402 
on June 23 and October 3, 1950, and 
May 7, 1951. 
Standard.—In 1951, prairie occupied 
about a half acre of the upper southwest- 
facing ravine slope in section 26, T. 33 
N., R. 1 W., 1 mile west ard 3 miles 
north of Standard, Putnam County. Per- 
alostemum purpureum, Amorpha can- 
escens, and Coreopsis palmata were some 
of the plants in this prairie. This site was 
visited July 7, 1951. 
Magnolia.—When the prairie opening 
given this name was last visited, it occu- 
pied slightly less than an acre on the 
west- to south-facing upper slope of the 
bluff in the southwest quarter of section 
34, T. 31 N., R. 2 W., about 7 miles 
west of Magnolia, Putnam County. The 
bluff is capped with till; loess, if present, 
apparently is very thin. Scattered shrubs 
of Rhus glabra occurred throughout the 
opening. Cornus drummondi and small 
elms grew on the south-facing slope, 
where also a few dead and scattered 
stems of honey locust were seen. dA ndro- 
pogon scoparius was the dominant grass. 
Comandra umbellata was very abundant, 
Psoralea tenuiflora common. Mixed for- 
est surrounded this prairie opening. Mag- 
nolia prairie was visited on September 29, 
1949; May 16 and August 4, 1950. 
East Henry.—This name designates a 
group of five prairie openings on the 
southwest-facing bluff of Sandy Creek; 
the bluff is in the northwest quarter of 
section 3, T. 30 N., R. 2 W., and south- 
east of Henry, Marshall County. When 
the area was visited August 4, 1950, the 
westernmost opening was weedy and 
much disturbed. At the base of the bluff 
below this opening was a gravel pit. The 
next opening eastward supported prairie 
plants and also a thicket of Rhus glabra, 
Cornus drummondi, Malus ioensis, and 
Ulmus sp. This opening and the next one 
to the east were pastured. In the prairie 
areas, Andropogon scoparius was the 
dominant grass, Bouteloua curtipendula, 
Psoralea tenuiflora, and Silphium lacinia- 
tum were common. Weeds, Chamaesyce 
maculata, Medicago lupulina, Poinsettia 
dentata, and Melilotus alba, were fre- 
quently encountered in these areas. Prai- 
rie openings on the two easternmost spurs 
were not examined. 
Inuinois NATURAL History SuRVEY BULLETIN 
Vol. 26, Art. 5 
Reavis Spring.—This prairie, when 
visited, covered almost 19 acres of the 
sandy loess bluffs in parts of sections 25, 
26, and 36, T. 20 N., R. 7 W., about 5 
miles south of Easton, Mason County. 
The name Reavis Spring was that of a 
school house, abandoned and later re- 
moved, that once occupied a part of the 
lower slope of the bluff in section 26. A 
road, which followed the general south- 
west-facing bluff, was on the lower sandy 
slopes. Downslope to the southwest was 
a series of thickets and cultivated fields. 
Upslope to the northeast was the prairie, 
which occupied numerous spurs. Thicket 
covered the bases of some coves, shrubs or 
prairie the upper slopes. Prairie covered 
the crests of the spurs; mixed forest or 
prairie occupied the tops of the bluffs. 
The bluffs at Reavis Spring prairie rise 
256 feet above the Sangamon River bot- 
tomland and are higher than the dissected 
upland to the northeast. The valley over- 
looked by these bluffs is notable in sey- 
eral respects. It has a wide bottom trend- 
ing generally east-west. The Sangamon 
River enters it from the south and joins a 
small, west-flowing stream, Salt Creek, in 
section 6, T. 19 N., R. 6 W., about 1 
mile upstream from the Reavis Spring lo- 
cation. The valley is about as wide, rather 
surprisingly, above the junction of the 
Sangamon River with the small stream as 
below it. Salt Creek has a volume too 
small to account for so wide a valley. It 
is probable that through this valley a gla- 
cial torrent once drained a part of the 
Wisconsin ice-front, then some miles east 
of the Reavis Spring site, and brought 
down huge amounts of sand and silt. 
From these were derived the thick de- 
posits of loess and fine sand on the bor- 
dering bluffs. Other sizable hill prairies 
occur or did occur on the bluffs for a few 
miles east of the junction of Salt Creek 
with the Sangamon River. 
Reavis Spring prairie was visited Sep- 
tember 15, 1949; July 6, 1950; May 18, 
1951; and March 25, 1952. The domi- 
nant grass was Andropogon scoparius. 
Also growing in the prairie were 4 goseris 
cuspidata, Polytaenia nuttallii, and the 
easily overlooked Spiranthes cernua. The 
prairie, which served as a cow pasture, 
contained a number of weeds, Verbascum 
We 
