Prairie fen identification, restoration

Evaluate your fen

These plants are indicators to help you determine whether you have prairie fen, and to help you assess the progress of your prairie fen restoration. The species included here are those that you are most likely to find at different stages in restoration in the sedge meadow sub-community of prairie fens. They are in three broad groups: plants found in degraded areas, plants you are likely to find in recently restored or disturbed areas, and plants characteristic of high-quality fen.

These species were chosen as representatives for several reasons: they are primarily wildflowers that are straightforward to identify when flowering, and they are quite common in many fens. There are many more plant species than those listed here, especially sedges and grass species. In addition, remember to look for other signs that you have a prairie fen, including peat and marl soils, and water seeps. The best time of year to assess your fen based on plants is in late August and early September, when many of the larger flowering species are in bloom.

Click for a list of plant species sorted by:

Habitat quality Low includes species that are invasive or would be found in shaded areas with invasive species. Medium includes species that become more common in the several years following restoration activities. High includes species that would be found in intact prairie fens, that is, areas that have few invasive species and are not densely shrubbed in. Species may be found in more than one of those situations, so some are included in more than one of these categories.
Low quality	Medium quality	High quality
American skunk cabbage American water horehound Canada thistle Cattail Clearweed Climbing nightshade Common buckthorn Dwarf raspberry, dwarf red blackberry Enchanter's nightshade Glossy buckthorn Golden ragwort Great blue lobelia Multiflora rose Northern bugleweed Northern spicebush Ohio goldenrod Purple loosestrife Sensitive fern Reed canarygrass Rough-stem goldenrod Roundleaf goldenrod Poison sumac	American burnweed American water horehound Arrowleaf tearthumb Bottlebrush sedge Clearweed Climbing nightshade Common boneset Devil's beggartick Ditch stonecrop Eastern marsh fern False nettle Fowl mannagrass Great blue lobelia Green bulrush Golden ragwort Jewelweed Marsh skullcap Northern bugleweed Ohio goldenrod Poison sumac Purpleleaf willowherb Riddell's goldenrod Rough-stem goldenrod Roundleaf goldenrod Sensitive fern Swamp milkweed Swamp thistle Virginia mountainmint White panicle aster	American water horehound Alder-leaved buckthorn Black-eyed Susan Common goldstar Eastern marsh fern Flat-topped aster Fourflower yellow loosestrife Grass-of-Parnassus Great blue lobelia Golden ragwort Joe-pye weed Northern bugleweed Ohio goldenrod Poison sumac Purplestem aster Riddell's goldenrod Rough-stem goldenrod Roundleaf goldenrod Sensitive fern Shrubby cinquefoil Swamp milkweed Swamp rose Swamp thistle Twig-rush Upright sedge Virginia mountainmint White panicle aster

Information prepared by Anna Fiedler and Doug Landis, MSU Department of Entomology. Funding support: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Lynn and Thelma MacCready Forest and Wildlife Endowment, MSU, and Hanes Trust of the Michigan Botanical Club.

Partners: The Nature Conservancy, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, The Stewardship Network, Michigan DNR Landowner Incentive Program. Web developer: J.N. Landis and Andrea Gooch. MSU IPM Program. Read disclaimer

Logos.