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  Campanulaceae: Campanula rapunculoides

  R. Neil Reese

  Campanula rapunculoides is a perennial herb growing from a deep, fleshy, and often branched rhizomatous root system that facilitates aggressive asexual reproduction and spread. Stems are erect, simple, or occasionally branched, typically 30–100 cm tall, and are smooth or minutely hairy, especially near the top. Leaves are alternate, with basal leaves ovate to broadly heart-shaped, 5 to 12 centimeters long and 3 to 7 centimeters wide, coarsely toothed, on long petioles; cauline leaves are smaller, lanceolate to ovate, with shorter petioles or sessile, 2 to 6 centimeters long and 1 to 3 centimeters wide, with serrated to scalloped margins. Both basal and cauline leaves are present, with basal leaves quickly withering as the plant flowers. Flowering occurs from late spring through summer (June–August). Inflorescences are one-sided, slender, and terminal racemes or spikes, with numerous nodding, bell-shaped flowers. Each flower is bisexual, with five narrow green sepals, fused sepals forming a green cup about 5 to 8 millimeters long and 3 to 5 millimeters wide. The corolla is composed of five fused petals, violet to blue, each petal approximately 1.5 to 2 centimeters long and about 6 to 10 millimeters wide, forming the bell-shaped flower with five distinct lobes. The flower has five stamens with fused anthers forming a tube, and a single pistil with a three-lobed style and stigma. The fruit is an upright, cylindrical capsule (6–10 mm) that turns brown at maturity and splits open at the side to release numerous tiny, brown seeds (less than 1 mm). Creeping bellflower is an introduced species in South Dakota, commonly found in gardens, lawns, roadsides, disturbed areas, woodland edges, and riparian sites, and is most abundant in urban and suburban settings, especially in the eastern part of the state.

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  Campanulaceae : Campanula rotundifolia

  R. Neil Reese

  Campanula rotundifolia is a perennial, somewhat delicate herb from slender caudex branches, often forming clumps. The stems are ascending to erect, simple or with short branches near the top, 15-70 cm in height and lacking hairs. The basal leaves have long petioles (1-7 cm long), the blades are 1-3 cm long and 0.5-2 cm wide, ovate to orbicular, the margins with small teeth, but are generally withered before flowering. The cauline leaves becoming linear and sessile above, 1–7 cm long and 1-6 mm wide. The Inflorescence is a terminal, few-flowered raceme with nodding flowers. The 5 sepals are narrowly lanceolate, 3–12 mm long, erect and the 5 blue petals are fused, 10–25 mm long, campanulate, with the 3-lobed style about as long as the corolla. The fruit is a top-shaped capsule, nodding, 3–10 mm long and 3-6 mm in diameter. The seeds are brown, shiny and ~1 mm long. Harebells bloom from June through August in dry woods, meadows and along streambanks in western South Dakota.

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  Campanulaceae: Campanulastrum americanum

  R. Neil Reese

  Campanulastrum americanum is a biennial or short-lived perennial herb. It grows from a slender, fibrous root system and does not spread vegetatively by rhizomes or stolons. In its first year, it forms a basal rosette of ovate to elliptical leaves (5 to 12 centimeters long and 3 to 8 centimeters wide), with long petioles (1 to 5 cm) and coarsely toothed margins. In its second year, a single, erect, and usually unbranched stem rises, ranging from 60–150 cm tall, hairless to sparsely hairy, and often tinged with purple near the base. Cauline leaves are alternate, Stem leaves are smaller, lanceolate to ovate, ranging from 2 to 7 centimeters long and 1 to 4 centimeters wide, sharply toothed, and gradually decreasing in size up the stem; petioles are shorter than on basal leaves or absent on upper leaves. Flowering occurs from June to September. The inflorescence is a loose, terminal raceme or panicle, with large, showy, star-shaped flowers. Flowers are bisexual, each with five narrow green five fused sepals forming a green calyx tube about 5 to 7 millimeters long and 2 to 4 millimeters wide. The blue to violet corolla is formed by five fused petals with a flared mouth and five lobes, each petal about 1.5 to 3 centimeters long and 6 to 12 millimeters wide, deeply divided into five spreading lobes. There are five stamens with fused anthers forming a tube, and a single pistil with a three-lobed style and stigma. The fruit is an upright, cylindrical to oblong capsule (7–12 mm), ripening in late summer to fall, containing many tiny, brown seeds (less than 1 mm). American bellflower is native to South Dakota, especially in moist woodlands, shaded streambanks, forest edges, and rich alluvial soils, and is most often found in the eastern and southeastern regions, particularly in wooded valleys and the Coteau des Prairies.

