CHAMPAIGN COUNTY – Illinois is called the prairie state because a few centuries ago, it was mostly prairie land, filled with thousands with different types of plants. Now, those native plants are locked into a competition with invasives.
Ryan Pankau is the Horticulture Educator for Illinois Extension. The forester said honeysuckle is the biggest plant threat to native plant diversity in Illinois.
“It was introduced in the 1800s as kind of an ornamental species in general. But there’s a big push after the Dust Bowl when we start to look at ways to control erosion, and what are some good wildlife species to actually plant, honeysuckle and autumn olive as well,” said Pankau.
Today those same plants are choking out native plants across the state by developing leaves earlier in the spring that blocks the sunlight that native seedlings need to grow.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois has become warmer and it’s creating a longer growing season that seems to be good for honeysuckle to thrive. Also, birds eat the berries, and in turn, spread the seeds during defecation, planting even more.
“It’s really a threat in prairie restorations, in unmowed areas, like ditches and other things, where one of these little berries can land from a bird and start to grow. So it out competes our native plants,” said Pankau.
Honeysuckle has striped bark and a distinct leaf pattern.
“So you can see these leaves come out opposite of each other, right across from each other in the branch. It has really arching stems. And you can kind of see that on some of these, some of these stems coming out of here, they really arch,” described Pankau while walking in a Champaign County park.
Pankau said you can spot another invasive plant, Autumn olive in your own back yard. In the summer, look for the shimmery red berries.
In Spring, It will be one of the first plants to green up outside.
“It has a really silvery underside to its leaf. And so especially when you look at a plant in full sun, from a distance, you can really see all these kind of undersides of the leaves showing and creating a silvery look,” said Pankau.
In smaller areas or backyards, Pankau said hand pulling is a great way to maintain control.
“I probably want to get close to the ground, so I don’t snap this upper stem and just kind of try and pull as close to the ground as I can, and you can just take up the whole thing,” said Pankau.
But In larger places like parks and natural areas, heavy machinery or a large control burn are the only ways to take back the forest floor. And even after clearing a large site like this, Pankau said you expect can new sprouts to grow from old tree roots, or newly planted berries.
“And so that’s just that’s another thing that I’ve talked to a lot of folks about with invasive control, is once you start to enter this if you don’t continue to keep the pressure on, to keep the control going, you lose everything you’ve gained, sometimes in a season or two,” said Pankau.
Stay the course and you’ll start to see an increase in plant diversity.
“The more diverse plant life we have, really, there’s a direct relationship to the more diverse of wildlife we can support. So, safe to say, the lower the plant diversity, the lower the diversity of birds, mammals, soil, microfauna, and everything in the ecosystem. So we limit the ability of that ecosystem to support more life,” said Pankau.
Funding for Illinois Public Media’s State of Change stories is provided by the Backlund Charitable Trust.