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ies scaly blazingstar was blooming in force at lynx prairie you can read more about this species on my scaly blazingstar feature a very common species in ohio s prairies is gray headed coneflower ratidiba pinnata both purple and gray headed coneflowers can be found in ohio prairies but in my experience the gray headed coneflower generally outnumbers the purple notice the drooping yellow petals a diagnostic feature a taller species that can reach heights of 3 4 feet gray headed coneflowers offered a nice contrast to the low greens of lynx prairie as their yellow flowers jutted up into the sky gray headed coneflower is an inhabitant of prairies forest edges thickets and railroad right of ways a hardy species gray headed coneflower can thrive in both xeric dry and mesic moist environments this species can generally be found in the western glaciated parts of ohio but has also been recorded in eastern counties like athens county while gray headed coneflower is a common flower in ohio prairies a rare denizen of the ohio prairies is rattlesnake master eryngium yuccifolium this species is one that is more commonly found in the tall grass prairies of the west and south in ohio this species is state listed as potentially threatened and according to odnr has only been recorded in 6 counties here although bonap has more counties listed the flowers of rattlesnake master are unmistakable if you do come across one though so there s no doubting you found one if you know what they look like i love rattlesnake master and it s always a treat to come across chaparral prairie snp has the largest population in the state if you re wanting to see some for sure the leaves of rattlesnake master are an interesting aspect of the plant they almost look like some sort of agave notice the small spines lining the edges the curious name rattlesnake master comes from the plant s ability to control a rattlesnake if a human brandishes one of the flowers to the rattlesnake just kidding in all seriousness the name comes from its historical use by native americans to treat rattlesnake bites however as one might guess this treatment was ineffective a common flower dotting the pocket prairies at lynx prairie is the brilliant rose pink sabatia angularis rose pink you might also see the name as rosepink is a flower of prairies rocky open woods roadsides glades thickets and fields in ohio this species is found predominantly in the eastern and southern portions of the state look for this beautiful species blooming in july to august another common flower at lynx prairie was the small but attention grabbing common self heal prunella vulgaris this species is by no means a prairie only flower in fact this incredibly common species has been recorded in basically every single county in ohio you can find this flower in a variety of habitats including waste areas edges of forests fields and the likes the nativity of this species is questionable there are different varieties of this species and a few of those are considered native however other varieties are from eurasia and have been introduced here as a result a close look by trained eyes can help determine if an individual is probably native or not i however am not a trained eye so i have no idea if this is a native or foreign strand regardless this is a very attractive flower normally the ones i run across only have a few flowers on them as the others haven t bloomed yet or have fallen off this individual had the fullest bloom i ve ever seen in common self heal another common flower at chaparral prairie snp was the partridge pea chamaecrista fasciculate notice the four petals with red center also notice the honey locust like leaves this species almost looks like the tiny sapling of a locust tree in my opinion like many prairie species partridge pea benefits greatly from a prairie fire every few years after an area is burned this species can be found in great numbers and generally decreases in number every year after until the area is burned again this is a species that loves disturbed areas dry and moist prairies roadsides savannas and other similar habitats partridge pea has been recorded in about 30 or so counties here in ohio it s mainly found in the southern counties and seems to follow ohio river tributaries like the scioto river northward and finally we have pale spiked lobelia lobelia spicata this isn t the greatest photo i know but it was raining and i didn t spend too much time on it these spikes of white or pale blue flowers were blooming all throughout the prairies at lynx prairie and added to the multiple colors already present pale spiked lobelia prefers the more moist and rich soil of certain prairies fields and open woodlands however this species can also tolerate the rocky dry conditions that make up lynx prairie pale spiked lobelia is a relatively common species here in ohio and has been recorded in a little more than half of the counties here mostly those in the east and south these are only a handful of the flowers we came across while in adams county but to add them all would make for a massive post there are more posts to come based around adams county but i also have a post on gallagher fen snp in the works and a few others so stay tuned posted by kyle brooks at 3 39 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks adams county ohio botany prairies rare plants wildflowers friday july 25 2014 lynx prairie adams county ohio is a low populated southern county that lies along the ohio river at first glance adams county has a mix of appalachia ohio and farmland ohio but a closer look reveals just how unique this county is the bluegrass region of northern kentucky just reaches across the border and into adams co and a few of the other surrounding counties this triangular shaped region holds many plants that are more typically found in the southern us or the appalachian mountains many of these plant species are rare or uncommon here as one would expect adams co also holds a type of rare prairie ecosystem called cedar glades which are xeric dry limestone prairies this ecosystem is also known as a pocket prairie due to reasons you will soon see this post will cover one of the best examples of cedar glades in the state the famous lynx prairie just warning you now this is going to be a really long post because not only do i love this preserve but its history geology and flora are simply too incredible to ignore lynx prairie is a public nature preserve that is a part of the greater edge of appalachia preserve owned by the nature conservancy this preserve is located right outside of the very tiny village of lynx oh since the last time i ve been down the nature conservancy has changed the preserve a bit there s now a new entrance on cline rd complete with their own parking lot and a new trail that leads to the other trails from that parking lot previously and you still can one would park at a small church off tulip rd and walk through the cemetery shown above the new directions can be found on the nature conservancy s page for lynx prairie located here we weren t aware of the new entrance we actually got lost and stumbled upon it by accident so we did the usual park at the church walk to the cemetery and appear at the entrance pictured above on our visit it was going between sprinkling and outright raining with short periods of nothing in between as a result i ended up using my small canon point and shoot to take