Flora Photo Gallery

A visual tour of the floral diversity of the Quad Cities Region. All photos taken by Grant Fessler.

Forest and Woodland Wildflowers

  • Mertensia virginica – Virginia Bluebells
  • Cardamine concatenata – Cut-leaved Toothwort
  • Erythronium albidum – White Trout Lily
  • Thalictrum thalictroides – Rue Anemone
  • Enemion biternatum – False Rue Anemone
  • Anemone quinquefolia – Wood Anemone
  • Arisaema triphyllum – Jack-in-the-pulpit
  • Actaea pachypoda – White Baneberry
  • Asarum canadense – Canada wild ginger
  • Caulophyllum thalictroides – Blue Cohosh
  • Claytonia virginica – Virginia Spring Beauty
  • Dicentra canadensis – Squirrel corn
  • Dicentra cucullaria – Dutchman’s breeches
  • A lush carpet of wild geranium growing in a level upland forest at Wild Cat Den.
  • Hepatica acutiloba – Sharp-lobed hepatica
  • Phlox divaricata – Woodland Phlox
  • Sanguinaria canadensis – Bloodroot
  • Podophyllum peltatum – Mayapple
  • Dodecatheon meadia – Eastern Shooting Star
  • Trillium recurvatum – Prairie Trillium
  • Uvularia grandiflora – Large-flowered bellwort
  • Viola eriocarpa – Smooth Yellow Violet
  • Viola sororia – Common Blue Violet
  • Helianthus strumosus – Pale woodland sunflower
  • Impatiens capensis – Spotted Jewelweed
  • Lobelia siphilitica – Great blue lobelia
  • Aralia racemosa – American Spikenard
  • Actaea pachypoda – White Baneberry
  • Impatiens pallida – Pale jewelweed
  • Triphora trianthophoros – Three birds orchid
  • Triphora trianthophoros – Three birds orchid
  • Mimulus alatus – winged monkey flower
  • Scrophularia marilandica – Late figwort
  • Asclepias quadrifolia – Four-leaved milkweed
  • Hydrastis canadensis – Goldenseal
  • Lespedeza frutescens – violet bushclover
  • Eurybia schreberi – Schreber’s wood aster
  • Aureolaria grandiflora var. pulchra – Large flowered false foxglove
  • Trillium grandiflorum – Large white trillium
  • Asclepias exaltata – Poke milkweed
  • Panax quinquefolius – American ginseng
  • Goodyera pubescens – Downy rattlesnake plantain

Ferns

  • Dryopteris cristata – Crested Wood Fern
  • Onoclea sensibilis – Sensitive Fern
  • Spring fronds of Polystichum acrostichoides – Christmas Fern
  • Phegopteris hexagonoptera – Broad Beech Fern
  • Adiantum pedatum – Maidenhair Fern
  • Woodsia obtusa – Blunt Cliff Fern
  • Asplenium platyneuron – Ebony Spleenwort
  • Homalosorus pycnocarpos – Narrow-leaved Glade Fern
  • Polypodium virginianum – Rock Polypody
  • Deparia acrostichoides – Silvery Glade Fern
  • Dryopteris goldiana – Goldie’s Wood Fern
  • Dryopteris carthusiana – Spinulose wood fern

Prairie Wildflowers

  • Asclepias amplexicaulis – Blunt-leaved milkweed
  • Asclepias amplexicaulis – Blunt-leaved milkweed
  • Opuntia sp. – Prickly pear
  • Tephrosia virginiana – Goat’s rue
  • Monarda punctata – Spotted beebalm
  • Lithospermum caroliniense – Hairy puccoon
  • Eryngium yuccifolium – Rattlesnake master
  • Ratibida pinnata – Grey-headed coneflower
  • Gentianella quinquefolius occidentalis – Western Agueweed
  • Silphium laciniatum – Compass plant
  • Erythronium mesochoreum – Prairie trout lily
  • Phlox bifida – Cleft phlox
  • Baptisia bracteata – Long-bracted wild indigo
  • Sisyrinchium sp. – Blue-eyed grass
  • Castilleja sessiliflora – Downy painted cup
  • Viola pedatifida – Birds foot violet
  • Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpura)
  • Short Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)
  • Closed Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii)
  • Downy Gentian (Gentiana puberulenta)
  • Missouri Goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis)
  • Stiff Showy Goldenrod (Solidago rigidiscula)
  • Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)
  • Prairie False Indigo (Baptisia lactea)
  • Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)
  • Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)

