Leafy prairie clover facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Leafy prairie clover |
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Dalea
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D. foliosa
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| Dalea foliosa (A.Gray) Barneby
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Dalea foliosa, also known as the leafy prairie clover, is a special type of flowering plant that belongs to the pea family, called Fabaceae. It's a very rare plant and is considered an endangered species in the United States. You can find it in only a few places: Illinois, Tennessee, and Alabama.
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What Does Leafy Prairie Clover Look Like?
This plant is a perennial herb, which means it lives for more than two years. It usually grows about 20 to 80 centimeters (that's about 8 to 31 inches) tall. It has several straight stems that grow from a tough base called a root crown.
The leaves of the leafy prairie clover are smooth and made up of small, oval-shaped parts called leaflets. Each leaflet can be up to 1.3 centimeters (about half an inch) long.
The plant's flowers grow in a cone-shaped or cylinder-shaped cluster called an inflorescence. These flowers are purple and have pointed green parts called bracts between them. You can see these beautiful flowers blooming in the summer. Bumblebees help pollinate the flowers, which means they help the plant make seeds. The seeds can stay hidden in the ground in a special "seed bank" for up to 8 years!
Where Does Leafy Prairie Clover Live?
The leafy prairie clover naturally grows in special places called glades and prairies. These areas have limestone in the ground. The soil might be a bit wet or moist, especially where water seeps out of the ground.
Sometimes, you can find this plant growing next to other plants like rose pink and brown-eyed susan. In northern Illinois, where some groups of these plants are found far from others, they like sunny, open areas with dolomite rock. They also grow on river terraces that naturally experience fires from time to time.
Why Is Leafy Prairie Clover Endangered?
The leafy prairie clover used to be found in many more places. By 1997, there were only about 51 known groups of these plants, mostly in Tennessee. Sadly, most of these groups are not doing well, and the plant's numbers are still going down.
The biggest reason for its decline is that its natural home is being destroyed or damaged. Many areas where it used to grow have been used for buildings, factories, and businesses.
Other problems include:
- Overgrazing: Animals eating too much of the plant.
- Invasive Plants: New plant species, like Chinese privet and Amur honeysuckle, are moving in and taking over the leafy prairie clover's space.
- Human Activities: Plants have been accidentally destroyed during things like road repairs or putting in new sewer pipes.
Conservation Efforts and Challenges
Many places where the leafy prairie clover grows need regular wildfires to stay healthy. These fires help clear out larger plants and keep the habitat open. However, efforts to stop fires (called fire suppression) prevent this natural process. When fires don't happen, the area gets too crowded with big, woody plants, which makes it hard for the leafy prairie clover to grow.
Fires are also important because the seeds of the leafy prairie clover need to be "scarified" to sprout. This means their tough outer shell needs to be scratched or weakened, often by fire, so water can get in and help them germinate (start growing).
Even after the seeds sprout, getting enough moisture can be a challenge, especially in dry summers. Many young plants, called seedlings, die from dry conditions or from frost heave (when the ground freezes and thaws, pushing plants out). Only about 5% of the seedlings live to be five years old. The plant also doesn't start making its own seeds until it's 2 or 3 years old.
Another challenge is that the plant has low genetic diversity. This means there isn't much variety in its genes, which can make it harder for the plant to adapt to changes or diseases.
Despite these challenges, some leafy prairie clover plants have been moved and replanted in areas where scientists think they might have grown a long time ago, including parts of Indiana. This helps try to bring the species back to more places.
Images for kids
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Dalea foliosa flowers
