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  Asteraceae : Artemisia tridentata

  R. Neil Reese

  Artemisia tridentata is an erect, branching, aromatic, evergreen shrub, having both a deep taproot and a broad shallow root system, and growing from 0.5 to 3 m in height. The older stems are dark colored and are often gnarled with exfoliating bark. The younger branches are covered with a short pubescence. The leaves are wedge shaped, narrow at the base and tridentate at the tip. The inflorescence is a loose panicle of near sessile heads. The heads have involucral bracts 2-4 mm long and covered in whitish hairs. The several yellow florets are attached to a naked receptacle and are all perfect. The leaves contain camphor and other essential oils. The achenes are small and very dark when mature. Flowering occurs from June into September. Big sage is found on open dry plains and hills in western South Dakota.

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  Asteraceae: Ericameria parryi

  R. Neil Reese

  Ericameria parryi is a perennial, small to medium-sized woody shrub that grows from a deep, woody taproot system. The plant reaches a typical height of 10 to 100 centimeters. Its flexible, ascending-to-erect stems emerge greenish when young before turning tan or gray, often displaying fastigiate branching and a dense coating of white-to-grayish matted felt hairs. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, linear to spatula-shaped, and entire along the margins. They vary from hairless to densely woolly, appear green to grayish-green, measure 10 to 80 mm long by 0.5 to 14 mm wide, and are sessile or lack a distinct petiole. Flowering occurs from July to September. The inflorescence forms a compact, terminal cyme-, raceme-, or spike-like cluster containing multiple flower heads. Each head features a widely cylindrical involucre measuring 10 to 18 millimeters long by 4 to 8 millimeters wide, built from slightly keeled, green-tipped bracts layered in 3 to 6 series. The pappus consists of a single series of minutely barbed, tan bristles that measure slightly shorter than the corolla. Five to 20 yellow disc flowers hace 5 fused petals forming a corolla tube 8 to 12.5 mm long; ray flowers are completely absent. Each floret holds 5 stamens featuring narrow, triangular anther tips with a distinct yellow-to-tan tint. The single inferior ovary contains a solitary pistil with a long, slender style and lanceolate-to-awl-shaped stigma appendages that extend past the corolla. The fruit is a small, hairy cypsela (achene) measuring 4 to 7 mm long, ripening to a tan or brown color between October and November. Parry's rabbitbrush is native to South Dakota, where it is primarily distributed along the western edge of the state, particularly within the mountainous, rocky, and semi-arid terrain of the Black Hills and the surrounding high plains. It is typically found inhabiting open, dry pine forests, mixed-grass prairies, exposed hillsides, and eroded badlands slopes characterized by minimalist, minimally developed soil layers.

  Synonym: Chrysothamnus parryi

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  Berberidaceae: Mahonia repens

  R. Neil Reese

  Mahonia repens is a low-growing, evergreen shrub typically reaching 15 to 30 cm in height but spreading widely by trailing stems, forming dense mats. The plant has a woody root system and spreads by creeping stems that root at the nodes. Stems are wiry and covered with a smooth to slightly hairy bark. Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound with 5 to 9 leaflets, each leaflet measuring about 3 to 7 cm long and 1 to 3 cm wide. Leaflets are broadly elliptic to oblong with spiny-toothed margins and a leathery, glossy surface. Leaves have short petioles about 1 to 3 cm long. The inflorescence is a raceme of small, fragrant yellow flowers blooming from late spring to early summer (May–July). Each flower has six sepals and six petals arranged in two whorls; sepals are greenish yellow, about 4 to 6 mm long and 2 to 3 mm wide, ovate and spreading. The petals are bright yellow, about 6 to 8 mm long and 3 to 4 mm wide, obovate with rounded tips. Flowers have nine stamens with spurred filaments and a superior ovary. The fruit is a blue to dark purple berry about 6 to 10 mm in diameter with a waxy coating maturing in summer. In South Dakota, Oregon grape is native and found in forest understories, rocky slopes, and shaded areas primarily in the Black Hills region.

