Prairie Plants
Scientific Name Common Name
Allium cernuum nodding wild onion
Amorpha canescens lead plant
Andropogon gerardii big bluestem
Asclepias amplexicaulis sand milkweed or clasping milkweed
Asclepias incarnata swamp milkweed
Asclepias sullivantii prairie milkweed or smooth milkweed
Asclepias verticillata whorled milkweed
Asclepias viridiflora green milkweed
Bouteloua curtipendula sideoats grama grass
Cacalia atriciplifolia pale Indian plantain
Campanula rotundifolia harebell
Dalea foliosum leafy prairie clover
Dalea purpurea purple prairie clover
Deschampsia caespitosa hair grass or tufted hair grass
Desmodium illinoiense Illinois tick trefoil
Echinacea purpurea purple coneflower
Elymus canadensis Canadian wild rye
Eryngium yuccifolium rattlesnake master
Eupatorium altissimum tall boneset
Euphorbia crollata flowering spurge
Gaura biennis biennial gaura
Helianthus pauciflorus stiff sunflower or prairie sunflower
Leptoloma cognatum fall witch grass
Lespedeza capitata bush-clover or round headed bush clover
Liatris asper lacerate blazing star
Liatris pychnostachya thick spike blazing star or blazing star
Liatris spicata sessile blazing star
Lobelia cardinalis cardinal flower
Malvastrum hispidum hairy false mallow
Monarda fistulosa wild bergamot
Opuntia humifusa eastern prickly pear cactus
Panicum virgatum switch grass
Parthenium integrifolium wild quinine
Physostegia virginiana obedience plant or false dragon's head
Potentilla simplex prairie cinquefoil
Pychnanthemum virginianum mountain mint
Ratibida pinnata drooping coneflower or globular coneflower
or gray headed coneflower
Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan
Sagittarea latifolia arrowleaf
Schizachyrium scoparium little bluestem
Scirpus atrovirens dark green or black bullrush
Scirpus linneatus reddish bullrush
Scirpus validus softstem bullrush
Silphium integrifolium rosin weed
Silphium laciniatum compass plant
Silphium perfoliatum cup plant
Silphium terbinthinaceum prairie dock
Sorghastrum nutans Indian grass
Spartina pectinata prairie cordgrass
Sporobolus heterolepus prairie dropseed
Verbena stricta hoary vervain
Verbena hastata blue vervain
Vernonia sp ironweed
Veronicastum virginium culver's root
Scientific and most common names nomenclature follows:
Gleason, Henry A. and Arthur Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. 2nd ed. New York Botanical Garden.

Alternate/secondary sources of common names:
Ladd,Doug, and Frank Oberle. 1995. Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers. Falcon Press Publishing Co., Inc., Helena and Billings, Montana

and

Britton, Nathaniel Lord, and Hon. Addison Brown. 1970. An Illustrated Flora of Northern United States and Canada. Dover Publications, Inc., New York.
Illinois State Museum State of Illinois IDNR Search


https://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/midewin/plantlist.html, Last modified September 1st 2011, 08:13PM.