Duke Prairie

Duke Prairie is a 20 acre blacksoil prairie filled with an amazing array of native wildflowers and grasses. Aside from a crop of wheat planted in 1898, this piece of land had been used solely for grazing until its purchase by the Clinton County Conservation Board in 1991. All but 0.01% of the 8000 year-old tallgrass prairie once covering the majority of the state was quickly converted to agricultural cropland in the last half of the 1800s, but small remnants of prairie remain. Along railroad tracks, in older cemeteries or in areas too steep or rocky for planting or grazing a careful eye may notice small pieces of prairie that once contained 500 or more species of plants. Duke Prairie is one such place. Its use as pasture without the introduction of non-native foraging grasses has allowed a diverse range of species to flourish. Furthermore, in the past decade, the prairie has been managed by periodic burning and seeding to ensure its vigor.

These valuable pieces of our natural heritage often diminish before we realize their value. However, with increasing interest and appreciation for efforts to restore and protect our prairies, this link to our past can be preserved. A visit to Duke Prairie may encourage you to begin to learn about our native plants and develop an understanding of our cultural past. Following are a few forbs (wildflowers) and grasses you may come across on a walk through Duke Prairie.

Flowers

Ohio Spiderwort  Tradescantia ohiensis

Pasture Rose  Rosa carolina

Prairie False Indigo  Baptisia leucantha

Northern Bedstraw  Galium boreale

Rattlesnake Master  Eryngium yuccifolium

Narrow-leaved Mountain Mint  Pycnanthemum tenuifolium

Compass-plant  Silphium laciniatum 

 Thimbleweed  Anemone virginian

Rosinweed  Silphium integrifolium 

Common Strawberry   Fragaria virginiana

Hoary Vervain   Verbena stricta    

Pokeweed   Phytolacca americana

Stiff Coreopsis   Coreopsis palmata  

Wild Bergamot  Monarda fistulosa     

Prairie Loosestrife  Lysimachia quadriflora                    

Wing-angled Loosestrife   Lythrum alatum

Yarrow  Achillea millefolium

Swamp Milkweed  Asclepias incarnata 

Sullivant's Milkweed  Ascelpias sullivantii

White Milkweed  Ascelpias variegata 

Whorled Milkweed  Ascelpias verticillata

 Tall Green or Prairie Milkweed  Ascelpias hirtella

Gray-headed Coneflower  Ratibida pinnata 

Culver's-root  Veronicastrum virginicum

Heal-all  Prunella vulgaris

Partridge-pea  Cassia fasciculata

Panicled Tick-trefoil  Desmodium paniculatum

Prairie Blazing Star  Liatris pycnostachya

Rough Hedge-nettle  Stachys tenuifolia var. hispida

Large Ant Hill under Grasses

GRASSES

Switch Grass  Panicum virgatum 

Canada Wild Rye  Elymus canadensis 

Scouring Rush  Equisetum hyemale   

Squirreltail Grass  Hordeum jubatum 

Reed Canary Grass  Phalaris arundinacea

Dark Green Bulrush  Scirpus atrovirens      

Prairie Cord Grass  Spartina pectinatai

Big Bluestem  Andropogon girardi

Photographs taken at Duke Prairie, Clinton County, Iowa by Laura Domyancich, Summer 2002 Intern, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point

Below are websites you may find helpful in learning about our native landscape:

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/   Plant identification, soil survey information, and publication lists.

http://www.iowaprairienetwork.org/  General information on prairie and locations of prairie throughout the state of Iowa.

http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/  Orthoquad, topographic, and gapland maps.