This research program was initiated in 1999 as part of an SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station funded program in the laboratory of Dr. R. Neil Reese. This project is designed to provide research and educational opportunities to students interested in conservation and utilization of native plant species, as well as encourage the use of native plants by small family farmers as alternative crops in South Dakota.
This site is dedicated to Mrs. Dorothy Gill, a Dakota Elder, a mentor and friend.
- To locate a plant by the Native American name, or common name use the search box in the left side-bar.
- A glossary of terms used in this collection can be found here.
- Some items contain supplemental images documenting the life cycle of the plant.
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Gaura coccinea
R. Neil Reese
Gaura coccinea is a(n) perennial herbaceous, which grows Highly variable to Highly variable in height. This species is commonly found dry prairies, open wooded hillsides, stream valleys, roadsides, and a variety of soils from Manitoba to British Columbia, south and west to Minnesota, northwest Missouri, western Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Southern Utah, Southeast Nevada, Arizona, Southern California, South to Mexico. The leaves are alternate, linear to narrowly elliptic. Gaura coccinea has white pink flowers that bloom from April to May.
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Geum triflorum
R. Neil Reese
Geum triflorum is a(n) perennial herbaceous, which grows 2 dm to 4 dm in height. This species is commonly found prairies, open woodlands in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The leaves are basal. Geum triflorum has pink purple flowers that bloom from April to June.
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Glycyrrhiza lepidota
R. Neil Reese
Glycyrrhiza lepidota is a(n) perennial herbaceous, which grows 3 dm to 10 dm in height. This species is commonly found pastures, prairies, disturbed areas, native to Pacific coast states. South to Mexico, north to Ontario and east to New York. In South Dakota, this plant can be found in waste places, draws, woods, prairies, and pastures. The leaves are alternate. Glycyrrhiza lepidota has pink red-purple flowers that bloom from June to August.
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Helianthus tuberosus
R. Neil Reese
Helianthus tuberosus is a(n) perennial herbaceous, which grows 1 m to 3 m in height. This species is commonly found low meadows and other moist places in the central part of North America. The leaves are opposite uppermost alternate. Helianthus tuberosus has yellow dark yellow flowers that bloom from August to October.
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Hesperis matronalis
R. Neil Reese
Hesperis matronalis is a(n) biennial herb, which grows 0.5 m to 1.5 m in height. This species is commonly found at low to mid elevations throughout the Hills area mainly around towns and other settlements; woodlands and open areas along drainages, roadsides, waste places, and disturbed areas. The leaves are sessile or nearly so upward, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate. They are also obscurely to strongly toothed and rarely lobed toward the base. Hesperis matronalis has pink to medium purple, rarely white, flowers that bloom from May to July.
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Hierochloe hirta
R. Neil Reese
Hierochloe hirta is a(n) perennial rhizomatous, which grows 10 to 70 cm in height. This species is commonly found in moist sites throughout the prairie. The leaves are flat. Hierochloe hirta has green flowers that bloom from May to July.
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Humulus lupulus
R. Neil Reese
Humulus lupulus is a(n) perennial vine, which grows 8 m to 10 m in height. This species is commonly found in moist thickets and deciduous woodland along drainages and occasionally from low to mid elevations throughout the Blanck Hills area. The leaves are simple, opposite, stipulate; blades broadly 3-5 lobed to below the middle nearly as wide or wider, coarsely toothed, with tiney resinous glands on the underside. Humulus lupulus has white-green to light green flowers that bloom from July to August.
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Hydrophullum virginianum
R. Neil Reese
Hydrophullum virginianum is a(n) perennial herb, which grows 1 dm to 9 dm in height. This species is commonly found in wooded areas. The leaves are basal and cauline. They are also pinnatifid to pinnately divided. Hydrophullum virginianum has white to puple flowers that bloom from May to June.
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Hypoxis hirsuta
R. Neil Reese
Hypoxis hirsuta is a(n) perennial herb, which grows 1 dm to 3 dm in height. This species is commonly found in moist to dry prairies and occasionally in open deciduous woods. The leaves are 3-6 liner and slightly folded with margins membranaceous. Hypoxis hirsuta has yellow flowers that bloom from April to July.
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Ipomea leptophylla
R. Neil Reese
Ipomea leptophylla is a(n) perennial shrub-like, herbaceous, which grows 0.3 to 1.2 m in height. This species is commonly found sandy prairie, waste ground, roadsides, and stream banks in South Dakota to Texas, New Mexico, and Montana. Also found insandy, silty, gravelly places from Texas to central Montana. The leaves are linear, linear-lanceolate. Ipomea leptophylla has lavender-pink red-purple flowers that bloom from June to October.
Additional Notes: Tap root is very large and woody, with extremely large specimens approaching 100 kg.
