Nature Bulletin No. 30   September 1, 1945
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Clayton F. Smith, President
Roberts Mann, Superintendent of Conservation

****:THE PRAIRIE

We call this the season of Purple-and-Gold. Particularly is this 
descriptive of those few remnants of native prairie that still persist. Just 
now they have a striking characteristic. There is a high level of yellow 
bloom, a low level of golden bloom and, rising above the lower level, a 
broad band of purple that thrills you with its vibrant beauty.

The high level is made up of the flowers of Rosin-weed, the Compass 
Plant and the Prairie Dock. The low level is Goldenrod and Brown-
eyed Susan. The purple band is Prairie Blazing Star.

The prairie is ever-changing. Fifteen days ago the Yellow Coneflower 
was dominant, with the Prairie Bush-clover supplying low staccato dots 
of reddish purple. In July your eye was struck by magenta islands of 
Purple Coneflower, pink islands of Prairie Phlox, the deep orange of the 
Butterfly-weed, and rare daubs of the red of lilies.

Originally there were two kinds of native prairie: the dry, characterized 
by Big Blue Stem grass; and the wet, characterized by Blue-joint grass. 
Cook County had a lot of both. Cook County now has but a few 
remnants that were never plowed, and seldom grazed or mowed. For the 
botanist appreciative of more than magnitude and color, to whom very 
tiny and rare plants are more than weeds, and for the ecologist, these 
prairie remnants are fascinating areas for years of study.

This is fertile land. It's corn land. The tall-grass prairies of western 
Ohio, Central Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and northern Missouri supply this 
nation with most of its corn -- the king of grain and the backbone of our 
agriculture.

Keep your eyes open as you drive the highways. If you are genuinely 
interested, we will acquaint you with some typical, spectacular 
examples of native Illinois prairie.