  Synonym: Berberis repens

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  Betulaceae: Betula papyrifera

  R. Neil Reese

  Betula papyrifera is a medium to large deciduous tree, reaching 15–25 meters tall, with a shallow, wide-spreading root system and reproducing sexually by seed and vegetatively by stump or root sprouting. The trunk is slender, up to 60 cm in diameter, with thin, white, peeling bark marked by horizontal lenticels and often curling in papery sheets; younger bark may be reddish-brown. Twigs are slender, reddish-brown, and lack hairs. Leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to rhombic, typically 5 to 10 centimeters long and 4 to 8 centimeters wide, with doubly serrate margins and a pointed apex and a rounded or heart-shaped base. Petioles are slender and about 1 to 3 centimeters long. Both leaf surfaces are hairless or sparsely hairy when young, and leaves turn bright yellow in autumn. Flowering occurs in early spring before or as the leaves unfurl. Flowers are borne in separate male and female catkins on the same tree (monoecious). Male catkins are pendulous, cylindrical, and 3 to 8 centimeters long, releasing pollen in early spring before leaf emergence. Female catkins are shorter, erect, and take the growing season to mature. Male flowers have several stamens with pollen-producing anthers; female flowers consist of superior ovaries. Fruits are small winged nutlets (samara-like), clustered in cone-like catkins that open in fall to release seeds. Seeds mature in late summer to fall Paper Birch is native to South Dakota and widespread in moist woods, streambanks, lakeshores, and upland slopes, especially in the Black Hills and northern parts of the state.

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  Betulaceae: Corylus americana

  R Neil Reese

  Corylus americana is a perennial, monoecious shrub that grows, from rhizomes to a height of roughly 2.5- 5 m with a crown spread of 3- 4.5 m. Plants are usually multi-stemmed with long branches that produce a dense spreading shape and form thickets by sending up suckers from the underground rhizomes. The young twigs are hairy-glandular. The petiolate leaves are simple, alternate, the blades ovate, pointed at the tip and rounded or heart shaped at the base, 1-12 cm long, doubly toothed and hairy underneath. Male flowers present in the winter and bloom very early in the spring in long (4-8 cm) cylindrical stalked, whitish catkins having numerous crowded flowers, each having a pair of bracts and 4 stamens. The female flowers emerge before the leaves in ovoid brownish catkins of few flowers, with the red styles becoming visible. The fruit are nuts that are solitary or clustered, each enveloped in expanded leafy bracts. America hazelnut grows in upland forests and thickets along the edge of the coteau des prairies in eastern South Dakota.

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  Betulaceae : Corylus cornuta

  R. Neil Reese

  Corylus cornuta is a perennial, monoecious shrub that grows, from rhizomes to a height of roughly 2.5- 5 m with a crown spread of 3- 4.5 m. Plants are usually multi-stemmed with long branches that produce a dense spreading shape and forming thickets by sending up suckers from the underground rhizomes. The young twigs are usually smooth, sometimes sparsely hairy, but lacking glands. The petiolate leaves are simple, alternate, the blades ovate, pointed at the tip and rounded or heart shaped at the base, 4-10 cm long, doubly toothed and hairy underneath. Male flowers present in the winter and bloom very early in the spring in long (4-8 cm) cylindrical, sessile, whitish catkins having numerous crowded flowers, each having a pair of bracts and 4 stamens. The female flowers emerge before the leaves in ovoid brownish catkins of few flowers, with the red styles becoming visible. The fruit are nuts that are solitary or clustered, each enveloped in bristly bracts, partially connate and forming a long beak. Beaked hazelnut grows in upland forests and thickets in western and northeastern South Dakota.

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  Betulaceae Ostrya virginiana

  R Neil Reese

  Ostrya virginiana is a small deciduous, monoecious, understory tree growing to 15 m in height. The older bark is brown to gray-brown, scaly, rough or shaggy. The younger twigs and branches are smoother and gray, with small lenticels. The leaves have a short hairy petiole, the blades are oblong to ovate with a sharp tip, 5–13 cm long and 4–6 cm wide, with a doubly toothed margin. The upper surface is mostly hairless, while the lower surface is sparsely to moderately hairy. The inflorescence consists of male and female catkins. The male catkins are pendulous, 2–5 cm long and the female catkins are 8–15 mm containing 10–30 flowers. The fruit are small nutlets 3–5 mm long and enclosed in a greenish, papery bracts 10–18 mm long and 8–10 mm wide, resembling hops, that turn brown at maturity. Hop-hornbeam blooms in April and May, with fruit maturing in early summer, growing in upland forests of the Black Hills, and southern and eastern South Dakota.

