Looking for low-hanging fruit? The African “needs ID” observations of Argemone that are annotated as “flowering” are easy to take to RG. Argemone mexicana has yellow flowers; A. ochroleuca has pale yellow or white flowers. It seems to me that A. mexicana has wider leaves and leaf lobes, but there’s overlap in that trait.
4 Likes
Challenge accepted
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/177051813 - lotteryd
1 Like
On it, thanks! I’ll mark mostly as Tracheophyta for now, with a note to observer in case they want a specific focus. Where a particular plant fills the frame, I’ll try something finer and add a note in case they wanted a general id.
…Done for that set! Since I have that copypasta set up, I’ll go help another person with similar data whom I’ve been noticing in the mix.
1 Like
I have hesitated to ID these past genus because there are 20+ species of Argemone. Are these the only two documented as introduced to Africa?
2 Likes
sedgesrock is a retired plant scientist and very active on iNat.
She would know.
1 Like
As far as I can tell, these are the only two. I base that on looking through RG observations on iNaturalist, GBIF records, and, to some extent, POWO. And my little Common Weeds of Malawi, found at a used book store. If there were more than these two, I think anomalies would show up. Well, one did. A plant with pure white flowers, maybe a mutant A. mexicana. But that’s all.
Of course I could be wrong. Frustrating working with a flora I don’t know (though I’m learning!). I wish it were easier for me to find checklists of African plants, even by country.
4 Likes
the data we are helping build this month may yet help the future author of such checklists and guides!
6 Likes
When using the Compare tool, you can try the Checklist option. Sometimes there is one. You can click up to broaden the location and may find a list. But for good pictures, I rely more on @mentioning someone who shows up on the leaderboard (again broadening the location / taxon till I find a list with useful names) It is disappointing when the list is short, and I am on it 
2 Likes
My two wildflower guides for South Africa don’t mention Argemone at all, I assume because it is more weed than flower there.
I’ve been searching online and the Flora of Mozambique ( https://www.mozambiqueflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=611 ) website lists just the two species, and has a nice list of families that can be clicked through.
2 Likes
Now there’s a probably 3rd species of Argemone. Is it cultivated? Can it be identified without fruit or leaves? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148441411 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151186362
And for a photo of both species side by side, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/146463972
You’ll probably need an Argemone specialist. The Flora of North America treatment is available at efloras.org ( http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=102532 ), but once they knock out a few really distinctive species, they quickly get into the weeds with prickle measurements and fiddly traits from all over the plant.
2 Likes
Thanks. FNA refers to Argemone mexicana and A. ochroleuca as the two pantropical weeds. I’m confident of the identifications of all the African Argemone observations I’ve seen except some sterile plants and the two listed above. I think I’ll move on to other taxa.
1 Like
And suddenly we are already at the end of week 3… It seems we have entered a Phase 2 of sorts: The number of obs leaving Unknown and Plantae (Kingdom) is slowing down, but those leaving Species level is the highest since the start of the challenge! with 1600 being removed outside the Cape Floristic region!
Both the Phylum to Class and Subclass to Subtribe counts have begun a very promising downward descent. Here’s to hoping they continue.
Reminder: @DianaStuder posted this at the start of the challenge, but have a look at your progress of IDing across Africa at this link https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/map?ident_user_id=koos_the_reader#3/-0.918/19.741 (replacing my name with yours)
Good luck with the last full week of the month, and happy IDing :)
Change in observations per week in thousands for Africa excluding the Cape (counts including Cape in brackets).
