October 26, 2023

The color is seeping away from the prairie and the leaves are rustling down to cover the paths. The bright golden and red foliage has given way to deep, rusty orange and maroon. Fog seeps over the tops of the shrubs in the morning, and the drizzly sky and strange glow of light has us prepared to run for cover if a storm rolls our way.

Though the brightest colors have faded, leaving only the occasional purple aster or blue bottle gentian dotting the brown landscape, there are many textures to admire. Milkweed pods are busting with the softest, feathery fluff to carry their seeds on the wind. White wild indigo pods rattle with seeds and weevils, and compass plant leaves curl into themselves. I gathered a bouquet of dried, warped leaves as a Halloween decoration. When turned upside down, the fallen white wild indigo takes on the appearance of a haunted chandelier.

Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) fills much of the prairie savanna beneath the oaks and hickory trees across the road. The tops of most of these goldenrods are whorled into a rosette of leaves known as a bunch gall. This abnormal growth pattern is formed when a gall midge lays an egg at the top of the plant, and the larva secretes a chemical that prevents the stem from growing. The leaves continue to grow, enveloping and protecting the larva.

Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum) towers above the goldenrods, with drooping black leaves and feathery seeds hanging high from a single inflorescence.

A cluster of late horse gentian (Triosteum perfoliatum) near the edge of the savanna is ringed with shiny, light-orange fruits.

We hasten our loop through the prairie as the rain threatens to fall, stepping over fallen branches that block the path through the grass swaying choppily in the wind.