Despite intensive urbanization and development, the Chicago region is a center of biodiversity in North America. A wide variety of natural communities exist across the spectrum from prairie to savanna to woodland, with numerous types of wetlands interspersed among them. Discover the many rare plants and showy wildflowers unique to this area, along with the habitats in which they occur.
Rare and Showy Plants of the Chicago Region and the Habitats That Support Them
1. Rare and Showy Plants of the
Chicago Region and the
Habitats That Support Them
Christopher David Benda
Montrose Beach Dunes
2. CHRISTOPHER DAVID BENDA
Visiting Plant Ecologist
IL Natural History Survey
Instructor, Flora of Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois University
Instructor, Tree Identification and
Ecology The Morton Arboretum
President
Illinois Native Plant Society
Technical Expert Consultant
Illinois Endangered Species
Protection Board
Somme Woods
In the Chicago region we are fortunate to have incredible diversity. Part of the rarity is geographical, the edge of the range for species, but a large part is due to urbanization. This species I present are not comprehensive, but instead ones that I have photographed and that are particularly showy.
Downgraded to threatened, dominant in its community, restricted habitat
Monocarpic, special to see one in flower, it’s been repatriated to Montrose Beach Dunes and IL Beach State Park