Cedar Creek Natural History Area

Plants of Cedar Creek

The Gentian Family contains a small number of attractive flowering plants. Menyanthes trifoliata (Buckbean) grows in the forested bog surrounding Beckman Lake as well as a few pools around Cedar Bog Lake.  Flowers are a spike of hairy star-shaped white flowers, while leaves are three-lobed.  Some authorities place this species in a separate family, the Menyanthaceae.

Five gentians are found here.  Gentiana andrewsii (Blue Bottle Gentian) is fairly common in marshy areas. G. rubricaulis (Narrow-leaved Gentian) was collected in 1960 on the South Bank of Fish Lake, but has not been seen recently. G. puberulenta (Downy Gentian) has attractive blue-and-black petaled flowers and occurs in BP Savanna. Gentianopsis procera (Small Fringed Gentian) occurs sparingly in Ross Reiling Fen, and G. crinita (Large Fringed Gentian) was found by K. Malody in a small marsh west of East Bethel Blvd.

Bartonia virginica (Yellow Bartonia) is a diminutive plant that occurs in the wooded swamp south of Norris Cabin.  It was also found in the 1990's in a savanna swale on moist sand. This Minnesota state-endangered species is currently known only from Cedar Creek.