Friends of Nachusa Grasslands
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Pea Family (Fabaceae)

Click a link below to find out more about each plant in the Pea Family:
  • Illinois ticktrefoil
  • purple prairie clover
  • round-headed bush clover
  • white prairie clover
  • white wild indigo​

How can I recognize a member of the pea family?
Look at their distinctive flower petals and fruits.
 
Count the flower petals. There should be five. However, they are not all the same shape or size, and two petals are fused together.
 
The fruits look like beans. At Nachusa we call the members of this family “legumes.” Most legume seeds split open along two seams — think of how peas and green beans open.
​Cool stuff to know about legumes
Legumes have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria. The bacteria that live on their roots change nitrogen into food the plant can “eat.” In return, the legumes provide the bacteria with energy in the form of carbohydrates. When the plant dies, the bacteria release the nitrogen into the soil to create food for nearby plants.

Picture

Illinois ticktrefoil

Desmodium illinoense

Hitchhiking allowed!
This plant parent is happy for its kids (seeds) to hitch a ride with you! Humans and other mammals actually help the plant disperse its seeds. How? The seeds have tiny, hooked hairs that grab your clothes, your hair, or anything else they can attach to. No worries though, for the seeds easily peel off.
 
Tastes good
At Nachusa, wild turkeys, deer, wood chucks, rabbits, and white-footed mice may eat the leaves. Skippers, the Eastern tailed blue, and the gray hairstreak butterfly larva may also feed on this plant.
 
Scientific name origin
In Greek, desmos means to band, bind or chain. So, Desmodium refers to the ticktrefoil’s seed pod, formed from segments joined together.

purple prairie clover

Dalea purpurea

Friar Tuck?
The purple flowers begin blooming at the bottom and move to the top, circling the thimble-shaped flowerhead. Does this remind you of Friar Tuck? He was balding on the top with a circle of hair around his head.

Pollinator buffet
This native clover synchronizes the availability of its pollen to the first thing in the morning, when many bees flock to the flowers for pollen and nectar. Sixty-four bee species have been observed on purple prairie clover. Wow, however, this is still only 16% of the region’s bee species.

Scientific name origin
This genus of native clover is named in honor of an English doctor and botanist, Samuel Dale, who lived to an impressive 80 years for the times, from 1659 to 1739. In Latin purpurea refers to the purple-red color.

Picture

round-headed bush clover

Lespedeza capitata
​

Wrong Name!
Have you ever had your name misspelled?  Lespedeza capitata was named for Vicente Manuel de Céspedes, the governor of the Spanish province of East Florida in the late 18th century, but the first time the plant's name was printed, it was misspelled as “de Lespedeza” and it stuck! 
 
Protein-rich
At Nachusa, deer, rabbits, and muskrats enjoy eating this protein-rich plant. The seeds are especially tasty to mourning doves, bobwhites, wild turkeys, and juncos. Both long and short-tongued bees enjoy the nectar of the flowers and caterpillars of certain skipper butterflies like cloudywings, hoary edge, and silver-spotted eat the leaves.
 
Scientific name origin
In Latin, capitata means growing in a head. So, capitata refers to the plant's round cluster of white flowers with pink-red centers, that looks like a head.

Picture

white prairie clover

Dalea candida
 
​
Food for all
This plant is high in protein, so it is very popular with mammals like deer and rabbits. The flowers contain pollen and nectar so they draw in many pollinators.

​Ascending blooms
The flowers begin blooming in a ring around the bottom of the flowerhead. Over a few weeks, the ring of blooms continue to move upward until the entire flowerhead has bloomed.

​Scientific name origin
This genus of native clover is named in honor of an English doctor and botanist, Samuel Dale, who lived to an impressive 80 years for the times, from 1659 to 1739. Candida means white in Latin.

white wild indigo

Baptisia lactea 
 
Let's remove this food from our menu!
This large, impressive legume is toxic to cows and other mammals, who avoid eating it. However, several weevils (beetles) can eat the leaves and flowers as adults and their larvae live in the pods and eat the seeds, so much so, that in some years we have hardly any seed to collect. 

Scientific name origin
Baptisia is a word from the Greek, bapto, which means to cover wholly with a fluid, to dip as with dye. And lacteal is from the Latin for milky.

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8772 S. Lowden Road  (mailing address)            
2075 Lowden Road (Visitor Center)           
Franklin Grove, IL 61031

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  • Home
  • About Friends
    • Mission, Leadership, Objectives, and Financials
    • Friends Annual Meeting 2024
    • Endowments
    • Heritage Heroes Initiative
    • Friends Annual Reports
    • Newsletters >
      • PrairiE–Update (email)
      • A Prairie Calling (print and digital)
    • Commenting Policy
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours & Parking
    • Directions and Map
    • Visitor Center
    • Pet Policy
    • Public Bison Tours
    • Bison Viewing
    • Hiking >
      • Hiking Guidelines
      • Hiking Destinations
      • Guided Hikes
      • Stone Barn Savanna Tour
      • Visitor Center Trail
      • Scavenger Hunt
    • Autumn on the Prairie >
      • Yearly Festival
    • What's In Bloom?
    • 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
      • Workdays – November to February
      • Volunteer Workday Safety Protocols
      • Leader Workday Safety Protocols
      • Steward Workday Tips
    • Workday Email List
    • Volunteer Recognition
    • Docents
  • Stewardship
    • Nachusa Stewardship
    • Restorations
    • Planting Histories >
      • Stewardship Unit Planting Histories
      • Planting Histories in Chronological Order
    • Weed Reports
    • Native plant resources
    • Volunteer Stewards
    • Groups and Committees
    • Available Units
    • Controlled Burns
    • Prescribed Fire Recruitment
    • Restoration Publications
    • Stewardship Resources >
      • Seed Collection Guides
      • Invasive Plant Management
      • Invasive Identification
      • Monitoring
      • Resource Links
  • Science
    • Science at Nachusa Grasslands
    • Science Symposium 2025
    • 2025 Science Symposium Abstracts
    • Science Grants >
      • Science Grants 2025
      • Science Grants 2021 to 2024 >
        • Science Grants 2024
        • Science Grants 2023
        • Science Grants 2022
        • Science Grants 2021
      • Science Grants 2016 to 2020 >
        • Science Grants 2020
        • Science Grants 2019
        • Science Grants 2018
        • Science Grants 2017
        • Science Grants 2016
      • Science Grants 2011 to 2015 >
        • Science Grants 2015
        • Science Grants 2014
        • Science Grants 2013/2012/2011
    • Potential Research Topics
    • Scientific Publications
    • Anderson Science Award
    • Science Videos
    • Become a Community Scientist >
      • About Community Scientists
      • Butterfly Monitoring
      • Calling Frog Monitoring
      • Dragonflies & Damselflies
      • RiverWatch
  • About Nachusa
    • General Info
    • Nachusa Staff
    • 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
    • Websites of Interest
  • Teacher Resources
    • K-2nd grades
    • 3rd-5th grades
    • 6th-8th grades
    • High School
  • BLOG AND MEDIA
    • Nachusa Blog
    • In The News
    • Photo Gallery >
      • Spring Photos
      • Summer Photos
      • Autumn Photos
      • Winter Photos
    • Videos
  • Contact Us / FAQs