Braidwood Dunes Field Trip July, 2024

Members went to Braidwood Dunes and Savanna on a lovely Sunday, July 21 st . But for me and
Vlad Nevirkovets, the excitement started before the field trip. Vlad had contacted me a few
days before the field trip with the news that he had found the state endangered Prairie
Quillwort (Isoetes melanopoda) at Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Naure Preserve. This would
be a very exciting find, as it was thought to be lost from the Chicago Wilderness area according
to the Plants of the Chicago Region.
We agreed to meet before the field trip to see the quillwort and in conversation I mentioned
that the related (different family, same order) state endangered Hickey’s Clubmoss
(Dendrolycopodium hickeyi) occurred not far away in the Sands. Vlad told me he was fascinated
by these primitive, spore producing plants and would love to see Hickey’s Clubmoss, so we
agreed to meet before the field trip and show each other endangered species that the other
had never seen before. Seemed like a really fair trade.
We met before the field trip and I showed Vlad around a dozen Hickey’s Quillwort from Sand
Ridge Savanna. Then we headed over to Braidwood Dunes and Savanna where we decided that
it was too close to the start of the field trip to have Vlad show me the Prairie Quillwort before
the trip, so we decided to incorporate looking at the Quillwort into the trip.
We had a good mix of regulars and Midewin folks (Vlad, along with Jonah Haskins, Logan Ulrich
and Anna Kuczera) show up. We hiked the firebreaks back to an area of high quality dry-mesic
sand savanna, loaded with Goat’s Rue (Tephrosia virginiana), Flax-leaved Aster (Aster
linariifolius), and Leadplant (Amorpha canescens), then took off across country toward the
Prairie Quillwort population. Along the way, folks were brought to their knees to look at a
population of blooming Yellow-eyed Grass (Xyris torta), an uncommon plant of wet-mesic
prairie. Vlad led us straight to the Prairie Quillwort, which we found after a short period of
looking. Happily, we found a number of plants, so we decided to move out of the area to avoid
stepping on them.
Not all endangered species are as pretty as the Kankakee Mallow. Quillworts look like a little
clump of slender grass or Juncus that you would weed out of your garden without hesitating.
After all, this little plant has no flowers, but produces spores in little structures hidden in the
leaves. The spores produce sperm and egg with the sperm swimming through the water to
reach the eggs.
Afterwards most of us headed for the Polka Dot Drive-thru, which was closed due to a power
outage. So we moved on to Dairy Queen, where we enjoyed relaxing over food, drinks and ice
cream. A good time was had by all.