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  Cannabaceae : Humulus lupulus var. lupuloides

  R. Neil Reese

  Humulus lupulus is a perennial, dioecious vine with green, branched stems that grow to 10 m or more in length and 1-5 mm in diameter. The simple, opposite leaves have long petioles, from 2.5 to 12 cm in length. The blades are ovate, 5-15 cm long and 4-16 cm wide, unlobed or with 3-5 lobes, the lobes with sharply pointed tips. The margins are finely toothed, the upper leaf surface is mostly hairless, the lower surface having soft hairs along the veins and occasionally on the surface, along with the yellow glands that dot the lower surface. Male plants have panicles of flowers, 7-15 cm long and 1.5-5 cm wide, in branching clusters on short peduncles arising from upper leaf axils and at branch tips, each panicle with 20 to 100+ flowers. Each flower has a short pedicel, 5 yellow-green spreading sepals and 5 short stamens. Female plants have 10 to 50 pairs of flowers in 5-10 mm long catkin-like clusters at the tips of peduncles arising from leaf axils and branch tips. The sessile flowers are subtended by green to yellowish bracts, with 2 styles and no petals. The fruit are yellowish achenes that are surrounded by the enlarged bracts that create a cone-like structure 2-5 cm long and 2-3 cm in diameter. The green cone-like fruit ripen to straw-colored and eventually turn brown. Common hops bloom from July to September and are commonly found in moist thickets and deciduous woodlands along drainages in South Dakota.

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  Capparaceae: Cleome serrulata

  R Neil Reese

  Cleome serrulata is an erect, branched annual herb with smooth, waxy, unarmed stems, 20-150 cm tall. The alternate petiolate leaves are compound ternate, the 3 leaflets are entire, narrowly lanceolate, 2-6 cm long and 5-15 mm wide, the tips pointed. The leaves become simple as they approach the inflorescence. The flowers are in dense, many-flowered terminal racemes, subtended by narrow bracts, on pedicels up to 2 cm long. The raceme elongates as the fruit forms, with many flowers blooming in a rounded cluster at the top and fruit forming below. The 4 green to purple sepals are about 3-4 mm long, fused in the lower half, forming a bowl with 4 lobes. The 4 pink to purple (rarely white) petals are 8-12 mm long and constricted at the base (clawed). The 6 stamens are exerted 13-20 mm long. The fruit is an elongated cylindrical capsule, 2-8 cm long, 3-9 mm wide, slightly constricted between the seeds, with a narrow, elongated stalk, 11-23 mm long, and a pointed tip. Rocky Mountain bee plant blooms from June into August on prairies, in open woodlands and disturbed areas in all but the northeastern part of South Dakota.

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  Caprifoliaceae : Symphoricarpos occidentalis

