''Lespedeza leptostachya'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names prairie lespedeza and prairie bush-clover. It occurs in the
Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...
region of the United States. The flowers are creamy-white to purplish and arranged into a narrow terminal spikes.
Description
''Lespedeza leptostachya'' is a long-lived perennial herb growing up to a meter tall. The pubescent leaves are compound, each made up of three linear or linear-oblong shaped leaflets. The herbage is coated in whitish hairs, giving the plant a silvery look. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
is a terminal spike of cream to yellowish or pale pink flowers. Each flower is only half a centimeter long. There are both
cleistogamous
Cleistogamy is a type of automatic self-pollination of certain plants that can propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers. Especially well known in peanuts, peas, and pansies, this behavior is most widespread in the grass family. How ...
flowers which never open, and chasmogamous flowers which open and allow insects inside; both types produce seed. Blooming occurs in July through September, with peak bloom in mid-July. The plant does not produce flowers until its maturity at the age of 6 to 9 years. The fruit is a legume pod. One plant can produce over 500 pods, however, many of them contain no viable seeds.USFWS http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/881006.pdf Prairie Bush Clover Recovery Plan. October 1988.
Distribution and habitat
It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, and
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Nat ...
. Most occurrences are in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota,''Lespedeza leptostachya''. Center for Plant Conservation. and it is rare across its known range. It is federally listed as a threatened species of the US.
''Lespedeza leptostachya'' grows only in the
tallgrass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachm ...
, mainly in dry areas. The soils may be gravelly, sandy, and/or
calcareous
Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.
In zoology
''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...
, and are generally well-drained. Preferring sloped areas that are north-facing. It is found in association with other plants including
big bluestem
''Andropogon gerardi'', commonly known as big bluestem, is a species of tall grass native to much of the Great Plains and grassland regions of central and eastern North America. It is also known as tall bluestem, bluejoint, and turkeyfoot.
Taxon ...
(''Andropogon gerardi''),
little bluestem
''Schizachyrium scoparium'', commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a species of North American prairie grass native to most of the contiguous United States (except California, Nevada, and Oregon) as well as a small area north of t ...
prairie dropseed
''Sporobolus heterolepis'', commonly known as prairie dropseed, is a species of prairie grass native to the tallgrass and mixed grass prairies of central North America from Texas to southern Canada. It is also found further east, to the Atlant ...
(''Sporobolus heterolepis''),
porcupine grass Porcupine grass is a common name for several grasses and may refer to:
*''Miscanthus sinensis
''Miscanthus sinensis'', the eulalia or Chinese silver grass, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to eastern Asia thro ...
blue-eyed grass
''Sisyrinchium'' is a large genus of annual to perennial flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. Native to the New World, the species are known as blue-eyed grasses and, though not true grasses and in varieties with flower colors other than blu ...
milkwort
''Polygala'' is a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Polygalaceae. They are commonly known as milkworts or snakeroots. The genus is distributed widely throughout much of the worldPolygala polygama''), prairie violet ('' Viola pedatifida''), and bird's foot violet (''
Viola pedata
''Viola pedata'', the birdsfoot violet, bird's-foot violet, or mountain pansy, is a violet native to sandy areas in central and eastern North America.
Varieties
Two primary color forms exist, ''Viola pedata'' var. ''lineariloba'' ("concolor"), ...
''). It can be found alongside its relative, '' Lespedeza capitata'' (which has shorter and dense flower spikes and wider leaflets), and it has been known to
hybridize
Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to:
*Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid
*Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals
*Nu ...
with it producing plants that have intermediate flower spike lengths and leaf widths, though this is rare.
Conservation
There are 32 to 36 occurrences of the plant remaining in widely scattered locations, and most populations are small, containing fewer than 150 individuals. There are many more historical occurrences which no longer exist. The plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its prairie habitat. Much of it has been consumed for development and converted to
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
. The prevention of agents of natural disturbance, such as
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
and the grazing of wild ungulates, has allowed ecological succession to occur, turning native prairie to shrubland. The plant does not
compete
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...
well with woody
shrubs
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
. The plant can tolerate an amount of disturbance, and probably requires it; it was likely adapted to a landscape regularly trampled and grazed by bison.
Other threats include
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
mowing
A mower is a person or machine that cuts (mows) grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g. with reape ...
herbivory
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
by insects and small mammals has been observed on the plants, including invasion of the pods by
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
s. The plant does not reproduce until at least its sixth year, and when it does reproduce, it usually self-fertilizes, contributing to a low genetic diversity in populations.
The plant has been reintroduced at one site in Iowa. As the plant probably benefited from the presence of bison, researchers are putting cattle on one site to test the effects of their grazing.''L. leptostachya''.
Chicago Botanic Garden
The Chicago Botanic Garden is a living plant museum situated on nine islands in the Cook County Forest Preserves. It features 27 display gardens in four natural habitats: McDonald Woods, Dixon Prairie, Skokie River Corridor, and Lakes and Shor ...