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As interest in prairie restoration continues to grow in Illinois and surrounding states, so does the need for a comprehensive reference.  For successful restoration, identification of prairie plant species with quality color images at all stages is essential.  This website helps to fill this gap by providing digital images of seeds, seedlings, and fruits for selected tallgrass prairie species.

While most prairie restoration efforts start with seeds, collection of these seeds usually occurs in the fall when the leaves and flowers of the plant are lacking or are in very poor condition.  This makes proper identification difficult.  Images on this website of seeds, fruits on plants, and individual fruits removed from plants will aid in proper identification for collecting.

In the first few years after seeding an area, when prairie plants are becoming established, the seedlings are threatened by competition from weeds.  Eliminating competitive weedy species is important in promoting prairie plant establishment.  Being able to identify correctly the prairie plant seedlings from the weed seedlings is essential.  This website contains images of prairie plant seedlings to assist in recognizing prairie plant seedlings from competing weed seedlings in prairie plantings.

This website should aid both professionals and amateurs in their efforts to restore prairie remnants or establish prairie plants along roadways, in parks, at nature centers, in natural areas, or in yards.  As this project is ongoing, not all species have images at all stages.  New images will be added as they become available.

The logo for this project is PSSF (Prairie Seeds, Seedlings, and Fruits).  For scales shown beside images, one mark equals one millimeter.

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If you have comments or suggestions regarding this website, please contact one of the project leaders listed below.


Project Leaders: Plant Propagation: Photography: Field Collections: Web Design:
  Janice Coons   Janice Coons   Ken Robertson   Nancy Coutant   Brent Todd
  Nancy Coutant   Nancy Coutant   Janice Coons   Janice Coons  
  Ken Robertson   Isaac Klaus*   Nancy Coutant   Ken Robertson  
  Brent Todd   George Hickman*   Isaac Klaus*   Brent Todd  
    Elizabeth Levenda*   Sharon Hickman*   Isaac Klaus*  
    Matt Zmich*   Kris VanderMeer*    
    BreAnne Knott*      
    Kris VanderMeer*      
         
*EIU Undergraduate Research Assistant

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