  R. Neil Reese

  Symphoricarpos occidentalis is a woody perennial shrub with spreading, simple to branched stems, 30–100 cm growing from a creeping rhizome and forming large colonies. The younger branches are green to brown with a fine covering of hairs and the older branched have a thin gray bark that often splits, revealing a reddish-brown underlayer. The simple, opposite leaves are ovate, 2-6 cm long and 1-3.5 cm wide, the upper surface is hairless, dark green to blue green, the lower surface paler and usually with short, stiff hairs especially along the veins. The petioles are 2-7 mm long and the leaf margins are usually entire or have several large, blunt teeth. The inflorescence consists of short, narrow spikes of 6 to 20 sessile flowers, terminal or arising from leaf axils near the branch tips. The flowers have a 5-lobed calyx and a campanulate pale pink to nearly white 5-lobed corolla, 4–10 mm long, with the lobes spreading, as long or longer than the tube and often wider than long. The style is 3–8 mm long and the style and stamens are exserted. The fruit is a globose berry-like drupe, 6–9 mm long, containing 2 nutlets, going from green to white and then blackening as it progresses through the winter into the next spring. Western snowberry blooms from June into August in ravines, on open prairies, woods and hillsides throughout South Dakota.

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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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  Caryophyllaceae: Cerastium arvense ssp. strictum

  R Neil Reese

  Cerastium arvense ssp. strictum is a sprawling, mat-forming perennial herb, the flowering stems erect, 5-30 cm tall, with short simple to glandular hairs throughout. The small, simple, opposite, entire leaves are linear to narrowly oblong, 7-30 mm long and 1-5 mm wide on the flowering branches and generally smaller on the sprawling lateral branches. The inflorescence consists of terminal cymes with a 1-20 flowers on pedicels 5-30 mm long that generally curve downward as they age. The 5 green lance-elliptic sepals are 4-6 mm long and covered with glandular hairs. The petals are 1.5 to 2 times as long as the sepals, deeply cleft, white with grayish streaks and a yellowish throat. There are 10 stamens and 5 styles on the ovary. The fruit is initially a globose capsule that becomes cylindrical, 6-10 mm long when ripe. Prairie chickweed blooms from June to August in prairies, pastures and meadows in the northeastern corner and western edge of South Dakota.

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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: Chenopodium berlandieri

  R Neil Reese

  Chenopodium berlandieri is an erect to ascending, unbranched to highly branched herb, mostly < 1 m tall, the stems with green to red to purple stripes and a sparse to dense white-mealy covering, especially on the upper stems. The simple alternate leaves are thick, 2-15 cm long, up to 8 cm wide, variable in shape, diamond-shaped to triangular to oval to lance-elliptic, the tip pointed to blunt, the margins with irregular teeth, the base wedge-shaped to straight, with petioles up to 8 cm long and a white-mealy covering. The lower leaves are largest, irregularly toothed, usually with a pair of shallow lobes near the base. The upper leaves become smaller and less toothy as they ascend the stem, with the uppermost leaves often much narrower and toothless. The inflorescence consists of terminal and axillary panicles of clusters of tiny flowers (glomerules). The flowers have 5 keeled sepals, that are covered with white-mealy dots, and surround the mature fruit. There are 5 stamens and a pistil with 2 styles. The fruit is a dry seed enclosed in the persistent sepals (utricle), arranged horizontally, and having a pitted surface. Pitseed goosefoot blooms from July into September on disturbed, open ground throughout South Dakota.

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  Chenopodiaceae: Chenopodium simplex

  R Neil Reese

  Chenopodium simplex is an erect annual herb. usually having a single stem with spreading branches growing up to 2 m tall. The simple, alternate leaves are thin, triangular to broadly ovate, 7-20 cm long 5-15 cm wide, with 1-5 irregular, large, sharply pointed lobes separated by broad, rounded sinuses. The lower leaves are largest with petioles up to about 2.5 cm long and the upper leaves are usually smaller with shorter petioles. The leaf surfaces are bright green, smooth, sometimes with a sparse, white-mealy covering when young but becoming smooth with age. The inflorescence is a terminal, compact panicle of small clusters of tiny flowers that becomes spread out at maturity. The flowers have 5 sepals, 5 stamens and a pistil with 2 styles. Within a cluster, the flowers may develop at varying rates with some just budding when others have maturing fruit. The fruit are 1-seeded, inflated, lens shaped pods (utricles), 1.5-2.5 mm in diameter. Mapleleaf goosefoot blooms from June into September in sandy and rocky soils in shaded woodlands and disturbed ground throughout much of South Dakota.

