Author: Maureen Clare Murphy

If you get Enemion biternatum and Thalictrum thalictroides mixed up, you’re not alone. It doesn’t help that their common names—false rue anemone and rue anemone—are so similar. Both spring ephemerals are in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). Both have typically white petaloid sepals and three-lobed leaves. Here are some differences in their appearance: E. biternatum has…
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Scutellaria — or skullcap — species can be found in a variety of habitats in northeastern Illinois. These perennials belong to the mint family (note their opposite leaves); more than 470 species of skullcaps can be found worldwide, mainly in temperate regions. The genus name comes from the Latin scutella, meaning “square-shaped salver or tray;…
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Ageratina altissima, or white snakeroot, is the only species of its genus found in the Chicagoland region, but it is widespread, even weedy. (The more than 300 species in the genus Ageratina mainly occur in the warmer regions of the Americas and West Indies.) White snakeroot is an herbaceous perennial around 1.5-3’ tall with opposite,…
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When visiting prairie fens, oak savannas, and woodlands this time of year, you may encounter flowering Maianthemum stellatum (previously Smilacina stellata); its common names include star-flowered lily-of-the-valley and starry false Solomon’s seal. Its name derives from its showy, white flowers, which are replaced by striped green berries that ripen into a deep red later in…
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The curled up fingers of a dried compass plant leaf, moody blue-gray clouds hanging low over yellowed grasses, a formation of sandhill cranes migrating across a partly cloudy sky. These are some of the observations made in natural science illustrator Karen Johnson’s sketchbook, and which she shares on her Instagram (@karensnatureart) and at karensnatureart.com. Living…
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Small but formidable, frustrating the manicured lawn gardener and the native plant enthusiast alike: it’s the genus Viola, the violets. More than two dozen violet species have been recorded in our area and the violet was named the state flower of Illinois. But which one? The school children tasked with deciding the state flower in…
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What ecological potential can a former steel processing site hold? The answer is being explored at Big Marsh Park in the Calumet Region on Chicago’s Far Southeast Side. Dr. Lauren Umek, an ecologist and project manager with the Chicago Park District, gave an overview of the site’s history and possible future during the INPS Northeast…
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