Friends of Nachusa Grasslands
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Aster Family (Asteraceae)

​Alternatively called the Composite Family
Click a link below to find out more about each plant in the Aster Family:
  • common yarrow
  • compass plant
  • cup plant
  • grandpa hawkweed
  • heath aster
  • old-field goldenrod
  • pale purple coneflower
  • pasture thistle
  • prairie dock
  • pussytoes
  • rosinweed
  • rough blazing star
  • sawtooth sunflower
  • showy goldenrod
  • stiff goldenrod
  • tall coreopsis
  • tall goldenrod
  • viscid grass-leaved goldenrod
  • wild quinine
  • yellow coneflower

How can I recognize a member of the aster family?
Aster means star! Look at their flower structure.
 
Nearly all species in this plant family have their flowers in dense flower heads, surrounded by rays that make it appear to be a single flower. The rays may look like petals, but are actually sterile (usually) florets lengthened through evolution to attract insects for pollination.

The seeds usually have hairy structures that can be lifted by wind or stick to animal fur, aiding in dispersal. However, the seeds of some species in this family drop the hairs, such as in the sunflowers.
Cool stuff to know about asters:
  • The number of species in the aster family worldwide (32,000) is rivaled only by the orchid family.
  • Asters are especially common in open and dry environments.
  • Asters are used for food, medicine, oils, and are copious nectar producers for all pollinators.

 
Picture

common yarrow

​Achillea millefolium
​

Ancient medicine!
This common plant is native to the northern hemisphere. Native Americans and Europeans alike used it medicinally especially to help staunch bleeding, leading to its other nickname, woundwort. (Wort derives from Old English for plant and further back meant root.) We think yarrow comes from an ancient Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to repair.”

The ferny looking leaves are delightfully soft. The foliage smell is strong, but pleasant to most people. Planted as a companion plant in a garden the odor seems to repel some insect pests while the flowers attract large numbers of pollinators.

Yarrow can even be used to dye wool yarns naturally resulting in a green to yellow color.
 
Scientific name origin
In Greek, Achillea is from Achilles the warrior hero. Legend has it that Achilles used it to keep his armies healthy. The species name, millefolium, is Latin for thousand-leaved, referring to its many leaf parts.

compass plant

Silphium laciniatum

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.

cup plant

Silphium perfoliatum 

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​
 

grandpa hawkweed

​Hieracium longipilum
 
A well behaved hawkweed

Remember that “weed” in a common name does not necessarily mean the species is an unwanted non-native plant. This iconic sand prairie hawkweed grows single or only a few together unlike the weedy non-native hawkweeds which form solid carpets with their basal rosettes.

Grandpa hawkweed has the longest hairs (up to an inch long!) and it’s the tallest of all the Hieraciums. The small yellow ray flower petals are strap-like with a fringe on the end. The tiny seeds have pretty tawny hairs that carry the seeds on the wind away from the parent plant.
 
Scientific name origin
Hieracium is from the Greek for “hawk”, from an ancient thought that hawks used the plant to help their eyesight. Longipilum is from the Latin for “with long white hairs.”

heath aster

Symphyotrichum ericoides

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​​

old-field goldenrod

Solidago nemoralis

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​​
 

pale purple coneflower

​Echinacea pallida
 
One of Nachusa Grasslands most bountiful blooms. Some of our original unplowed remnant prairie have acres of this native. It also grows very well in our prairie restorations.

There is one other of this genus in some parts of Illinois (Echinacea purpurea). Ours, pale purple coneflower, is the most widespread in Illinois. It is quite stiff and the stem and long leaves near the base are all covered in rough white hairs.

Scientific name origin
Echinacea is from the Greek, which means, like a sea urchin, because of the prickly seedhead. Pallida is Latin for pale, because it is usually paler than the other purple coneflowers. Sometimes there is even a white bloom.
 

pasture thistle

​​Cirsium discolor
 
Thistles need a better public relations campaign
The flowers are nectar for many pollinators, make a fine honey, and the blossoms are very fragrant.

The entire plant can be eaten: leaves with spines removed are excellent salad or cooked greens. The stalk has been peeled and eaten raw or cooked. And the roasted root is said to be sweet.
Goldfinches time their nesting (late in summer) to when thistles are in seed. The seed fluff is used by goldfinches to line the nest and the parents feed their nestlings regurgitated seeds.
 