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  Commelinaceae : Tradescantia bracteata

  R. Neil Reese

  Tradescantia bracteata is a subsucculent perennial herb with erect to ascending, simple or occasionally branching stems, with 2-4 nodes and growing 5–45 cm tall. The stems can have a zig-zag appearance due to the jointed leaf attachment and multiple stems often emerge from an underground crown. The simple, alternate leaves are green with a whitish waxy coating, linear-lanceolate, 8-30 cm in length and 7-16 mm wide, rarely folded, with sheathing bases and entire margins. The inflorescence is an umbellate cyme of few to many flowers at the top of the stem, and at the ends of branches arising from leaf axils, with only 1 to a few open at a time and subtended by elongated bracts similar to the foliage leaves, 6-30 cm long. Flower pedicels are 2–3 cm long with glandular and non-glandular hairs. The 3 sepals are 10-13 mm long with glandular hairs and purplish margins. The 3 petals are broadly ovate, about 18 mm long and blue to rose-violet in color. The flowers open in the morning and typically wilt by noon. There are 6 stamens with bright yellow anthers and long blue hairs toward the base of the filaments. The fruit is a rounded capsule with three locules, each producing 1- few oblong seeds, 2-4 mm long. Long-bracted spiderwort blooms from May through August, growing on moist disturbed soils throughout South Dakota.

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  Commelinaceae : Tradescantia occidentalis

  R. Neil Reese

  Tradescantia occidentalis is a subsucculent perennial herb with erect, simple or occasionally branching stems, with 2-6 nodes and growing to 60 cm tall. The stems can have a zig-zag appearance due to the jointed leaf attachment. The simple, alternate leaves are green with a whitish waxy coating, linear-lanceolate, 9-33 cm in length and 4-15 mm wide, often folded, with sheathing bases and entire margins. The inflorescence is an umbellate cyme of few to many flowers at the top of the stem, and at the ends of branches arising from leaf axils, with only 1 to a few open at a time and subtended by elongated bracts similar to the foliage leaves, 6-20 cm long. Flower pedicels are 1-2 cm long with glandular hairs. The 3 sepals are 8-13 mm long with glandular hairs and purplish margins. The 3 petals are broadly ovate, 7-15 mm long and blue to rose in color. The flowers open in the morning and typically wilt by noon. There are 6 stamens with bright yellow anthers and long blue hairs toward the base of the filaments. The fruit is a rounded capsule with three locules, each producing 1- few oblong seeds, 2-4 mm long. Prairie spiderwort blooms from May through August, growing on sandy disturbed soils in western and northeastern South Dakota.

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  Convolvulaceae: Calystegia sepium ssp. angulate

  R Neil Reese

  Calystegia sepium ssp. angulate is a rhizomatous, perennial vining herb growing up to 4-5 m in length, the stems smooth and lacking tendrils, wrapping around plants and fences for support. The simple, alternate leaves are arrowhead shaped, the petioles are 2-7 cm long, and the blades are 2-15 cm long by 1-9 cm wide. The margins are entire to wavey. The axillary flowers are solitary on peduncles 3-13 cm long with 2 angular, somewhat inflated bracts, 14-26 mm long and 10-18 mm wide, surrounding the calyx. The 5 rounded, unequal sepals are 11-15 mm long by 4-6 mm wide, thin and somewhat transparent. The funnel shaped corolla is white, often tinged with pink on the edges, 4.5-6 cm long and about as wide at the opening. There are 5 subequal stamens 2.5-3 cm long and the style is about 2.5 cm long. Each flower usually lasts only 1 day. The fruit is a capsule, 10-13 mm in diameter and surrounded by the enlarged bracts that can reach 3.5 cm in length. Hedge bindweed blooms from June into August in thickets, atop fences and hedges throughout South Dakota.

