Diario del proyecto Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem

I’ve been chewing on the idea of a project for a few months. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been playing with iNat functionality:

• learning how to format content in journal posts
• beginning to build out samples of ideas that I may implement as part of this project
• building projects to see which settings and approach I liked best

Today, I think I have arrived at the Project Settings configuration. It feels like a good time to take stock.

Project Motivation

• Improving my own ability to identify plants
• Providing tools that can help other observers and identifiers
• Giving back to iNat

Key Project Settings and Why

• Geographic scope - Most of my observing has been done in Teton County, WY. When I started identifying unknowns, I started there. When I ran out of those, I moved on to Park County, Fremont County, and Sublette County. That was my original scope for the project. After developing that idea for a while, the idea of covering the entire Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem occurred to me. It first seemed over ambitious and scary. But the more I think about it, a project that just includes the Southern Yellowstone Ecosystem seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.
  

• Project type: I considered having a number of collection projects by quality category (Research Grade, Needs ID, Casual and Unknowns) and have them in an umbrella project. I actually built it out. I like that it would give easy access to data for the different stages of identification (the cool histogram, taxa list by data quality, the “stats” button for each of those, etc). I decided that it was an unnecessary complication to use an umbrella project. So I have two collection projects:
  -Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem: Research Grade and Needs ID Plant
  -Unknowns of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Needs ID, excludes any with community ID within a kingdom

State of the Project

• Members: 1
• Admins: 1
• Observations: 106,301
• Research Grade Observations: 43,071 (40.52%)
• Needs ID: 63,233 (59.48%)
• Unknowns (from companion project): 704
• Species 2,396
• Identifiers: 2,439
• Observers: 8351

I grabbed a download to snapshot some of the data, in case I want to track something else in the future. (Just found that email an attachment feature on the download (nice!)

• Gentiana in iNat
• Gentiana in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• BONAP Field Maps for Gentiana

Gentiana affinis (Pleated Gentian)

Photo source

• Range: All counties in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Identification Resources: American Southwest Flowers, Minnesota Wildflowers
• Distinguished from G calycosa by slender leaves near the flower head and having more than one flower per stem. Both have similar shaped blue flowers and may have light spots.

Gentiana calycosa (Mountain Bog Gentian)

Photo source

• Range: Beaverhead MT, Madison MT, Gallatin MT, Carbon MT, Park WY, Teton WY, Sublette WY, Lincoln WY
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Observations with useful comments: 9/19/16
• Identification Resources: American Southwest Flowers, Wildflowers of the United States
• Distinguished from G affinis by ovate leaves and only having 1 flower per stem. Both have similar shaped blue flowers and may have light spots.

Gentiana algida (Artic Gentian, Whitish Gentian)

Photo source

• Range: Park WY, Fremont WY, Sublette WY, Madison MT, Gallatin MT, Carbon MT
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Identification Resources: American Southwest Flowers

Gentiana fremontii (Fremont’s Gentian)

Photo source

• Range: Teton ID, Teton WY, Fremont, WY, Sublette WY.
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project: No observations in iNat for any of these counties as of 10/2022
• Identification Resources:

Gentiana prostrata (Pygmy Gentian)

Photo source

• Range: Park WY, Sublette WY, Fremont WY, Park WY, Carbon WY,
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project: No observations in iNat for any of these counties as of 10/2022
• Identification Resources:

Other species to consider

• Gentiana parryi (Parry’s Gentian). In Wyoming. Read about in American Southwest Wildflowers, Southwest Colorado Wildflowers

Identification Workflows

• Add Phenology annotations to Gentiana - This is a great way to interact with these plants on iNat and add to the value of the data. You can read about phenology annotations in this post on the iNat forum.
• Identify Gentiana in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, excluding those you have previously reviewed
• Identify Gentiana in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, including those you have previously reviewed. When I have new knowledge, I sometimes like to revisit plants that Need IDs that I may have skipped over.
• affinis script: Distinguished from G. calycosa by slender leaves near the flower head and having more than one flower per stem. Both have similar shaped blue flowers and may have light spots. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/144298/journal/71125
• calycosa script: Distinguished from G. affinis by ovate leaves and only having 1 flower per stem. Both have similar shaped blue flowers and may have light spots. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/144298/journal/71125

Correct/Improve this guide

• Please comment below if you identify errors in this guide or if you have additional information that would make this guide more useful.

