Carolinas prairies are home to the Schweinitz's sunflower, one of several rare flowers that survive in such habitat. Photo: Catherine Luckenbaugh.
A manicured subdivision trimmed in crape myrtles and pansies lies just yards away from this field a scrap of land where elk and bison once grazed and where a few rare flowers from those times still bloom. Read about these ghost prairies of the Carolinas Piedmont — and find out where you can visit them — at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s PlanCharlotte. - Amber Veverka