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  Cactaceae : Opuntia polyacantha

  R. Neil Reese

  Opuntia polyacantha is a prostrate, clump-forming perennial, evergreen shrub, rising only to the height of one stem segment (pad). Each stem segment is orbicular, flattened, bluish green to gray, growing to about 12 cm in diameter. The areoles are crowded, generally < 1 cm apart, with 1-10 spines, 2-5 cm long, and various numbers of glochids on each. The upper areoles have more spines than the lower. The flowers develop along the upper edge of the pads, each 4-7 cm wide with numerous tepals, 25–35 mm long, yellow, pink or red. The fruit is globose to ovoid, 2-4 cm long, dry and spiny. The seeds are tan to white and discoid. Prairie pricklypear blooms in May and June (rarely again in September) on dry plains and pastures, especially in sandy soils, in western South Dakota.

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  Caprifoliaceae: Lonicera maackii

  R. Neil Reese

  Lonicera maackii is a long-lived, multi-stemmed, deciduous, upright, woody shrub that develops from a shallow, wide-spreading, fibrous root system. The plant reaches a mature height of 2 to 6 meters. It possesses robust, arching, grayish-brown twigs and stems with a hollow, dark brown pith. When new branches and twigs first emerge, they are moderately to densely covered in short, fine, and sometimes tangled hairs. The older bark characteristically splits into long, thin, shaggy vertical strips. Leaf insertion along the twigs is opposite. The simple leaves are dark green, ovate to broadly elliptic with a distinct, sharply tapered acuminate tip, measuring 40 to 90 mm long and 20 to 45 mm wide with entire, smooth margins. The upper leaf surface is dull green and mostly glabrous, while the lower leaf surface features fine, soft hairs distributed primarily along the main veins. The leaf possesses a short, pubescent petiole measuring 2 to 8 mm long. Flowering occurs from mid-spring to early summer (typically May to June). The inflorescence consists of paired, axillary flowers borne along the upper twigs on short peduncles measuring 1 to 3 mm long. The calyx contains 5 small, green, fused sepals forming a short, cup-like rim that is roughly 1 to 2 mm long with triangular teeth. The corolla features 5 fused petals forming a strongly bilateral, two-lipped tube that opens pristine white and ages to a deep creamy yellow, measuring 15 to 25 mm long. The upper lip is broad and 4-lobed, while the lower lip consists of a single, narrow, downward-curving lobe, all releasing a powerful, sweet fragrance. Contained within the petal tube are 5 free stamens with slender, pale green filaments and yellow anthers that exert well past the corolla rim. There is 1 inferior, 3-loculed pistil topped with a single, elongated style and a capitate, green stigma. The fruit is a smooth, glossy, globose berry measuring 6 to 8 mm in diameter. It matures to a brilliant, translucent red color between September and November, remaining tightly clustered along the branches through winter and housing several small, dark brown seeds. Amur honeysuckle is introduced to South Dakota; it is native to temperate regions of China, Japan, Korea, and southeastern Russia. In South Dakota, it escapes cultivation primarily in southeastern and southern counties, aggressively invading disturbed woodlands, urban forest edges, floodplains, and riparian corridors.

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  Caprifoliaceae: Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis

  R. Neil Reese

  Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing 2 to 6 meters tall from a stout root system with furrowed grayish bark on older stems. The plant flowers from May through July. Leaves are opposite and pinnately compound with 5 to 9 ovate to lanceolate leaflets, 7 to 15 cm long and 3 to 6 cm wide, serrated margins, dark green and glabrous above, paler and slightly hairy beneath. The inflorescence is a large, aromatic, flat-topped to slightly rounded cyme or panicle 10 to 20 cm wide, with many small creamy-white flowers approximately 5 to 7 mm in diameter. Each flower has five small, greenish, free sepals that are ovate and about 1 to 2 mm long, and five white, rounded, free petals measuring about 4 to 6 mm long. There are typically 20 to 30 stamens per flower with filaments 3 to 4 mm long inserted around the floral receptacle and yellow anthers 1 to 2 mm long. The pistil is forming a compound ovary with 2 to 3 locules, about 2 to 3 mm long, a slender style approximately 1.5 to 2 mm long, and a small, capitate stigma. The fruit is a round, dark purple to black berry about 5 to 8 mm in diameter that ripens from August to September. American elderberry is native to South Dakota, where it occurs primarily in moist woods, thickets, and along stream banks, scattered throughout the eastern and central parts of the state.

