Skinner's False Foxglove - rare and Threatened species discovered by the Mighty Sweet Clover Team

 It's the gorgeous Agalinis skinneriana. 

Skinner's false foxglove with low calamint
(which bloomed earlier, but two pale blue flowers are still hanging on in this photo).

In the past it's been seen elsewhere at Illinois Beach, but this shy annual doesn't emerge every year. It's said to depend on fire, and the prairie swale where we found it was burned last year (for the first time in a long time, it's said). 

A conservative plant, it also doesn't grow in degraded areas. Some of its high-quality associates listed in Wilhelm and Rericha include such rare treasures as grass pink orchid, low calamint, Kalm's lobelia, Tennessee panic grass, fringed gentian, Ohio goldenrod, arrow-grass, and snake-mouth orchid. 

On Saturday, August 12th, fifteen people from the Illinois Beach Sweet Clover Demons (well, the Peregrines actually) worked south of Dead River. But we divided our forces, and another group worked somewhere further north. (We don't reveal the exact locations of rare species for fear that some psychopath might trample them to death trying to get the perfect photo ... or exercise other poor and destructive judgement.)

According to the NatureServ database, Agalinis skinneriana is imperiled in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, critically imperiled in Michigan and Iowa, and extirpated (gone) from Arkansas and Kentucky. The best it’s doing anywhere in the world is reflected by its merely vulnerable status in one state - Missouri. 

We were so happy to pull out the invasive sweet clover and loosestrife infestations that threatened it here at Illinois Beach. (These invasives degrade ecosystems and kill many rare plants.) It's fun and feels like an honor to do this good work. 

Skinner's false foxglove with Tennessee panic grass

It was a rare shock for some of us. We thought we knew the flora here. But this was clearly a species we'd never seen before. We "keyed it down" to learn what it was. Yes, the leaves were super-thin, just over 1 mm wide. Yes, the stems were angled and very rough. Yes, these little beauties were growing with the rare associates mentioned in the text. 

This plant deserves a better name. Skinner doesn't own it. Many plants have many common names. This obscure species so far seems to have only two. The other - "Pale False Foxglove" - also does not do it justice. It is the richest, purest pink. not some pale watered-down color. Any ideas for better names that might catch on? 

The Friends of Illinois Beach Nature Preserves restoration team meet at 9:00 am on Thursdays (for people who have that kind of schedule) and Saturdays (for most of us). We do great work together and discover more gems of happiness every time we work. See you there? 

Directions to Illinois Beach: From Sheridan Road (Rt. 137) and Wadsworth Road, take the park entrance drive east and watch for the Nature Center sign on the right. We meet at the Center's parking lot and head into these 4,000 acres of rare high-quality wilderness from there.