The spines protect the plant from grazers and even the flowers from ants which take nectar but don’t effectively pollinate. Each plant only lives two years. It takes two years for this thistle to bloom; the first year it just has a basal rosette of leaves.
 
Scientific name origin
​
Cirsium is Greek for swollen veins, which this plant was thought to cure. Discolor is Latin for two colors.

prairie dock

Silphium terebinthinaceum

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​​​
 

pussytoes

Antennaria plantaginifolia
 
Cat’s paws on the prairie
These fuzzy plants grow in colonies connected by underground runners. Sometimes each colony is either male or female. If a female flower fails to be fertilized it can still produce seed!

Plants in this genus tolerate cold very well; many species are alpine. Perhaps those silvery white “hairs” all over keep the plant warm!

The caterpillars of American painted lady butterflies depend on pussytoes (and related plants) for food and shelter (they roll up inside the leaves).

Scientific name origin
Antennaria, from the Latin for antennae, either because the resemblance to insect feelers of the hairs of the females flowers that split into two threads, or the hair on the seed that carry it on the wind. Plantaginifolia means the leaves are shaped like those of the plantain plants.

rosinweed

Silphium integrifolium

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.
 

rough blazing star

​Liatris aspera
 
I love the sandy and gravelly soil places at Nachusa! Look for my amazing spike of pinkish-purple flower “buttons.” Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and many others love my nectar and help move my pollen around so my baby seeds can develop and blow away in the wind.

Nachusa has three kinds of blazing stars—me, a shorter one, and one that loves wetter soils. You have probably seen my cousins in flower arrangements because I am so pretty.
 
Scientific name origin
Liatris has no known derivation! The plant and language experts do not know what word means. Aspera means harsh in Latin.
 

sawtooth sunflower

Helianthus grosseserratus
 
Easy identification
There are at least eight species of sunflower native to the preserve that are very similar in appearance, and to add to that frustration, hybridizing among sunflower species is possible. However, sawtooth sunflower is easy to identify. It is Nachusa’s tallest sunflower, and the leaves usually have serrated edges, but the most distinguishing feature is its smooth reddish stem (often with a powdery white coating).

Like other sunflowers its nectar and pollen are very important for bees and butterflies. Also other parts of the plant (leaves, stem pith, juices, and seeds) are food to many insects (caterpillars, flies, beetles, grasshoppers, aphids, and the sunflower spittlebug).

The fat and protein content of the seeds are very important for birds and rodents to get through the winter lean times.

Scientific name origin
Helianthus is Greek, helios, meaning sun, and anthus, meaning flower. Grosseserratus is Latin meaning, with large sawteeth.

showy goldenrod

Solidago speciosa

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​
 
Picture

stiff goldenrod

​Oligoneuron rigidum
 
Goldenrods were formerly in the genus Solidago which means to make whole. Many goldenrod species were used as medicines before the modern age. Goldenrod does seem to act like a diuretic and in Europe is used in teas to flush out kidney stones and stop inflammatory diseases of the urinary tract.
 
The genus for goldenrods used to be Solidago (to make whole) but recently stiff goldenrod and a few others were put in their own genus. It certainly looks a bit different with its fuzzy thick leaves, stem, and flower head.
 
Did you know Thomas Edison and others experimented with using goldenrods as a source of rubber? This is because some species are rich in latex.
 
Scientific name origin
Oligoneuron is Greek for few-nerved. Rigidum is Latin for stiff.

tall coreopsis

​Coreopsis tripteris
 
I am not a sunflower even though I have yellow flowers, because I only have eight ray flowers. My one of my nicknames is tickseed. But my seed don’t stick to you.
​
I love to wave in the breeze in mid-summer. I can handle a lot of different kinds of soil, from dry to wet and sunny to slightly shaded.

My yellow ray flowers are usually eight in number and my inner disk flowers are reddish-brown. I am a smooth one and the tallest of Nachusa’s three species of coreopsis. I have lower leaves that are divided into 3-5 lance-shaped leaflets (2-5 inches long) and upper leaves that are not divided.

Scientific name origin
Coreopsis is Greek and means, the appearance of a bug, referring to the rounded flat seeds that might look like a tick to some. Tripteris is also Greek and means three-winged.
Picture

tall goldenrod

Solidago altissima

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​​

viscid grass-leaved goldenrod

Euthamia gymnospermoides
 
Goldenrods are very common all over the USA (at least 90 species). They were even proposed as our national flower due to the idea that the many tiny flowers are needed to make a perfect whole.