  Synonym: Sambucus canadensis

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  Caprifoliaceae : Sambucus racemosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Sambucus racemosa is a deciduous, perennial shrub with a fibrous root system and occasionally spreading rhizomes, forming dense thickets. Mature plants typically reach 1–4 meters in height. Stems are erect, stout, and gray brown with smooth bark on young shoots that becomes ridged or furrowed with age. Leaves are opposite, pinnately compound, 15–30 cm long, with 5–9 ovate to lanceolate leaflets, each 5–12 cm long and 2–6 cm wide, serrated margins, and pointed tips. Upper leaf surfaces are medium to dark green and glabrous or sparsely hairy, while lower surfaces are paler with fine hairs along the veins. Petioles are 5–10 cm long. Flowering occurs from May to July, with inflorescences forming dense, erect to spreading panicles 10–20 cm long, bearing numerous small, creamy-white, five-petaled flowers. The calyx has five small, green, ovate sepals, about 1–2 mm long, free and persistent. Petals are five, white, obovate to round, 3–5 mm long, free and spreading. Each flower has five stamens with yellow anthers about 1 mm long. The pistil consists of a single ovary with a slender style and capitate stigma. The fruit is a bright red, spherical drupe, 5–8 mm in diameter, maturing from August to September and persisting into winter. Red elderberry is native to South Dakota and is found the Black Hills in moist woodlands, forest edges, stream banks, and thickets, favoring rich, moist, well-drained soils under partial shade.

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  Caprifoliaceae : Viburnum lentago

  R. Neil Reese

  Viburnum lentago is a perennial, multi-stemmed tall shrub or small tree, 2-5 m tall and forming colonies from root suckers. Young stems usually have smooth, gray to reddish brown bark, and on older stems the bark becomes dark gray with deeply checkered furrows. The simple, opposite leaves have long winged petioles (10-30 mm) with stellate reddish-brown hairs at the base. The blades are ovate to broadly elliptic, 5-9 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, the tips pointed, the margins finely toothed, the upper surface dark green and shiny and the lower surface paler. The umbel-like inflorescences are 5-12 cm across sessile at the ends of 1-year old branches. Each flower has a tubular calyx with 5 short lobes and a white, bell to saucer shaped, 5-lobed corolla that is 2.5-3.5 mm long. The 5 stamens are exserted from the corolla. The fruit are dark blue-black, flattened, globose drupes, 10-14 mm long, pulpy with a whitish, waxy coating, each containing a large, flat, yellowish seed. Nannyberry blooms in May and June in open woods, along streambanks and occasionally in ditches in the eastern and western counties of South Dakota.

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  Caprifoliaceae: Viburnum opulus var. americanum

  R. Neil Reese

  Viburnum opulus var. americanum is a deciduous, perennial shrub with a fibrous root system. Mature plants typically reach 2–4 meters in height. Stems are erect, woody, and gray brown with smooth bark on young shoots that becomes ridged with age. Leaves are opposite, simple, and broadly ovate to round, 5–15 cm long and wide, with three to five lobes and sharply serrated margins. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous, while the lower surface is lighter green and finely hairy along the veins. Petioles are present, 2–6 cm long. Flowering occurs from May to June, with inflorescences forming large, flat-topped cymes 5–15 cm across, composed of both showy sterile flowers around the edge and numerous small, fertile flowers in the center. Sterile flowers have five white petals, 10–15 mm long and wide; fertile flowers have smaller, 4–6 mm long petals. Stamens number five per fertile flower, with yellow anthers approximately 1 mm long. The pistil consists of a single ovary with a slender style and capitate stigma. The fruit is a bright red, globose drupe, 8–12 mm in diameter, maturing from September to October. American cranberrybush is native to South Dakota and Viburnum opulus var. opulus, the European cranberrybush, that is native to Europe and parts of Asia, is also naturalized in the state. Both occur in moist woods, thickets, wetlands, and along streams, preferring rich, moist, well-drained soils with partial shade. The two varieties are very similar; they can be distinguished by the glands at the tip of the leaf stalk near the blade. Those of the European variety are typically shorter than wide, oval-elliptic, and bowl or cup shaped with a distinct rim. The native variety has glands that are taller than wide, round to oval, flat or rounded at the tip, and lack a distinct rim.