many of these photos i wasn t overly happy with the results many were washed out but they re better than nothing anyway on to the preserve itself after entering you find yourself on a small trail winding through a typical forest of the area but wait a minute you might ask this is called lynx prairie where s the tall grasses the wide open spaces well these prairies are a bit different than your average prairie the north prairie my personal favorite in lynx prairie purple coneflower gray headed coneflower scaly blazingstar and self heal are among the grasses look for shooting star a showy wildflower in this opening in late spring and early summer as you round a corner on the trail the forest melts away and you suddenly find yourself in an open space however this still doesn t look like the prairies most people think of before i get into the specifics of the lynx prairie complex let me go over the three broad types of prairies there are tall grass prairies mixed grass prairies and short grass prairies tall grass prairies are normally 5 7 feet tall and occasionally reach heights approaching 10 feet the prairies at lynx are short grass prairies but are not overly like the normal short grass prairies of the west part of the extensive elizabeth s prairie the largest at lynx prairie lynx prairie is made up of a system of 10 xeric limestone prairies the prairie openings are many times small areas in a large region of forest this characteristic has given rise to the name pocket prairie to describe the small openings some of these pocket prairies can be quite small while others are the size of an acre or so the photo above shows one of the larger ones so what causes these pocket prairies to form the answer lies in the photo above that rock ledge is made of peebles dolomite a type of sedimentary rock from the silurian period 443 4 419 2 million years ago most of the times the bedrock in ohio is many feet underground which allows trees to take root and grow however in certain places of adams co as in the case of lynx prairie this peebles dolomite bedrock actually comes within 4 or so inches of the surface or even breaks the surface itself this creates a shallow harsh soil layer as a result most trees cannot take root and other short plant species take over it s worth noting that the name cedar glade comes from the fact that eastern red cedars can many times find a small crack in the bedrock and take root and many times this leads to some of the only trees in the actual glades the photo above shows just how harsh the soil is pebbles are everywhere in the orange red alkaline ph of 8 5 soil this poor soil has a lack of nutrients and ends up being very dry due to the water evaporating quickly which is why this is also called a xeric or dry limestone prairie these factors make it very hard for plants to grow and thrive and as a result many unique plants have evolved to be able to cope with such a harsh environment it is thought these pocket prairies in adams county are older than the last glaciation which ended about 10 000 years ago as a result plants have had a lot of time to evolve adaptions for this environment many of these plants are rare as they can only be found in cedar glades which are rare to begin with while i m on the subject of peebles dolomite and its effects on the prairies i want to go over one of the more interesting plants i found growing on annette s rock a good size boulder of peebles dolomite in one of the larger prairies this interesting bluish green plant is smooth cliffbrake pellaea glabella smooth cliffbrake which gains its name from its smooth not hairy stem is actually a species of fern although it doesn t overly look like a stereotypical fern this species is epipetric which means it grows on rocks as you can see smooth cliffbrake isn t overly a common species here as it s only been recorded in about 20 counties it grows on well weathered limestone so it is limited to exposed ledges cliffs boulders and the like as many of you probably know wildfires can be a good even necessary event for many various habitats these pocket prairies are no different slowly the woody plants of the surrounding forest begin to gain footholds on the edges and erode the bedrock this is normal succession given enough time these prairies will shrink and shrink as cedar trees do their work and the forest moves in so why hasn t that happened in the past 10 000 years the simple answer is fire the north entrance of elizabeth s prairie look for annette s rock not pictured in this prairie notice the shrubs small trees on the left boundary here s the kicker there s a lot of evidence that these fires weren t started by a random act of nature like a lightning strike most of the evidence points to native americans as the fire starters across the globe humans use controlled burns to help shape the land the way they want it the native americans were no different by burning the prairies they preserved the prairies and kept the forest from eventually taking over as some of you birders or hikers might have noticed before there s a higher biodiversity in the edge between two habitats this is called the edge effect by preserving this boundary native americans increased biodiversity and gave large mammals such as deer elk and bison good foraging locations this of course helped the native americans as there was more game available for food native americans didn t just burn prairies there s evidence that they essentially burned every type of habitat in this region of the midwest burning not only helped with hunting but also helped with pest control crop management and also helped clear routes used for travel as shrubby growth along the trails would give bears cougars and the like a place to hide nowadays the nature conservancy will burn the prairies every so often as well as removing woody plants by hand at lynx prairie the trails are set up into three loops built on each other the trails will take you through the forest and into the prairies the forest is very open in many places like in the photo above oaks dominate most of the forest but there are also virginia pines tuliptrees and assorted other species of course lynx prairie is filled with wildflowers the one shown above is the threatened american bluehearts buchnera americana other wildflowers found at lynx include green milkweed butterflyweed scaly blazingstar shooting star garden phlox pale spiked lobelia prairie dock gray headed coneflower purple coneflower rattlesnake master rose pink self heal a few ladies tresses orchids western sunflower whorled rosinweed crested coralroot and many many more i ll be covering a few of these species in my next post so stay tuned there are many grasses that call lynx prairie home big bluestem little bluestem and indian grass are the main species however the patch of grass above caught my eye i came across this patch in a more forested part of the preserve upon taking a closer look i was met with a familiar sight at the ends of the grass were these flat attractive spikelets i knew i had seen these somewhere previously and it suddenly clicked that this species grows out in the front flowerbed of my mom s house it turns out that this is woodoats also known as inland sea oats chasmanthium latifolium woodoat is actually a southern species of grass with its northern range lying in southwest ohio it s only been recorded in about 9 counties here which makes it an uncommon ra...
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