooth, reddish stem. The flower heads are rounded and symmetrical (rather than coming to a point that leans off to one side as is typical of many, including the common, weedy species called tall goldenrod). Showy goldenrod can be found in rich thickets, savannas, and prairies, especially on sandy soil.

The purple flowers belong to two species of blazing star. Most in this photo are rough blazing stars, but you can also see at least one spike of gayfeather, a taller, slender species, standing up above the others in the background.

If you want to study the photo carefully, you may also be able to make out half a dozen round pads of prickly pear cactus in the left foreground.

So what, indeed, are “rich thickets?” That’s the first habitat listed for showy goldenrod in Roger Tory Peterson’s interesting Field Guide to Wildflowers. Notice the three clumps of dark green leaves among the flowers. Each of these clumps has leafless sticks or brown, dead leaves above it. The green clumps are resprout branches of black oaks that have been burned off by controlled burns. Such copses can become dense and impenetrable when burned infrequently. Then they’re nesting habitats for catbirds and yellow-breasted chats. But in years directly after the burn, watch for more open-ground species like indigo buntings and field sparrows. These changeable thickets of burned resprouts can also be rich with rare plants, including eared gerardia and mullein foxglove. They deserve a peek when you’re out and about in nature.

Photo by Mike MacDonald/ChicagoNature.com.
Words by Stephen Packard. Sand prairie and savanna managed by the staff and volunteers of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at Illinois Beach State Park.