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  Celastraceae : Celastrus scandens

  R. Neil Reese

  Celastrus scandens is a perennial climbing woody vine with twisting stems that reach up to 18 m long. The plants are dioecious, being either male or female, and spread vegetatively by root suckers. The simple, alternate leaves have petioles 1-3 cm long with short stipules (~1 mm). The blades are elliptic to ovate-oblong 3-10 cm long with a pointed tip and the margins are finely toothed. The greenish, unisexual flowers are borne in narrow racemes or panicles which are 3-8 cm long. The flowers are 5-merous with a cup-shaped calyx, 2-3 mm long, united at the base and spreading petals that are 3-6 mm long. Male flowers have 5 stamens, while female flowers have a single 3-parted ovary. Fruit is an orange or yellowish 3-valved capsule, 8-12 mm in diameter, that splits to expose the fleshy bright orange to red aril-covered seeds. There are 1-2 reddish brown seeds in each locule, elliptical in shape and 5-6 mm long. Bittersweet blooms from May to July in woodlands, thickets and along fence rows in much of South Dakota.

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  Chenopodiaceae: Sarcobatus vermiculatus

  R. Neil Reese

  Sarcobatus vermiculatus is a deciduous shrub with spiny branches, growing 1 to 3 meters tall, from an extensive, fibrous root system, adapted to saline and alkaline soils, producing root sprouts and rhizomes, allowing it to form dense clonal thickets. The plant blooms from May through July. Leaves are alternate, simple, fleshy, and scale-like, 1 to 3 cm long, narrowly ovate to linear, green to gray green in color. The inflorescence consists of dense, spike-like clusters of small, inconspicuous flowers 3 to 5 mm long. Each flower has no true petals or sepals; instead, it is subtended by small, free bracts. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants (dioecious). Male flowers contain several stamens—typically 5 to 8—with filaments inserted opposite the bracts; anthers are small, about 1 mm long. Female flowers have a single pistil with one carpel, a sessile ovary approximately 1 to 2 mm long, a short style, and a small stigma. The fruit is a small, hard, winged achene about 3 to 4 mm in diameter that matures from August to September. This plant is native to South Dakota, occurring primarily in saline and alkaline flats, playas, and desert shrublands, mostly in the western parts of the state.

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  Cupressaceae: Juniperus communis

  R Neil Reese

  Juniperus communis is a low, spreading evergreen shrub, growing to 1.5 m high, often forming clumps. The young twigs are yellowish and 3-angled and older stems becoming grayish and finally reddish brown with shredding papery bark. The leaves are needle-shaped, waxy, 10-18 mm long, up to 1.5 mm wide, in whorls of 3 and curved sharply just above the base. The plants are dioecious with axillary, sessile pollen-bearing cones that are and mostly single, 3-5 mm long and 1-2 mm wide being produce on male plants. Female plants produce seed cones that are fleshy, dark blue with a waxy bloom, globose, 5-10 mm in diameter, maturing in the second year and contain 1-3 brown seeds. New cones are pollinated in May and June, usually on wooded hillsides in western South Dakota.

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  Cupressaceae : Juniperus virginiana

  R. Neil Reese

  Juniperus virginiana is a perennial, non-flowering, coniferous evergreen tree with a pyramidal or subcylindrical shaped crown, growing 5–20 m in height. The bark is reddish-brown to gray, fibrous and shredding as it ages. The younger branches are usually red. The adult leaves are green to blue green, tightly adpressed and scale-like, 2–4 mm long, 0.8-1.5 mm wide, arranged in opposite decussate pairs or occasionally whorls of three and overlapping the leaves above. Juvenile leaves are needle shaped, 5–11 mm long and are present on young trees and new branches. Red cedar is usually dioecious with male plants having yellowish-brown, sessile, solitary ovoid cones, 2.5-4 mm long, 1-2 mm in diameter, attached to the ends of branchlets. Female trees produce solitary, berry-like seed cones that are 3–7 mm in diameter, dark purplish-blue with a white waxy covering. These cones mature during the first year and contain 1-3 yellowish seeds. Cones shed pollen and are fertilized in April and May. Eastern red cedar is native to southern South Dakota, being found on pastures, prairie hillsides and disturbed ground. Because of its wide use in shelter belts, it has escaped and is naturalized throughout SD.

