The Ohio State-Marion Prairie
at the
Larry R. Yoder Prairie Learning Laborartory
This is an approximately 12 acre tallgrass prairie situated on former agricultural land. Situated in a region of Ohio known as the “Sandusky Plains,” it is close to areas that were indeed occupied by grasslands during pre-settlement times. It was started by an OSU botany professor, Larry Yoder, during his time as the Marion Campus in the 1970’s. The Prairie sits in the southern edge of the developed portion of the campus, and is flanks by land owned by OSU that is leased to a farmer who actively grows crops–corn and soybeans–there.
I bought a drone! And got a drone license! I’m a pilot, sort of! Fasten your seat belts and return yout tray tables to the upright position!
Plant Communities at the Prairie
Most of the Prairie is, well, prairie–a perennial grassland with a rich assortment of herbaceous wildflowers (forbs) and a few woody plants as well.
The principal grasses found here are big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). These are all warm-season grasses that are just emerging now, not yet flowering. Here’s a photo of big bluestem, the signature grass of the tallgrass prairie, taken in early August sveral years ago. The flowers are arranged in a few compound spikes, arranged in a manner that whimsically suggest a turkey’s foot, so the plany is sometimes called that (turkey-foot).
The signature forb of the tallgrass prairie is prairie dock (Silphium teriebinthenaceum), a huge and magnificent member of the sunflower family, Asteraceae. The common name “dock” usually (and in this instance indeed does) refere to a plant that has clusters of large and wide basal leaves.
In mid-Spring the signature prairie plants are still just leafing out; they will flower and fruit later in the year. There are a few notable early-season wildflowers however. Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) is clearly recognizable as a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), by virture of its innumerable stamens and carpels, hypogynous flower type, and leaves lacking stipules.
Foxglove beardtongue! This is a knee-high forb with opposite leaves and a bilabiate corolla of 5 fused petals. If you didn’t know about the Plantaginaceae (formerly this was in the Scrophulariaceae) you might think it’s a mint, but the stems aren’t square and. more importantly, the fruiots is a capsule. not 4 nutlets. Below, see a flower of foxglove beardtongue that is being nectar-robbed by a carpenter bee. In this dastardly deed, a bee, instead of entering the flower through the throat of the corolla and thereby picking up and/or receiving pollen, pierces a hole at the base of the corolla, thuereby sipping nectar without benefitting the plant a all. What an immoral bee!
