A Beautiful Prairie

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Today Jeanne and I headed over to the Dixon Water Foundation. My goal was to look for Black Dalea and a parasitic plant that grows on it, Thurber’s Pilostyles. We headed to a spot that I thought might be promising. So I didn’t remember the Black Dalea being there before at this particular location. However I wasn’t really looking for it on previous visits. And hey this is a special spot to visit, so just why not look. 🙂

Tis awfully beautiful eh!
We met up with Hilary , VP of Operations(sunglasses) and Morgan, the summer intern.
A red spot in the grass. A Cardinal Jumper (Phidippus cardinalis) caught a Two-lined Spittlebug (Prosapia bicincta)!
Jeanne pointed out the grasses! Here was a beautiful species of Bristlegrass (Setaria).
While I pointed to some of the forbs like this Missouri Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa).
Then a close look at the Two-leaf Senna (Senna roemeriana)!
Another grass, the pilose Slim Tridens. Update: Jeanne believes this was Hairy Erioneuron (Erioneuron pilosum). Thanks Jeanne! See here for a description.
The ephemeral creek had a nice crop of the American Water-willow (Justicia americana)!
Crossing the creek, a tiny Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Acris blanchardi) was only visible because I had saw it move. 🙂

Then Hilary had to get back to a meeting and Morgan back to other work. We did not find the Black Dalea at this spot. Jeanne and I headed off to another part of the prairie that I had not walked before. Fingers crossed for better luck.

Happy Juneteenth 2025!

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Keep looking!

The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know

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