Despite intensive urbanization and development, the Chicago Region is a center of biodiversity in North America. A wide variety of natural communities exist across the spectrum from prairie to savanna to woodland, with numerous types of wetlands interspersed among them. Discover the many rare plants and showy wildflowers unique to this area, along with the habitats in which they occur.

Chris Benda is a botanist and past president of the Illinois Native Plant Society (2015-2016). Currently, he works as a researcher at Southern Illinois University, where he coordinates the Plants of Concern Southern Illinois Program and teaches The Flora of Southern Illinois. Besides working at SIU, he conducts botanical fieldwork around the world, teaches a variety of classes at The Morton Arboretum and leads nature tours for Camp Ondessonk. He has research appointments with the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory, and is an accomplished photographer and author of several publications about natural areas in Illinois.

Links in the video:

Sag Moraine's Website:
https://sagmoraine.org/

Share your photos here:
https://sagmoraine.org/photo-share/

Seed Exchange 11/5 Info:
https://sagmoraine.org/exchange22/

Check out the Plants of Concern Website here:
https://plantsofconcern.org/

Illinois Native Plant Society
https://illinoisplants.org/

Chris's website:
https://illinoisbotanizer.com/services/

Find his Native Plant Database here:
https://illinoisbotanizer.com/

Floristic Quality Assessments
https://universalfqa.org/

Illinois Natural Areas Inventory
https://guides.library.illinois.edu/i...

Save Bell Bowl Prairie
https://www.savebellbowlprairie.org/

The Biota of North America Program
http://www.bonap.org/