State or province

Illinois

Illinois, United States of America: 5 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Landscape and climate

Five ecoregions reach Illinois, and four are in the Nature Imperiled tier. That is among the starkest rosters in the country. The Central Tallgrass prairie covers most of the state, with the Central US forest-grasslands transition to the south and the Upper Midwest US forest-savanna transition in the north. The Interior Plateau US Hardwood Forests and the Mississippi lowland forests reach the southern tip. Tallgrass prairie once covered the majority of Illinois and now survives in fragments measured in acres rather than counties. That history is the single most useful thing to know when planting here: prairie forbs and deep-rooted warm-season grasses are not a stylistic choice in this state, they are the original cover.

Native plants of Illinois

Species in the catalog recorded as native to Illinois, each with its climate-fit grade and planting guidance.

Adam's needle Allegheny blackberry American arborvitae American basswood American elderberry American hazelnut American holly American hophornbeam American persimmon American plum American red raspberry American sweetgum American sycamore Annabelle hydrangea Aromatic aster Arrowwood viburnum Bald cypress Big bluestem Black cherry Black chokeberry Black oak Black tupelo (black gum)Black walnut Black willow Black-eyed Susan Blackhaw viburnum Bloodroot Blue false indigo Blue flag iris Blue grama Blue vervain Boneset Boxelder Bur oak Butterfly weed California poppy Canada anemone Canada goldenrod Cardinal flower Carolina allspice (sweetshrub)Chestnut oak Chinkapin oak Chokecherry Christmas fern Common blue violet Common hackberry Common hops Common juniper Common milkweed Common ninebark Common sunflower Common witch hazel Common yarrow Creeping juniper Cutleaf coneflower Dense blazing star Eastern cottonwood Eastern prickly pear Eastern red cedar Eastern redbud Eastern white pine Flowering dogwood Fox grape Foxglove beardtongue Golden alexanders Gray birch Gray dogwood Green hawthorn Groundnut Hardy hibiscus Highbush blueberry Honey locust Indian grass Indian pink Jack pine Lady fern Lanceleaf coreopsis Largeflower tickseed Little bluestem Mapleleaf viburnum Marginal wood fern Mayapple Maypop (purple passionflower)Nannyberry New England aster New Jersey tea Northern maidenhair fern Northern red oak Northern spicebush Ohio buckeye Orange coneflower Ostrich fern Pagoda dogwood Pale purple coneflower Paper birch Pawpaw Pecan Plains coreopsis Possumhaw Possumhaw viburnum Post oak Prairie dropseed Prairie ironweed Prairie smoke Purple coneflower Pussy willow Quaking aspen Ramps Red maple Red mulberry Red pine Red-osier dogwood River birch River oats Sassafras Scarlet bee balm Shagbark hickory Short-toothed mountain mint Side-oats grama Silky dogwood Silver maple Smooth blue aster Southern red oak Spotted Joe-Pye weed Stiff goldenrod Sugar maple Sunchoke Swamp milkweed Swamp sunflower Swamp white oak Sweet Joe-Pye weed Switchgrass Trumpet honeysuckle Tulip tree (yellow poplar)Virginia iris Virginia sweetspire White oak Whorled milkweed Wild bergamot Wild geranium Wild lupine Wild senna Wild strawberry Willow oak Winterberry Woodland phlox Yellow birch Yellow buckeye

Country

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United States of America

Ecoregions here

Central Tallgrass prairie Central US forest-grasslands transition Interior Plateau US Hardwood Forests Mississippi lowland forests Upper Midwest US forest-savanna transition