Welcome to the Illinois Botanists Big Year 2019
It's February 1st and five plant nerds have already documented over 30 different species, for a collective:
45 observers
461 research grade observations of plants
214 species
62 identifiers
If you missed seeing the 2018 results, check them out here!
Can we break 1500 species in 2019?
50,000 observations?
3,000 observers?
1,500 identifiers?
As for now, it is tree season, and hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and black cherry (Prunus serotina) are in the lead for most observations. @missgreen wins the unannounced contest, "First to Observe Skunk Cabbage", with a date of January 4th. And the spathe is even open!
Skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus by @missgreen (observation)
And @wildlandblogger is off to the races in southern Illinois, racking up 117 observations of 82 species.
Baldcypress, Taxodium distichum by @wildlandblogger (observation)
A few links:
- Help your fellow botanists identify/confirm their observations
- See which species you haven't observed yet in Illinois (change to your username)
- Join our Facebook Group
And keep an eye on these links for any new documentations in 2019:
- Non-flowering plants
- Monocots excluding Poales
- Poales (grasses, sedges, rushes, & friends)
- Plants in Asterales (sunflower family and friends)
- Plants in Fabales (pea family and friends)
- Plants in Lamiales (mint family and friends)
- Plants in Rosales (rose family and friends)
- Plants in Brassicales (mustard family and friends)
- Plants in Ranunculales (buttercup family and friends)
- Plants in Caryophyllales (pink family and friends)
- Plants in Boraginales (borage family and friends)
- All other (eu)dicots except the groups above
