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Plants of Nachusa Grasslands

Native Plant Species
The preserve is home to over 700 native plant species. Our plant inventory includes not only the scientific and common names, but also a plant's coefficient of conservatism value. The coefficient of conservatism was developed by Floyd Swink and Gerald Wilhelm, with each native species assigned a number from 0 to 10. The coeffecient of conservatism expresses the confidence that a plant specimen was found in a remnant natural plant community, a “0” expressing no confidence and a “10” expressing total confidence.
Plants of Nachusa Inventory

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Seed Collection

Bill Kleiman, Nachusa’s project director says, "Our volunteers might spend all day on their hands and knees, on a single plot of land, collecting mere handfuls of seeds. We'll use those seeds to plant another small section of land.”

Nachusa collects seeds from spring through fall, when the seeds are ready to pick. The recommended time to pick each species at Nachusa is listed in the downloadable documents below. One list sorts the plants by their scientific names, with the dates of collection listed alongside. The second list arranges the seed collection by month, from the first species collected in April, to the last species collected in November.
Seed Collection by Species
Seed Collection by Date