I am a hobby naturalist seeking to improve my understanding of plant identification in my local region. I started this post as a way of collecting my notes on Delphinium. I have seen that there are large numbers of Delphinium in the area that have not been identified to research grade and I was hoping to learn how to improve them. What I have learned is that they are challenging to identify and in some cases, scientists are still determining morphological descriptions and ranges. While the notes below my not be that useful, I will keep them and continue to add to them should I learn something new.

Resources for Delphinium

• Delphinium observations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• About Delphinium on iNat
• BONAP Field Maps for Delphinium
• eFloras Delphinium

Delphinium anatomical features

• Roots and Bloom Structure of Cultivated Delphiniums has excellent diagrams. Even though it is focused on cultivated delphiniums, I think it is useful.
• Pedicel: thin stalk connecting flowers to stem. Pedicel angle may result in columnar (straight up and down) or pyramidal arrangement of blossoms
• Bracteoles: small reduced leaves on the pedicel behind the flower
• Sepals: have the appearance of outside “petals” of the flower
• Spur: tube-like extension from the back of the top sepal. This is present on all delphiniums and is useful for identification to genus.
• Petals: the true petals are smaller and at the center of the blossom. The two top petals are fused.
• Dissected leaves: lobed leaves. Note pointed or rounded tips and well as the width of the lobes. Note whether leaves are only basal or if some stem leaves are present.

Delphinium bicolor (Low Larkspur, Little Larkspur)

Photo 1 source Photo 2 Source

• Range: All counties in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Observations with descriptions and discussion: June 8, 2018 AB Canada, June 9, 2018 Gallatin County, June 14, 2009 Gallatin County
• Identification Resources: Montana Field Guide, Saskatchewan Field Guide, eFloras, FNA
• Distinctive features: shorter than other local larkspur; rounded leaves dissected into thin linear segments, mostly basal. Upper petals white with blue markings. Distinguish from nuttallianum by noting presence of small cleft (< 2mm) in lower petals, also lower sepals longer than the others (thanks to @plachuff for providing help here).

Delphinium nuttallianum (Nuttall’s larkspur, twolobe larkspur)

Photo 1 source. Photo 2 Source

• Range: All counties in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Identification Resources: Montana Field Guide, Southwest Colorado by Wildflowers, Larkspurs of the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington, US Forest Service Plant of the Week, Jepson Herbarium.
• Distinctive features: similar in appearance to D. bicolor, but taller with more blooms and later blooming. Pyramidal inflorescence and lower flowers shorter than pedicel. Some observers have used exposed stamens as a means of distinguishing from bicolor, but this may not be reliable (see discussion on this observation ).

Delphinium geyeri (Geyer’s Larkspur, Plains Larkspur)

Photo source

• Range: Park, WY; Fremont WY; Sublette,WY; Lincoln, WY; Fremont, ID. Rare in: Gallatin, MT and Carbon, MT.
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Identification Resources: Eastern Colorado Wildflowers, Montana Field Guide
• Distinctive Feature: bushy appearance from many stems, flowers more true blue than purple

Delphinium occidentale (duncecap larkspur, Subalpine Larkspur, Tall Mountain Larkspur)

Photo 1 source. Photo 2 Source

• Range: All counties in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
• Observations in Flora of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Project
• Identification Resources: Montana Field Guide, Montana Plantlife, Burke Herbarium, JSTOR
• Occidentale is potentially confused with glaucum and glaucenscens because they are all tall, have similar shaped flowers and their range is in delays.
• Distinctive Features: Tall. More narrow/elongated blossoms. Traits that might distinguish occidentale from other tall larkspurs, such as glaucum are not fully agreed upon. Options include: pedicel length from mid inflorescence, follicle pubescence, and lower petal width.

Add note for glaucum and glaucescens.

Identification Workflows

• Add Phenology annotations to Delphinium - This is a great way to interact with these plants on iNat and add to the value of the data. You can read about phenology annotations in this post on the iNat forum.
• Identify Delphinium in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, excluding those you have previously reviewed
• Identify Delphinium in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, including those you have previously reviewed. When I have new knowledge, I sometimes like to revisit plants that Need IDs that I may have skipped over.

Correct/Improve this guide

*Please comment below if you identify errors in this guide or if you have additional information that would make this guide more useful.