University of Wisconsin–Madison
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Plant enthusiasts joined the Wisconsin Herbarium’s 2026 Foray in La Crosse County, Wi

By Elise Mahon

This past July, the Wisconsin State Herbarium and Botanical Club of Wisconsin hosted their 8th annual foray. Over the course of three days, a total of 46 volunteers explored habitats throughout La Crosse County, Wisconsin to document their flora.

Each year the foray is held in a different region of Wisconsin, inviting plant enthusiasts, students and professional botanists alike into the field to help with the collection.

“The Foray is a way to document the flora in parts of the state we consider to be under-collected or not well-represented in the herbarium,” says Mary Ann Feist, research curator of the Wisconsin State Herbarium. “It’s also a great outreach activity to make people aware of what we do and who we are.”

This year’s group of volunteers consisted of professional botanists from the DNR, both active and retired professionals from the Wisconsin State Herbarium, amateur botanists from across the state, a high school student, and students from UW–Madison, UW Stevens Point, UW La Crosse, and Madison Area Technical College.

A large group of people pose for a photo together outside around large stacks of pressed plants.
With 46 volunteers, this year’s Foray was the second largest group ever.

While the stacks between volunteers pictured above might look like big bundles of newspaper, it’s actually over 1,200 plant specimens. Each specimen was carefully collected from the field and pressed to be taken back to the Herbarium so it can be officially identified and catalogued.

In addition to specimen collection, volunteers log their finds in an iNaturalist project. This year, the group made over 850 observations, consisting mostly of plants but with a few bonus fungi and critters as well.

The Wisconsin State Herbarium traces its history all the way back to the beginning of UW, when the founders deemed it “expedient and important” for the university to immediately begin specimen collection for the formation of a cabinet of natural history. This cabinet would not only serve as a historic record of various biological organisms across Wisconsin and the Midwest but also serve as an important teaching collection for students.

Now, the Wisconsin State Herbarium conducts various field opportunities throughout the year with students, staff, faculty, and volunteers to support its mission of documenting and increasing knowledge about the state and the world’s flora.

Take a closer look at some of the specimens collected and observed during this year’s foray:

Common Finds

Tried and true favorites, these specimens are great examples of the flora that are native to the habitats of the Northern Driftless Area.

A photo of purple flowers, wild bergamot, on top of a hill looking down at a tree-lined river.
Wild Bergamot
(Monarda fistulosa)
A photo looking down at silky prairie clover with a bee investigating the tiny, light-purple blooms.
Silky Prairie Clover
(Dalea villosa)
A photo looking down at daisy fleabane, a cluster of flowers with tiny oblong white petals and a bright yellow center on thin stems.
Daisy Fleabane
(Erigeron strigosus)
A close up photo of a plant, whorled milkweed, which has small cream and light green flowers clustered on thing green stems. The petals fan out in a star shape in two layers.
Whorled Milkweed
(Asclepias verticillata)
A photo of a field with tall green grasses and plants, and spotted horse mint in the foreground, which has several layers of point, droopy petals stacked on top of each other on a tall, rigid square-shaped stem. The petals also have small spots on them near the center of the bloom.
Spotted Horse Mint
(Monarda punctata)
A photo looking down at butterfly milkweed, a cluster of orange flowers surrounded by large, thick oblong leaves attached to a rigid stem.
Butterfly Milkweed
(Asclepias tuberosa)
Photo credit from top left: Brandon Corder, Stacia Nordin, James Riser, Sadie Hickey, iNaturalist user coomilonimbus, James Riser.

La Crosse County is home to many different habitats. Groups of volunteers split up to explore across prairies, wetlands, and floodplain forests.

They found a variety of native flora typical of these healthy ecosystems, including various kinds of milkweed, fleabane, clover, grasses and both deciduous and coniferous trees.

Take a closer look by clicking a gallery image.

Unexpected Finds

From new observations to the resurfacing of plants not seen for decades, these mosses and liverworts made for exciting finds.

A close up photo of a bryophyte called Harpanthus drummondii, a kind of liverwort.
The first recorded observation in Wisconsin of Harpanthus drummondii, a liverwort.
A close up photo of a grey moss that resembles a small animal with overgrown, matted fur.
Wright’s grimmia (Jaffueliobryum wrightii) is a kind of moss that hasn’t been collect since 1978.
A closeup image of goose egg moss, which resembles tiny evergreen trees.
This is the first time Goose Egg Moss (Aulacomnium heterostichum) has been collected in the northern Driftless region.
A close up image of a liverwort called Purple Crystalwort.
Purple Crystalwort (Riccia beyrichiana) hasn’t been documented in Wisconsin since 1927.
Photo Credit from top left: Brandon Corder, Brandon Corder, Sadie Hickey, Brandon Corder.

A main objective of the Wisconsin State Herbarium is to document the flora that exist across the state, providing a rich data set and record of it’s natural history throughout time.

This year’s unexpected finds included various bryophytes, which are small land plants with no vascular tissue or flowers.

Many of the mosses and liverworts hadn’t been documented for decades, if ever, in the state or region.

Take a closer look at these exciting finds by clicking a gallery image.

The specimens from this year’s Foray will be added to the Herbarium’s collections, informing our understanding of the distribution of plants in Wisconsin. All of the data and images will be publicly available through their database and online portal, Online Flora of Wisconsin. 

Stay tuned for information on next year’s Foray!

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