As we approach 100 million observations of vascular plants on Inat, a question popped into my head. How many plant families haven’t been observed on Inat? Surely all of them had to have been…right?
It turns out that out of 500 or so families, all but two have at least one verifiable observation on Inat. The mighty Asteraceae(asters) comprises 13%!!! of all observations, with 12.906 million observations! That’s more than double second place Fabaceae(legumes) with a “lowly” 5.822 million observations. In third place comes the Rosaceae(roses), with 4.466 million observations. Believe it or not, 26 families make up 60% of the observations!!!
Asteraceae(asters)-12.906M!!!
Fabaceae(legumes)-5.822M
Rosaceae(roses)-4.466M
Poaceae(grasses)-3.503M
Lamiaceae(mints)-2.692M
Ranunculaceae(buttercups)-2.205M
Brassicaceae(mustards)-2.125M
Orchidaceae(orchids)-1.902M
Ericaceae(heaths)-1.805M
Plantaginaceae(plantains)-1.754M
Apiaceae(carrots)-1.673M
Asparagaceae(agaves)-1.662M
Boraginaceae(borages)-1.584M
Polygonaceae(knotweeds)-1.354M
Fagaceae(oaks)-1.353M
Caryophyllaceae(pinks)-1.316M
Pinaceae(pines)-1.252M
Cyperaceae(sedges)-1.247M
Rubiaceae(madders)-1.205M
Malvaceae(mallows)-1.151M
Cactaceae(cacti)-1.140M
Apocynaceae(milkweeds)-1.125M
Euphorbiaceae(spurges)-1.044M
Caprifoliaceae(honeysuckles)-1.043M
Onagraceae(evening primroses)-1.011M
Sapindaceae(maples)-1.010M
Just left out is Solanaceae(nightshades) which barely misses the 1M mark with 975K observations.
Those 26 families making up 60% of all vascular plant observations are a true testament to the millions of awesome observers who create amazing observations. Perhaps you have seen all of these 26, or need to check a few more off your life list. However, the real question is when all the plant families will be observed.
After over an hour of scanning observations, I concluded that two vascular plant families are missing from Inat: dicot family Lophopyxidaceae, where one species of Lophopyxis is found in the Sunda Islands of Indonesia and Malaysia; and fern family Cystodiaceae, consisting of the fern Cystodium sorbifolium, native to…you guessed it, the Sunda Islands and New Guinea.
If any Inatters live on Borneo or are visiting there soon, maybe try to go out and find one(or both) of these families! Who knows, maybe they are right next to each other.
Lovely analysis! Love that you went on this deep data dive.
I think the rarest family of plants I can think of which I have observed is Blasiaceae (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239471467).
But that’s via iNat upload count. It’s least concern globally, nationally, and locally ;)
I love these kinds of breakdowns, very cool! Thanks for sharing!
My rarest with only one species known is https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/64618-Welwitschiaceae with a bit over 800 observations.. well, it´s a very iconic plant even I (not a plantie usually) knew and was very excited to see and photograph even before my iNat times have started
Yes, many of those are from Africa or South America which I would have suspected.. but the 2500 observation family (if my ID is correct) is actually from Europe where some observers feel nothing too spectacular is possible.., who would have guessed…
I went to my life list to see which families I had species in and looked at the taxa pages for family names that I don’t come across very often when learning about plants
Yeah, I was expecting a less tedious process… (I checked my ‘life list’ too, however in my case it does not even display all families - these are notably lacking for ferns)
As far as I can tell my ‘least populous family’ at the moment is Isoetaceae (quillworts), with only 3222 obs on iNat.
@yayemaster could probably tell you which families have the least obs, but you’d still have to cross reference that with your own obs. Unless you already know the names of all the families you’ve observed and can just pick them out of a list.