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  Convolvulaceae: Convolvulus arvensis

  R Neil Reese

  Convolvulus arvensis is a rhizomatous, perennial, widely spreading, decumbent to vining herb with multiple stems growing up to 2 m in length, the stems smooth and lacking tendrils, lying on the ground or wrapping around plants and fences for support. The simple, alternate leaves are variable, ovate to heart shaped to arrowhead shaped, the petioles are 3-40 mm long, and the blades are 1-10cm long by 0.3-6 cm wide, the margins are entire to wavey, the lobes sometimes with 2-3 teeth. The axillary flowers are solitary or with 2-3 flowers on peduncles 1-9 cm long and pedicels 5-18 mm long. Each flower is subtended with 2 linear to elliptic bracts, < 1 cm long and about 2-3 cm below the flower. The 5 rounded, unequal sepals are 3-5 mm long by 2-5 mm wide, the inner ones largest, smooth to hairy. The funnel shaped corolla is white, often tinged with pink, with a yellow patch at the base, 12-25 mm long and about as wide at the opening. The 5 lobes of the corolla are very shallow. There are 5 stamens and a pistil with a divided style that are white, except the anthers that are often purple. Each flower usually lasts only 1 day. The fruit is a round to ovoid capsule, 5-7 mm in diameter. Field bindweed blooms from June into August in in disturbed ground throughout South Dakota.

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  Convolvulaceae : Ipomoea leptophylla

  R. Neil Reese

  Ipomoea leptophylla is a long-lived perennial shrub-like herb, with multiple smooth, decumbent to erect, stems, from a single large root, that grow 30-120 cm in length. The plant develops a large spindle shaped tuber that can extent more than 2 m into the ground and weigh up to 45 kg. The simple, alternate leaves are linear to linear-lanceolate, 3-15 cm long and 2-8 mm wide, petioles 1-7 mm long, the margins entire with a sharp tip. The inflorescence consists of axial cymes of 1-3 (rarely more) on long (7-10 cm) peduncles and each flower having a pedicel of 5-10 mm. The sepals are unequal in size, 5-10 mm long, the inner ones longer and wider than the outer. The purple to pink petals are fused, funnel shaped, 5-9 cm long with a darker throat. The stamens are included, unequal in length, 2-3 cm long with anthers 5-7 mm long. The pistil has a smooth, ovoid ovary and the style is included in the corolla. The fruit is an ovoid capsule 1-1.5 cm long. The seeds are large, 10 mm long and 4 mm wide, with a fine downy-haired coating. Bush morning glory blooms from May through September in the sandy plains and prairies of southwestern South Dakota.

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  Cornaceae : Cornus sericea

  R. Neil Reese

  Cornus sericea is a perennial branching stoloniferous, thicket-forming shrub, growing to 3 m in height. The stems have reddish bark, young branches with short, stiff hairs and older branches smooth. The simple, opposite, petiolate leaves are oblong-lanceolate to ovate, 3–15 cm long, 2-5-5.5 cm wide, with a pointed tip and with 5-7 pairs of prominent pennate veins that are curved toward the tip. The upper surface is green with a few hairs and the lower surface paler. When pulled apart, the veins produce white web-like strands. The inflorescences are flat-topped compound cymes, 3–10 cm across. The sepals are minute, the 4 white to cream colored petals are 2-4 mm long, attached to a disk, the ovary inferior and the stamens as long or longer than the petals. The fruit is a 1-2 seeded drupe, 6-9 mm in diameter. Red osier dogwood blooms from May through July along stream banks, lakeshores and in swampy wet places throughout South Dakota.

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  Cucurbitaceae : Echinocystis lobata

  R. Neil Reese

  Echinocystis lobata is a long (up to 25 m), climbing, annual, hairless vine with long tendrils that allow it to attach to vegetation, fences and other structures. The alternate, simple leaves grow to 17.5 cm long and about as wide, usually having 5 (3-7) triangular lobes and margins with widely spaced teeth. The plants are monoecious, the male flowers are arranged in 10-20 cm long racemes growing from the axils of leaves and the female flowers are in small clusters attached to the same leaf axils. The flowers have 6 greenish white petals that are often twisted and covered in short, glandular hairs, the male flowers with 3 stamens and the female with a pistil having a 2-celled ovary and broad style. The fruit is an inflated, ovoid, green pepo with small spines, that explodes upon drying ejecting 4 dark 12-20 mm long seeds. Wild cucumber blooms from June through October in moist rich soils in woodlands and along waterways throughout South Dakota.