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  Elaeagnaceae: Elaeagnus angustifolia

  R Neil Reese

  Elaeagnus angustifolia is a perennial large shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall. The trunk and mature branches have a scaly gray-brown bark, with young branches being covered with silvery gray hairs. The small branches often end in sharp spines. The alternate, simple, petiolate leaves are covered with silvery scales are star-shaped hairs. The blades are up to 10 cm long and usually less than 18 mm wide. The inflorescence consists of axillary groups of 1 to 3 short-stalked flowers on the young branches. The fragrant flowers are funnel-shaped, ~12 mm long and wide, with 4 spreading, yellow petal-like sepals that are silvery on the outer side. They are fused at the base and form an angled tube about as long as the lobes. There are 4 yellow stamens and a style. The fruit are edible, but mealy drupe-like achenes. Russian olive flower in May and June ad the fruit ripen in August through October. This species was introduced as a windbreak species and has become naturalized throughout the US. Although still planted for game improvement in some states, it is considered an invasive species in South Dakota.

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  Elaeagnaceae : Shepherdia argentea

  R. Neil Reese

  Shepherdia argentea is an erect, perennial, deciduous shrub or small tree, growing 2m to 6m in height and forming thickets by root suckers. Young stems are covered in scaley or stellate hairs giving them a white-mealy appearance, becoming gray with age, and 2–3-year-old twigs often end in spines. The simple leaves are opposite, oblong to oblanceolate, 2-5 cm long, 7-12 mm wide, gray green on both the upper and lower surfaces due to a covering of hairs. The margins are entire, the tip blunt and the blade narrowed at the base with a petiole of 3-6 mm. Buffaloberry is dioecious, the flowers in small clusters on 1 year old twigs. Male flowers have 4 sepals fused to a 8-lobed, shallow disk and have 8 stamens, their filament free. The female flowers have 4 sepals fused to a hairy disk that nearly encloses the pistil. The fruit is an ovoid, drupe-like achene, red, juicy and 5–7 mm long. Buffaloberry blooms in May and June and the fruits remain attached into the fall. They grow throughout South Dakota along streambanks, on hillsides and in ravines.

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  Ericaceae : Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

  R. Neil Reese

  Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a perennial low shrub, with trailing flexible stems which form mats 1-2 m in diameter. The bark is reddish on younger stems and light colored and exfoliating on older stems. The leaves are alternate with a short petiole. The blades are entire, spatulate to obovate, evergreen and 1-3 cm long. The upper surface of the leaves is leathery and shiny. The flowers are arranged in terminal racemes or panicles and are often pendulous. The 5 sepals are 1-1.5 mm long, pink to white and persisting in fruit. The corolla is urceolate, white to pink, 4-8 mm long and the lobes are reflexed. There are 10n stamens that are shorter than the petals and a the ovary is 5-celled. The fruit is a fleshy drupe, red, 4-10 mm in diameter containing 5 boney 1-seeded nutlets, Bearberry blooms from May to July and grows in wooded areas on rocky to sandy sights in western South Dakota. This species is commonly found on much of the norther and mountainous regions of North America.

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  Ericaceae: Vaccinium membranaceum

  R. Neil Reese

  Vaccinium membranaceum is a perennial, deciduous shrub with a shallow, fibrous root system. Mature plants typically reach 30–90 cm in height. Stems are slender, erect to spreading, and covered with smooth bark that becomes reddish-brown with age. Leaves are alternate, simple, broadly ovate to elliptic, 1–5 cm long and 0.5–3 cm wide, with finely serrated margins and an acute tip. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous or sparsely hairy, while the lower surface is paler and often glaucous or slightly hairy. Petioles are short, 2–5 mm long. Flowering occurs from May to July, with inflorescences forming short racemes or clusters of 3–10 nodding, bell-shaped flowers 5–10 mm long. Flowers have five fused sepals forming a small green calyx 1.5–2 mm long, and five fused petals forming a white to pale pink, urn-shaped corolla 4–7 mm long with a slightly flared mouth. Stamens number ten, with filaments often hairy near the base and anthers with terminal pores releasing pollen via vibration (buzz-pollination). The pistil consists of a single ovary with a slender style and a small stigma. The fruit is a round, juicy berry, 6–12 mm in diameter, dark blue to nearly black with a smooth, glossy skin, maturing from August to September. Mountain huckleberry is native to South Dakota's Black Hills and western regions, typically found in montane forests, subalpine meadows, and rocky slopes, preferring acidic, well-drained soils under partial shade.

