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Illinois Bundleflower
Desmanthus illinoensis
Description: This native perennial plant is 2-5' tall, which occasionally branches out, and has a ferny ap-pearance. The stems are light green and angular. The alternate leaves are doubly compound (bipinnate), consisting of many small leaflets that are each less than ¼" long. They are yellowish green or medium green, and narrowly ovate in shape. There may be scattered white hairs along the stems and around the margins of the leaves. Small white compound flowers occur individually from the upper axils of the upper leaves. Each compound flower is up to ½" across, and composed of a multitude of narrow tubular florets pointing in nearly all directions. From each floret protrudes several yellow stamens. When fully devel-oped, these compound flowers have a starburst appearance that is typical of members in the Mimosa fam-ily, but they are more lumpy than spherical. There is no floral scent. The blooming period lasts about a month during early or mid-summer, after which clusters of brown seedpods develop during the remainder of the summer. This plant has a central taproot, and disperses by reseeding itself.
Cultivation: The preference is full or partial sun, and moist to average conditions. Some drought is toler-ated, but the leaflets on the lower stems of the plant may fall off, and the buds of compound flowers may abort and turn brown. Growth is best in fertile loam, but other kinds of soil are tolerated. This plant fixes high amounts of nitrogen in the soil, and can rejuvenate worn-out soil. Disease is rarely a problem.
Faunal Associations: There is limited information available, but Eucerine Miner bees probably visit the flowers for pollen or nectar. Syrphid flies and Halictid bees may seek pollen, but are non-pollinating. The seeds are consumed by various upland gamebirds, including the Ring-Necked Pheasant, Bobwhite, and Greater Prairie Chicken. This plant is highly palatable to mammalian herbivores, and has a high protein content. It may have trouble surviving in areas where there is a surplus population of these animals and a shortage of predators.
