July 2026 • Nebraskaland 25
photographs — described as "works of art" by one reviewer
— and detailed plant descriptions set the standard for plant
field guides for years to come.
In the early 1990s, at a time when long features were more
common, Nebraskaland published three unique 16-page
lift-outs on rare plant communities: "Nebraska Saltmarshes:
Last of the Least" (1991), "Sandhills Fens" (1992) and
"Alkaline Wetlands of the North Platte River Valley" (1994).
These lift-outs explored the threats to and conservation
needs of native plant communities and their flora in new
depth, as exemplified in "Sandhills Fens": "Fens are among
Nebraska's unique natural features and contain some of the
state's rarest plants. … [they] were thousands of years in the
making … and too valuable to lose in a century."
Nebraskaland's wildflower articles continue to evolve.
Compared to decades past, today's writers have greater
scientific knowledge, the internet and digital cameras
that capture plants in extraordinary detail. Early Outdoor
Nebraska readers could not have imagined articles like my
2020 "Ghost Plant: A Thief in the Woods," about a white,
chlorophyll-free wildf lower that survives by stealing
nutrients from soil fungi, or Chris Helzer's many pieces
on the intricate relationships between native plants
and insects.
From the short blurbs and line drawings of Outdoor
Nebraska to the feature articles and vivid photographs in
Nebraskaland, wildflower coverage has grown — and the
story is far from finished.
N
Scientific breakthroughs allow articles on subjects such as
ghost plant, a chlorophyll-free plant with the bizarre ability
to steal nutrients from soil fungi.
Pollinators, like this bumble
bee, have become a popular
topic in Nebraskaland.
Digital cameras enable today's
photographers to capture wildflowers
with extraordinary detail, such as
prickly poppy (right) and wild senna
(below right).
BACKGROUND FLOWER ILLUSTRATIONS BY MICHELE ANGLE FARRAR