Wetland Wildflowers and Graminoids

  • Midwest Rose Turtle head (Chelone speciosa)
  • Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
  • Potamogeton nodosus and Ceratophyllum demersum, two characteristic submergent species of shallow, quiet water.
  • Capsules of Ammannia robusta.
  • Lindernia dubia blooming on a gravel bar in the ROck River.
  • Sagittaria latifolia in bloom.
  • Hibiscus laevis, a common species of floodplain marshes.
  • Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus)
  • Walter’s Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa walteri)
  • Wild Rice (Zizania aquatica)
  • American Lotus (Nelumbo lutae)
  • Pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata)
  • Canada Anemone (Anemonastrum canadense)
  • Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnate)
  • Showy Obedient Plant (Physostegia speciosa) and Dotted Smart weed (Persicaria punctata)
  • Monkey flower (Mimulus ringens)
  • Wild Mint (Mentha canadensis)
  • Floating Primrose-WIllow (Ludwigia peploides)
  • Round leaf Water-Hyssop (Bacopa rotundifolia)
  • Sneeze weed (Helenium autumnale)
  • Catchfly Grass (Leersia lenticularis)
  • Rice Cut Grass (Leersia oryzoides)
  • Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
  • Water Smart weed (Persicaria coccinea)
  • Pale Smart weed (Persicaria lapathifolia)
  • Arumleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria cuneata)
  • Smooth Hedgenettle (Stachys tenuifolia)
  • Pink Smart weed (Persicaria Pennsylvania)
  • Bladderwort (Utricularia macrorhiza)
  • Blunt Broom Sedge (Carex tribuloides)
  • Smooth Cone Sedge (Carex laeviconica)
  • Hop Sedge (Carex lupulina)
  • Gray’s Sedge (Carex grayish)
  • Cattail Sedge (Carex typhina)
  • Blue Iris (Iris virginica var. shrevei)
  • Water Parsnip (Sium suave)

Habitats and Landscapes

  • Rocky, mesic woodland slope in early May with christmas fern, bloodroot, woodland jumpseed, white trout lily, smooth solomon’s seal, lowland brittlefern, and broad-leaved goldenrod growing amongst the roots of a mature sugar maple. Scott Co., IA.
  • Dry-mesic white oak woodland in early May with white trout lily, smooth solomon’s seal, false solomon’s seal, common blue violet. Scott Co., IA.
  • Fire-managed open white oak woodland with pale woodland sunflower, culvers root, perfoliate tinkerswort, riverbank grape, smooth sumac, bottlebrush grass, and purple joe pye weed. Rock Island Co., IL.
  • Dry sand prairie carpeting sand dunes in the Mississippi river valley.
  • Mesic and dry-mesic tallgrass cemetery prairie with compass plant, rattlesnake master, black eyed susans, lead plant, pale purple coneflower, big blue stem, little blue stem, and flowering spurge.
  • Receding shoreline in Rock River greening up with annual vegetation. Rock Island Co., IL.
  • Sandstone cliff with seep at base and dry woodland on top. Rock Island Co., IL.
  • Dry sand savanna with black oak, prickly pear cactus, clustered poppy mallow, and rough blazing star. Whiteside Co., IL.
  • Seep along the Green River with skunk cabbage, purple Angelica, Jewelweed, spotted joe pye weed, dogwood, and ricecut grass. Henry Co., IL.
  • Floodplain marsh along the Rock River with arrowhead, bur reed, hibiscus, ricecut grass, river bulrush, and duckweed. Rock Island Co., IL.
  • Rich, rocky forest growing along East-facing Mississippi River bluff with sugar maple, pawpaw, Jewelweed, bladdernut, and Canada wild ginger. Clinton Co., IA.
  • Mesic sand prairie with compass plant, rattlesnake master, pale purple coneflower, wild quinine, big bluestem, smooth sumac, and golden Alexanders. Henry Co., IL.
  • Mesic dolomite outcrop along spring-fed stream with bulblet fern, fragile fern, Jewelweed, and Missouri gooseberry. Clinton Co., IA.
  • Dry loess hill prairie in early summer with leadplant, flowering spurge, little blue stem, dogwood. Rock Island Co., IL.
  • Dry dolomite prairie with pale purple coneflower, flowering spurge, sky blue aster, and little bluestem. Clinton Co., IA.
  • Rich mesic alluvial woodland abloom with woodland phlox, prairie trillium, honewort, bedstraw, black walnut, and American elm. Whiteside Co., IL.
  • Mesic forest and sandstone cliff at Wild Cat Den State Park with sugar maple, red oak, Goldie’s Woodfern, and pale Jewelweed. Muscatine Co., IA.