Haha you’re right, I had some filters applied when I looked up the number :D
3 Likes
I have a little experience in the Mojave, and looking at your pictures still lacking confirmation, for some I can immediately think of 3 or 4 possible species, but the angle doesn’t include anything to narrow it down, there is just nothing I can do then. Always include a picture of the whole plant! Picture resolutions these days are such that I can often get a good species id by zooming in.
6 Likes
I’m working on your obs from southeast US now 
6 Likes
Since it is currently Friday in Asia and Friday eve in North America, I’d like to invite everyone to join us over at #IdentiFriday https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/identifriday-is-the-happiest-day-of-the-week/26908
10 Likes
I’m a natural science student. In my class, there are many people that like animals (mostly insects), and also many other “plant lovers”. People that like animals are often willing to help to ID pictures and encounters. The “plant lovers” are for the 90% people that just like to have plants in their apartment/garden - botanist are a rare species 
I think this can also be the case on iNaturalist
4 Likes
It takes 2 people to achieve Research Grade - which would make, twice as many IDs as observations a good target for an iNatter.
Start with local observations, or your preferred taxon … and keep extending your knowledge and your reach.
https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_identifier_stats.html?user_id=877535
add your user ID number to see your own stats.
I am a plant person (insects on flowers are a bonus) Most of what we see IS plants. But so hard to tease apart the unfamiliar beyond - green - planty - dicot.
But I do unfamiliar across the Rest of Africa
Heat map for IDs is another fun display
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/map?ident_user_id=dianastuder#3/1.492/14.834
7 Likes
Oh my gosh, thank you so much everyone!!! I didn’t mean for all of you to go to my page and start IDing, so I’m completely awed at the generosity you all showed.
I hadn’t thought about showing the complete plant. As an artist, I’m drawn into the “oooo, pretty” trap and just photograph the flowers. Knowing this, I’ll take extra shots in the future.
You guys all rock!!!
12 Likes
I’m always surprised how fast birds get ID’d on iNat. Out of curiosity, I just compared birds to plants. In California, iNat has 2.7x more plant observations than bird observations, 14.7x more plant species than bird species, and only 1.2x more plant identifiers than bird identifiers. Based on that, let’s assume plant ID in California is 14.7x more difficult than bird ID (some are obviously much easier or much harder) with 2.7x the number of observations to keep up with. That would perhaps mean plants would need about 39.7x the identifiers of birds doing the equivalent number of IDs to keep up with the rate birds are ID’d at, which means we need 33.1x the identifiers that we currently have. That might be a b.s. calculation but sounds about right.
4 Likes
Love all the discussion and tips here! I’m not a “plant person” (mostly got into iNat through birds), but as someone who tries to do a lot of ID’ing of observations in my area I’m finding that I can now get most common wildflowers down to the genus level with very little trouble. I don’t generally try to ID to species unless it’s something extremely distinctive with very few look-alikes/related species in the area (like beargrass). I figure getting an observation to genus is probably helpful to the truly knowledgeable folks who might do something like go through all observations tagged as roses when they have the time.
I also recently purchased Botany in a Day, a book I’ve seen recommended multiple times for exactly this sort of broad approach to plant ID’s. Looking forward to diving into it!
6 Likes
Keir you should calculate that for “large white-headed gulls” or “crested terns” and see if the ratios stand ; )
3 Likes
can confirm, i tell people i like botany and they think I’m into gardening 
9 Likes
No! Absolutely not. Upload what you find interesting. It is almost impossible to know what expert out there might find value in your observations. Often their interests may be very narrow so they might not be willing to ID all the common plants but find great value in one or two of your observations.
4 Likes
It works with your username too. You don’t have to find out your ID number.
4 Likes
I can vouch that you don’t have to be a botanist to be able to ID! Just take it seriously enough, listen to others, learn and focus on a few things and you can ID as confidently as a botanist. You will make mistakes, but forgive yourself and learn from them. It will not be the end of the world if an observation gets a wrong ID.
If in doubt, leave it at genus, and that way it can get to someone who specializes in that genus but you don’t have to contribute to research grade. But don’t sell yourself short, either… there will be a point where you will familiar enough with it to ID to species.
6 Likes
This is what I see a lot with plants, and why many times I only identify a plant down to genus level. The detail needed to get down to the species is sometimes very fine.
On the other hand, I’ve posted out-of-focus bird pictures taken with my cell phone and people quickly identify those. So many more plant species than bird species.
5 Likes
Lots have people have written many things which are true and good - but also I’d like to add patience to the list.
Bear in mind this is a very active time of year for many of us who are out documenting our own things, but as the cooler weather sets in we will be spending more time indoors with a cup of something hot perusing the observations that people have posted in our area. (or even if weather is not a factor, vacation time usually is).
We never really get caught up with identifications, but winter is the time when we can at least make a dent in it. I wouldn’t delete out any observations unless I take a second look at them and determine they are really utterly garbage… I have had things finally identified after years of sitting. Sometimes you just have to wait for the right person with a passion for that particular thing to come along…they may be creating their profile right now.
10 Likes
Isn’t botany just a gateway to gardening? Maybe I’m wrong, but I haven’t met many botanists who don’t at least have one potted plant growing somewhere, for example. If you’re a plantless botanist, please comment!
3 Likes
i’d love to grow plants but i literally cannot keep one alive i like looking at wild plants in the forest and learning about their structures, classifications, how they’re related to each other, etc. the sheer diversity of plants out there fascinates me
7 Likes
Personally, I upload mostly plants and almost all my submissions have been identified by fellow iNat users. I think it mostly depends on where you live, but I also suggest joining projects so other project members can help you identify your submissions.
4 Likes
Thanks!
1 Like