Native System Three (NS3)
High Diversity Prairie
High Diversity Prairie: This system is designed to represent a native prairie community that might have existed pre-settlement in southern Wisconsin. Planted in 1999 the system initially included three grasses, four legumes, and 18 forbs. These plots are unique in that they are subdivided into three different management categories: 1) biofuels – harvested once, post frost, 2) grazing – grazed once per season and burned every other spring to minimize cool season grasses, and 3) control – burned every other spring to minimize cool season grasses but never harvested or grazed.
Species Planted 4 June 1999:
Grasses
- Big Bluestem: Andropogon gerardii Vitman
- Indian Grass: Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash
- Canada Wild Rye: Elymus canadensis L.
Legumes
- Milkvetch: Astragalus canadensis L.
- Round-headed Bush Clover: Lespedeza capitata Michx.
- Tick Trefoil: Desmodium canadense (L.) DC.
- White Wild Indigo: Baptisia alba (L.) Vent.
Forbs
- Black-eyed Susan: Rudbeckia hirta L.
- Butterfly Weed: Asclepias tuberosa L.
- Common Spiderwort: Tradescantia ohioensis Raf.
- New England Aster: Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (L.) G L Nesom
- Northern Bedstraw: Galium boreale L.
- Prairie Cinquefoil: Drymocallis arguta (Pursh) Rydb.
- Prairie Smoke: Geum triflorum Pursh
- Prairie Tickseed: Coreopsis palmata Nutt.
- Prairie Violet: Viola pedatifida G. Don
- Rattlesnake Master: Eryngium yuccifolium Michx.
- Rosinweed: Silphium integrifolium Michx.
- Sawtooth Sunflower: Helianthus grosseserratus M. Martens
- Showy Sunflower: Helianthus x laetiflorus Pers.
- Stiff Goldenrod: Solidago rigida L.
- Wild Bergamot: Monarda fistulosa L.
- Wild Onion: Allium cernuum Roth
- Wild Rose: Rosa carolina L.
- Yellow Coneflower: Ratibida pinnata (Vent.) Barnhart