Messenger Woods field trip for a Sunday stroll in nature.

Northeast Chapter: Home  |  Events  |  Resources |  Newsletters In 2022, the Northeast Chapter of the Illinois Native Plant Society is awarding six (6) twelve (12) copies of the book Flora of the Chicago Region to budding botanists, naturalists, habitat restoration volunteers, or students of ecology or conservation-related programs to encourage their personal and/or professional development. A primary…
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When my parents moved to Northbrook in 1951, the entire area between Crabtree Lane and Dundee Road was prairie and unchanneled west fork of the north branch of the Chicago River (except for a handful of houses on the north side of Crabtree Lane near Western Ave). Many natural prairie areas that had never been…
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Lakeside daisy’s (Tetraneuris herbacea) rocky road to recovery began in 1988 when it was listed as a federally threatened species. This designation was determined in part by the limited availability of suitable habitat, and the potential loss of that habitat as a result of stone quarrying operations in major parts of its range (namely Ohio).…
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Dune willow (Salix syrticola) is an Illinois Endangered species found at only a few lakeshore sites in northeastern IL. David Johannesen, a Plants of Concern volunteer, raised an alert in 2020 when he discovered plants were being lost to lakeshore erosion, and flooding had submerged half of the 10 remaining dune willows at Illinois Beach…
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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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The Morton Arboretum is iconic for many reasons. And I’m not sure founder Joy Morton had any idea that his grand idea would evolve into an international center for tree research, centered in its labs and respected herbarium, almost 100 years later. In 1940, their first superintendent, Clarence Godschalk, hired teacher May Theilgaard Watts. May…
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While researching an article for Erigenia, the peer-reviewed journal of the Illinois Native Plant Society, I ran across a notation about a “Mrs. Chase.” Since she was the only woman mentioned amid many eminent male botanists, my interest was piqued. A cursory internet search for her yielded no immediate helpful results so I dropped it…
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Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) is an aster family species native to a large portion of North America and introduced to Europe and Asia. This species has the beautiful golden-yellow flowers typical of other goldenrods, and blooms from late summer into the fall. The plants tend to stand out at the end of their flowering period…
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March 19, 2021 We are writing as concerned members and board of the Northeast Chapter of the Illinois Native Plant Society (INPS). The mission of the INPS is to promote the study, appreciation, and conservation of the native flora and natural communities of Illinois. A recently proposed ordinance to create a Managed Native Garden Registry…
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