Could it be Perideridida? I certainly am no expert.

Could be a hemlock ... I wouldn't eat it just in case.

Yes, Perideridia, thanks macranthos! I'm pretty sure it's Perideridia americana. I vaguely remember seeing the flower last year. I searched all the Apiaceae in my guides,but none of them had it. This plant must be rare around here.

No, not likely Perideridia americana. That plant looks like a smaller, glabrous Queen Anne's Lace with elongated, sparsely leafy stems.

I'm still leaning on Perideridia americana based on appearance and wishful thinking lol. There's the 2 babies too? I've known QAL for as long as I remember knowing anything, and it's possible this plant could be it, but I doubt it? In all fairness, I plan on visiting this prairie at least every other week so I don't miss any of the progression, so I plan on getting much closer, detailed pictures. pending

Jay, you misunderstood my comments. Perideridia has a general appearance to Queen Anne's Lace, but is glabrous and smaller. Neither of those look anything like the plant in your photos.

New pictures. I'm not getting a Queen Anne's Lace vibe. More like a papyrus vibe. The plant would be much taller, but you can see something has been browsing it. They just cut down a bunch of trees around this area, so the plant is more visible to deer. The stems are hollow. I hope the animals leave the plant alone so it can bloom.

This plant has very smooth stems compared to QAL.

Looking at it, it looks similar to fennel. I never tasted or smelled it. I'll go back, but I don't think fennel could grow in the middle of a stream. It might be tasty, the deer like it?

The next photos will be of the flower umbrels, if there are flower umbrels. The stream in the ditch continues on into a more dense growth of cattails and other species. There may be more of these plants in that section, and they may be out of site of deer so I'm hoping to find a blooming specimen somewhere. The offspring seem to follow the stream flow direction, I wonder how it's dispersal mechanism works?

I'm bringing this up again. Perideridida americana doesn't grow in water so this plant can't be that. I still think it's something in Apiaceae.

Cicuta bulbifera? Bulblet Bearing Water Hemlock? In the Apiaceae, as suggested. The Illinois Wildflowers website says it's 'uncommon' and 'usually found in high quality wetlands'. It says the plant bears bulblets in the upper leaf axils - apparently that's diagnostic. I can't see any in your pictures but maybe it's early in the year for them.

Don't taste anything based on whether the deer like it. They gobble up yew foliage like it was candy but it can kill people (and horses, which seems strange when it doesn't bother deer.)

I think that's it weedwoman. Thank you again, you are awesome! Cicuta kept coming to mind, but I never made the connection. I was almost ready to collect a DNA sample lol!

If there was ever one genus of plants that I would avoid tasting it would be Cicuta, so I'm really glad I didn't taste it, tho I thought it was probably safe because it was browsed. I hope to find a plant in flower and also see the bulbets. I'm just wondering. It says this plant prefers slow moving water. Would it be able to survive in still water, like maybe a shallow pond?