Tag Archives: national wild life refuge

Forb and Graminoid Identification

While doing belt transects, this skill was essential to the research project. Without knowing what all of the grasses and leafy plants were, how could you determine if it was a native plant or not?

During the first month of employment on this project, the members of the team all went to local herbariums and studied identification keys so we could accurately identify all the foliage we came across.

Learning this skills was the most rewarding experience I’ve had at a job. The task was daunting in the amount of things you had to know. When I was unsure of something, I would take a picture from every single angle I could, or even dig out the plant by the roots so I could later identify what it was. This lead to many plant pressings and a huge amount of pictures. I was even working on a photographic guide to the wild flowers and also a guide to ligules. Ligules are used to identify grasses before the seed head has had a chance to grow. It’s the only way to determine which species a grass is in the springtime, even for cool season grass.

I did this for 9 hours a day for 5 months and learned an immense amount of information. I wish I could have retained it all. Some random images from the collection are below.

Key to North Dakota Grasses and good short photographic guide to forbs of North Dakota. The later includes a lot of very common plants to the North Dakota prairie. Another short photographic guide is located here.

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Geum triflorum-Prairie Smoke
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Basal foliage of G. triflorum
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Lithospermum canescens – Hoary Puccoon
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Cynoglossum officinale – Houndstongue
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Elaeagnus commutata – Silver Berry
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Artemisia frigida – Pasture Sage
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Cerastium arvense – Prairie Chickweed
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Panicum capillare – Witchgrass
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Witchgrass closeup of flower
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Witchgrass ligule
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Panicum capillare – Witchgrass
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Witchgrass ligule
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Unidentified ligule
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Unidentified ligule with long sheath
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Long sheath and smooth ligule – unidentified
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Sphaeralcea coccinea – Scarlet Globemallow
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Toxicodendron radicans – Poison Ivy
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Another shot of the very hair, hairy ligule and leaf of this unidentified grass sp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I could identify these grass species where I just have ligule pictures, but it’s nearly impossible without seeing the actual plant. I didn’t take enough pictures to identify it that way.

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Carex family sedge
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Carex ligule
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Carex ligule from another angle
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Amorpha canescens – Leadplant inflorescence
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Amorpha foliage characteristics, part of the Fabaceae family (characteristic compound leaf structure)
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Lytta nuttalli – Nuttal Blister Beetle
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Cypripedium candidum – Lady Slipper Foliage
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Cypripedium candidum – Rare Lady Slipper on the North Dakota Prairie
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Another Lady Slipper photo
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Great shot of a rare prairie lady slipper
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Wheatgrass sp based on clasping auricle presence – possibly quackgrass
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Gaillardia aristata – Blanketflower
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Onosmodium molle – False Gromwell
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Unidentified hairy ligule with hairy leaf margins
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Anemone canadensis – Anemone flower
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Asclepias sp, probably incarnata – pink/swamp milkweed
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Asclepias spp. Probably sullivantii – Prairie Milkweed
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Asclepias speciosa – Showy Milkweed
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Asclepias speciosa – Showy Milkweed
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Asclepias spp. Probably sullivantii – Prairie Milkweed
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Penstemon digitalis or gracilis – Beardtongue
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Hordeum jubatum – Foxtail Barley
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Lilium philadelphicum – Wood Lily, or at least a Lily species
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Lily spp.
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Lactuca tatarica – Blue Lettuce
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Lactuca tatarica – Blue Lettuce
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Lactuca tatarica – Blue Lettuce
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Rosa arkansana – Wild Prairie Rose
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Monarda fistulosa – Wild bergamot
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Rosa arkansana – Wild Prairie Rose
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Bouteloua curtipendula – Sideoats Grama
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Bouteloua curtipendula – Sideoats Grama
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Bouteloua curtipendula – Sideoats Grama
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Bouteloua gracilis – Blue Grama
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Bouteloua gracilis – Blue Grama
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Bouteloua gracilis – Blue Grama
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Ratibida columnifera – Prairie coneflower
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Echinacea angustifolia – Purple Coneflower – Echinacea
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Andropogon geradii – Big Bluestem
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Andropogon geradii – Big Bluestem – Turkey foot looking inforescence
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Andropogon geradii – Big Bluestem ligule
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Andropogon geradii – Big Bluestem ligule
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Schizachyrium scoparium – little bluestem
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Schizachyrium scoparium – little bluestem
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Cactus spp on the prairie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was just a short list of the plants I saw and categorized. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t classify these plants shortly after I took the pictures. The grasses are hard to identify without having the whole plant in front of me, but during the survey period, I knew them perfectly. I wish I would have continued to create a ligule guide with key to the North Dakota prairie. The prairie there is a mix of short and tall grass, with hundreds of native grass species present, with nearly all of them being bunch grasses. Maybe I will get the opportunity again to classify the grasses and forbs of ND.