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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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  Cyperaceae: Carex brevior

  R. Neil Reese

  Carex brevior is a perennial sedge in the Cyperaceae family. It grows from a dense, fibrous root system with short rhizomes, sometimes forming small clumps but not extensive sods. The stems (culms) are upright, slender, triangular in cross-section, and usually 30–70 cm tall, smooth or minutely rough below the inflorescence. Leaves are mostly basal, grass-like, flat, and 2–5 mm wide, with sheathing bases and rough margins. Cauline leaves are few, shorter than the culms, and often drooping. Flowering occurs from late spring to early summer (May–July). Inflorescences are terminal, composed of 2–5 short, dense, cylindrical spikes. The terminal spike is usually staminate (male), while the lower spikes are pistillate (female), but sometimes spikes are androgynous. Each spike is 1–3 cm long and 5–7 mm wide. Each pistillate flower is enclosed in a sac-like perigynium, which is green to brown, inflated, and beaked. The perigynia are 3–5 mm long and 1–2 mm wide, with a short, thick beak. The achene (seed) is lens-shaped, brown, and 1.5–2 mm long, maturing in early to midsummer. Shortbeak sedge is native to South Dakota, occurring in dry to mesic prairies, open woodlands, roadsides, and disturbed soils, and is found statewide, especially in upland prairies and open meadows.

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  Cyperaceae: Carex hoodii

  R. Neil Reese

  Carex hoodii is a perennial sedge in the Cyperaceae family. It grows from a dense, fibrous root system with short rhizomes, forming loose tufts or small clumps rather than extensive sods. Stems (culms) are upright, slender, sharply three-angled, and range from 20–60 cm tall, smooth below but often rough near the inflorescence. Leaves are mostly basal, narrow, flat or slightly folded, 1–3 mm wide, and shorter than the culms, with rough margins and tight basal sheaths. Flowering occurs from late spring to mid-summer (May–July). Inflorescences are terminal and consist of 2–4 short, narrow spikes (each 1–2.5 cm long). The terminal spike is commonly staminate (male), while the lower spikes are pistillate (female), though some spikes may be androgynous. Pistillate flowers are enclosed in a sac-like perigynium, which is green to brown, ovoid to ellipsoid, 2.5–4 mm long and 1–1.5 mm wide, with a short, straight beak. The achene (seed) is lens-shaped, brown, and about 1.5 mm long, maturing in early to mid-summer. Hood’s sedge is native to South Dakota, typically found in dry to mesic prairies, open pine woods, rocky slopes, and sandy soils, and is most frequent in the Black Hills, Coteau des Prairies, and northern and western uplands.

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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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  Equisetaceae : Equisetum arvense

  R. Neil Reese

  Equisetum arvense is a non-flowering, rhizomatous, perennial herb growing from a rhizome, with dimorphic spreading to ascending stems that grow 10-90 cm in height and dye back each year. The stems are clustered, often forming dense stands. The sterile stems are green and have arching to ascending, whorled branches that are up to 20 cm long. The solid and simple branches have sheaths at the nodes that bear brown to black teeth. The stem is hollow, and the branches are solid. The non-photosynthetic fertile stems are off-white, succulent, 10–25 cm tall, with 4–8 whorls of brown scales and a terminal brown spore cone. The teeth on the fertile stem sheaths are much larger than those on the sterile stems, and the cone is 10–40 mm long and 4–9 mm in diameter. The fertile stems typically appear in early spring. Field horsetail produces short-lived fertile stem in April to June along lakes, streams, in pastures and wooded areas in much of South Dakota.