Counts shown as change relative to start of each week
| Start | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not in Flora of Africa | ||||
| Plantae at Kingdom | 20.7 (28.5) | -4.7 (-5.1) | -4.6 (-4.9) | -1.0 (-1.8) |
| Unknowns | 10.5 (15.1) | -3.1 (-3.4) | -1.1 (-2.0) | -0.9 (-2.1) |
| Flora of Africa | ||||
| Phylum to Class | 37.3 (54.9) | +5.2 (+5.4) | +2.3 (+3.6) | -0.4 (+0.6) |
| Dicots | 18.9 (28.0) | +4.0 (+4.1) | +4.2 (+5.2) | +1.1 (+2.1) |
| Subclass to Subtribe | 50.3 (99.0) | +0.8 (+0.7) | +0.9 (+1.7) | +0.6 (+0.8) |
| Genus to Complex | 129.6 (315.4) | +0.8 (+0.7) | +1.2 (+0.9) | +0.4 (+0.6) |
| Species and lower | 180.0 (363.5) | -1.4 (-2.0) | -0.7 (-1.8) | -1.6 (-2.6) |
| Captive | ||||
| Unknowns | 4.0 (9.4) | -0.3 (-0.3) | -0.1 (-0.2) | -0.1 (-0.2) |
| Plantae | 75.8 (179.1) | +0.3 (+0.5) | +0.3 (+0.3) | +0.5 (+1.1) |
Observations not in Flora of Africa. Black lines are including the Cape
Change in observations in Flora of Africa, relative to start of project.
3 Likes
I’ve found some familiar North American plants that some of us visitors might be able to ID to RG:
Verbena bonariensis
Trifolium repens white clover
Phragmites
Lantana
Opuntia
Ricinus
Harmonia axyridis Asian lady beetle
Red eared slider link to species; look for subspecies
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
House sparrow Passer domesticus Link to genus; note other possibilities
Sturnus vulgaris Link to genus
Barn owl Tyto alba
Have you found others?
4 Likes
So you are saying, in essence, that the number already identified is decreasing.
I sincerely hope that “leaving Species level” usually means observations that are ID’d as species but are Needs ID (rather than Research Grade) is decreasing, mostly because those observations have reached RG. But I don’t really know. And I know I’ve pushed some out of species to higher taxonomic levels because they were (in my opinion) wrong.
2 Likes
Since the start of the project, the graphs and data we have posted have only included observations at Needs ID. What I mean with
but those leaving Species level is the highest since the start of the challenge!
is that the number of obs that are
- at species level or lower and
- not yet research grade
are decreasing. Most of these are being confirmed and move to research grade, out of Needs ID. Welcome to ask more questions if I am being unclear!
4 Likes
Caution!
There are three species of Phragmites in Africa, by iNaturalist’s taxonomy. I suspect some of the photos would allow species ID, but I don’t know how to do it. (Would love to learn!!)
By far the most Opuntia observations are Opuntia ficus-indica, I’m sure, but how do we tell it from other species? Or are there no other Opuntia species in Africa? I’m ignorant of this but would like to know. (Here in North America, Opuntia ID is often difficult.)
There are similar species to Verbena bonariensis and Lantana comara, but they may not be growing wild in Africa. Does anybody know?
There are both taxonomic and identification issues with sparrows (Passer, including House Sparrow) and Barn Owls in Africa, though these can be worked through with caution.
2 Likes
Notes on the numbers
There is a lot of movement in the data that is difficult to measure and to display in an easily readable and understandable format. That is why I add a little bit of writing at the top of each update to highlight the ways in which we have made progress :) I’ll try to explain more fully what is going on. First, a diagram
(Note: There will be a small amount of upward movement as well due to disagreements, but this is much less than the general downward trend, and therefore not shown/considered)
We are working with a fixed number of observations: those that were uploaded before 01 May 2023.
The total number of observations needing ID can therefore only go downward.
Each level of identification can be considered to be a holding cell or container. Each container is simultaneously being filled and emptied. It is filled by higher level IDs being narrowed down (e.g. Unknown → Family) and emptied by further ID refinement (e.g. Family → Genus). Whether the number of obs is increasing or decreasing depends on which of these processes is faster.
In this little drawing Species and lower will decrease, and Phylum to Class will increase.
This is why it is exciting recently Phylum to Class has been decreasing: it means more obs in this container/bracket are being refined than new obs are being IDed at this level.
Hope this helps~
3 Likes
Awesome explanation, thanks! I like looking at the coarse stages as “intermediates” like in a chemical process. With quality graphs. :)
1 Like