John Ambler

Unido: 07.nov.2018 Última actividad: 27.mar.2024 iNaturalist

Retired plant biologist enjoying learning more about native plants by using iNaturalist and also learning about others interested in native plants.

My icon photo of Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica) was taken Aug. 5, 2019 at Chincoteague NWR near the north end of Wildlife Drive, which goes between the Wildlife Loop parking area and the Visitors Center. There were a lot of salt marsh mosquitoes right there, requiring use of a lot of DEET repellent.

I often check a variety of resources to see whether I can identify a plant. First I click on View on the suggested ID's and then View More, making sure that I choose Research Grade.

I use the Explore tab to see observations in the order they were added (the most recent first). Check out all of the ways in which you can modify your search using Filters and then More Filters. You can click on the square icon and draw a boundary around an area.

A Google search on a plant species will bring up a variety of excellent websites such as Illinois Wildflowers and Minnesota Wildflowers.

Searching on a plant genus or species on https://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/ will get you descriptions from the Gleason and Cronquist Manual and specimen photos.

A Google search on a plant genus or species plus FNA or Flora of North America will get you identification keys and very detailed descriptions. Do a Google search on terms you don't know.

A Google search on a plant species or genus plus POWO (Plants of the World Online) shows accepted names and synonyms and distribution map.

A Google search on a plant genus plus BONAP (Biota of North America Program) will show USA county-level distribution maps for the species which they accept as valid.

The USDA Plants database Plants search gives the names for use by US government employees, synonyms and a variety of useful information including Wetland Indicator Status for many plants.

Excellent resources which may not be online are the Illustrations for the Gleason and Cronquist Manual and Fernald's 1950 Gray's Manual of Botany, which has very detailed plant descriptions with important identification characteristics in italics.

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