Vascular flora of Bonnie's Prairie Nature Preserve, Iroquois County, Illinois

Bonnie's Prairie Nature Preserve, located in Iroquois County, Illinois, occurs in the Kankakee Sand Area Section of the Grand Prairie Division. Dominant plant communities within this 4.3 ha preserve include dry sand prairie, temporary sand pond and wet-mesic sand prairie. During the growing seasons of 2005 and 2006, dominant Community types within the preserve were sampled and a vouchered inventory of the preserve was conducted. A total of 248 taxa were found within the preserve: 5 ferns and fern allies, 77 monocots, and 166 dicots. Plant families most highly represented included the grass family (Poaceae) with 38 taxa, sunflower family (Asteraceae) with 25 taxa, sedge family (Cyperaceae) with 18 taxa, and rose family (Rosaceae) with 17 taxa. Thirty taxa (12.1% of the flora) were adventive to the site and the Floristic Quality Index (FQI) (with adventives) was 51.1. Dominant species in the dry sand prairie were Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Achillea millefolium (yarrow), fall witch grass Leptoloma cognatum (fall witch grass), and Poa pratensis (Kentucky blue grass). Dominant species of the sand pond were Glyceria septentrionalis (floating manna grass), Persicaria coccinea (scarlet smartweed), Bidens cernua (nodding bur marigold), and Sparganium androcladum? (branched bur-reed). The wet-mesic sand prairie was dominated by Calamagrostis canadensis (blue joint grass), followed by Persicaria coccinea, Erechtites hieracifolia (fireweed), and Bidens coronata (tall swamp marigold). No threatened or endangered species were located during the surveys.