Plant of the Week

Prairie coreopsis
Coreopsis palmata Nutt.
other common names: tickseed, stiff tickseed, stiff coreopsis
Coreopsis: from the Greek, meaning “having the appearance of a bug,” referring to the buglike shape of the seeds. The common name tickseed also refers to the ticklike shape of the seed.
Palmata: means “palmate,” like the fingers radiating out from the hand or “palm,” referring to the shape of the leaves
Daisy family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

This Week in Iowa Nature

Holiday travelers along Highway 30 in western Iowa will cross the major drainage divide separating the Missouri and Mississippi watersheds; the marker is at a roadside park just east of Arcadia in Carroll County.

The Iowa Nature Calendar, by Jean Prior and James Sandrock