Goldenrod plants form clones so dense no other plants can get in. This short, flat-topped narrow-leaved species, with the long name is a welcome addition to the prairie, attracting many insect pollinators.

Because goldenrods bloom at the same time as the non-showy ragweeds people confuse the two. Ragweed pollen is tiny and wind pollinated while goldenrod pollen is large and sticky and requires insects to move it around. Only the ragweed pollen annoys our noses.

Scientific name origin
Euthamia is Greek for well-crowded. For the species gymnospermoides, the suffix "oides" in Latin means it resembles, in this case a genus Gymnosperma.
Picture

wild quinine

Parthenium integrifolium

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​​​

yellow coneflower

Ratibida pinnata

This​ plant sign is under construction. Check back next time.​​​
 

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  • Home
  • About Friends
    • Mission, Leadership, Objectives, and Financials
    • Endowments
    • Heritage Heroes Initiative
    • Friends Annual Reports
    • Newsletters >
      • PrairiE–Update (email)
      • A Prairie Calling (print and digital)
    • Friends Annual Meeting 2022
    • Commenting Policy
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours & Parking
    • Directions and Map
    • Visitor Center
    • Pet Policy
    • Public Bison Tours
    • Bison Viewing
    • Hiking >
      • Hiking Guidelines
      • Hiking Destinations
      • Stone Barn Savanna Tour
      • Visitor Center Trail
      • Scavenger Hunt
    • What's In Bloom?
    • Autumn on the Prairie
    • Exploring Nachusa Grasslands on Your Own
    • Things to Do
    • Places to Eat and Stay
    • Local Sites to Visit and Explore
  • Donate
  • Calendar
  • Volunteer
    • Volunteer Opportunities
    • Thursday and Saturday Workdays >
      • Workday Signup
      • Volunteer Workday Safety Protocols
      • Workdays – November to February
      • Leader Workday Safety Protocols
      • Steward Workday Tips
    • Stewardship Teams
    • Workday Email List
    • Steward Login
  • Stewardship
    • Nachusa Stewardship
    • Restorations
    • Planting Histories >
      • Stewardship Unit Planting Histories
      • Planting Histories in Chronological Order
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2016
    • Stewards and Staff
    • Groups and Committees
    • Available Units
    • Controlled Burns
    • Prescribed Fire Recruitment
    • Restoration Publications
    • Stewardship Resources >
      • Weekly Top Picks
      • Seed Collection Guides
      • Invasive Plant Management
      • Invasive Identification
      • Monitoring
      • Links & Resources
  • Science
    • Science at Nachusa Grasslands
    • Science Grants >
      • Science Grants 2023
      • Science Grants 2022
      • Science Grants 2021
      • Science Grants 2020
      • Science Grants 2019
      • Science Grants 2018
      • Science Grants 2017
      • Science Grants 2016
      • Science Grants 2015
      • Science Grants 2014
      • Science Grants 2013/2012/2011
    • Science Symposium 2023
    • Science Symposium Abstracts >
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2019
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2018
      • Science Symposium Abstracts 2017
    • Potential Research Topics
    • Scientific Publications
    • Testimonials >
      • Dr. Holly Jones
      • Dr. Nick Barber
      • Kimberly Elsenbroek
    • Science Videos
    • Become a Community Scientist >
      • About Community Scientists
      • Butterfly Monitoring
      • Calling Frog Monitoring
      • Dragonflies & Damselflies
      • RiverWatch
  • About Nachusa
    • General Info
    • Prairie Smoke Annual Reports
    • Plant Inventory >
      • Common Names
      • Genus Species
    • Animal Inventory >
      • Amphibians
      • Birds
      • Bison Bison >
        • Bison
        • Bison Babies Broadcast Videos
      • Fish
      • Insects
      • Mammals
      • Other Arthropods
      • Reptiles
    • History
    • Jobs
    • Hunting
    • Geology >
      • Geology Part 1
      • Geology Part 2
      • Geology Part 3
    • 30th Anniversary Memories
    • Websites of Interest
  • BLOG AND MEDIA
    • Nachusa Blog
    • In The News
    • Photo Gallery >
      • Spring Photos
      • Summer Photos
      • Autumn Photos
      • Winter Photos
      • Visitor Photos
    • Submit Your Photos
    • Videos
  • Contact Us / FAQs