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For Your Garden - March 2021

Native plants provide beauty as well as food and shelter for wildlife. Native species are adapted to the Illinois climate. They require little or no watering and are resistant to drought, insects and most diseases. Because they are perennials, you can welcome their presence year after year.

blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)
Photo © River Valley Photographic Resources Ltd., rvprltd.com

Blue cohosh grows statewide in moist woods. Flowers are produced in April and May. The flowers are six-parted and are green-yellow to brown. Its fruits are dark-blue berries. The leaves have seven to nine leaflets. A single plant may be one to three feet tall. The flowers attract pollinators, and the fruits are eaten by wildlife, particularly birds.

Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.

Illinois Range

Native Plant Information

For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.

Taxonomy

​Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Berberidaceae

Illinois Status: common, native