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  Ericaceae: Vaccinium scoparium

  R. Neil Reese

  Vaccinium scoparium is a perennial, deciduous shrub with a shallow, fibrous root system and no rhizomes or tubers. Mature plants typically reach 10–60 cm in height. Stems are slender, erect to spreading, often forming dense, low mats or thickets. Leaves are alternate, simple, broadly ovate to elliptical, 0.5–2 cm long and 0.3–1 cm wide, with finely serrated margins and an acute tip. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glabrous or sparsely hairy, while the lower surface is paler and sometimes glaucous. Petioles are short, 1–3 mm long. Flowering occurs from May to July, with inflorescences forming small clusters or solitary nodding, bell-shaped flowers 4–7 mm long. Flowers have five fused sepals forming a small green calyx 1–1.5 mm long, and five fused petals forming a white to pale pink, urn-shaped corolla 3–6 mm long with a slightly flared mouth. Stamens number ten, with filaments often hairy near the base and anthers with terminal pores for buzz-pollination. The pistil consists of a single ovary with a slender style and small stigma. The fruit is a round, fleshy berry, 5–8 mm in diameter, dark blue to black with a smooth, glossy skin, maturing from July to September. Grouse whortleberry is native to South Dakota’s Black Hills and western regions, typically found in montane forests, subalpine meadows, and rocky slopes, favoring acidic, well-drained soils under partial shade.

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  Fabaceae: Amorpha canescens

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha canescens is a small perennial deciduous shrub or subshrub, which grows 30 cm to 1.2 m in height from a deep, rhizomatous root system. Main stems are brown and woody with the few branching stems being green to gray-white. The grey-green leaves are alternate odd-pinnate and appear leaden due to their dense hairiness Leaves contain 29-41 leaflets, are subsessile with the petiole 0.5-1.0 mm long. The rachis is 8-13 cm long, the petiole and rachis densely are pubescent with short whitish to gray woolly hairs. Leaflets are 9-17 mm long and 4-8 mm wide, ovate-oblong to elliptical. The margins are entire. The flowers bloom from May to August and have a 5-lobed fused calyx 1.5-2.0 mm long, with free lobes 1.5-2.0 mm long. Corollas are not papilionaceous, forming a bluish-purple tube that is 4-5 mm long and 2.0-2.5 mm wide. Ten stamens are exserted from the tube, the free portion of the filaments 4-5 mm long with bright yellow anthers. The superior ovary is 1.0-1.5 mm long and densely hairy, with the style 2-3 mm long and having a 3-lobed stigma. The fruits are small (3-4mm) modified 1-seeded legumes. This plant can be found growing in well-drained soils of prairies, bluffs, and open woodlands.

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  Fabaceae : Amorpha fruticosa

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha fruticosa is a deciduous perennial shrub, which has 1 to several stems growing from 1 m to 3.5 m in height, often branched, forming a bushy top. The alternate, pinnately compound leaves are stipulate (caduceus, narrowly linear 2-4 mm in length) 10 – 30 cm long with 4 – 15 pairs of emarginate leaflets. The inflorescences are solitary to clusters of densely flowered racemes 5-20 cm in length that bloom from June to August. The 5-merous calyx is fused forming a tube 2-3 mm long with broadly rounded to triangular lobes extending about 0.5 mm. The reddish-purple petals form a tube 5-6 mm long that encloses the stamens and pistil. There are 10 stamens 6-8 mm long and united at the base, with bright yellow anthers. The single pistil matures into a legume 5-7 mm by 2-3 mm. False indigo is commonly found along moist stream banks, in the open or in open woods.

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  Fabaceae : Amorpha nana

  R. Neil Reese

  Amorpha nana is deciduous perennial shrub, which grows 30 cm to 60 cm in height. The stems are branched above, often covered with short hairs when young. The alternate, compound odd-pinnate leaves are 3-10 cm long with 3-10 cm long petioles having associated stipules that are 3-5 mm long. The broadly oblong leaflets are arranged in 6-15 pairs with a single terminal leaflet and are 6-13 mm long by 3-6 mm wide. Dwarf indigo flowers are borne in densely flowered terminal racemes, 3-9 cm long. The dark, purple-colored flowers appear from May to June. The sepals form a short turbinate tube 2-3 mm long with 1-2 mm long triangular lobes. The corolla is composed of petals fused into a tube, 5-6 mm long, with a slender claw, and encloses the stamens and pistil. There are 10 stamens fused at the base and a single pistil. The fruit is a legume, 4.5-5.5 mm long by 2-3 mm wide. This species is commonly found on dry prairies and rocky or sandy hillsides.