Why does no one ID my shortpod mustard observations?

General
1

I have many observations Inat AI ID as shortpot mustard, and all of them have no IDs, and I see that many others on Inat also lack ID, it there a reason for this? like many different similar species or what?

2

mustards can be hard to ID so people avoid them.

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Please don’t add a CV id if you don’t know if it’s correct, it’s a difficult family, so it can be this or a totally different species, likely your photos lack needed details or local iders have too many observations to check.

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It often takes time. Expect to wait years for some observations to get an ID from someone else.

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@antye Just went through all 9 of your Hirschfeldia incana observations and confirmed that all were shortpod mustard. I have over 5000 observations from >2 years that have never been ID’d, and the area you posted the photos in are some of the most “Inat dense” places in the world.
If you need help you can always @ mention someone and they may try their best to help you out.

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Yes a lot of people have trouble distinguishing it from black mustard or other species. I can tell them apart usually, but I don’t usually ID everywhere, and another identifier who used to be really into that group either got suspended or deleted their account, so they’re not around any more.

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  1. Plants are diverse and plant identifiers are few, so it’s not unusual to wait for years to get identifications, though you might get luckier than that.

  2. Mustards are harder than many other plants. I avoid most of them and many other plant identifiers do the same.

I’m glad @yayemaster just identified your Hirschfeldia identifications.

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And in return, I just went through some of your unidentified observations and confirmed some of the easy ones.

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Thank you for that.

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thank you!

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If you can find a person who can reliably identify something, follow them or keep a link to their profile. Then, when you upload something new, send them a message. I have done that with mushrooms. I have found that there are people who really like to ID certain things and are really good at it. So, this way of alerting them to some new observations helps you and gives them things to ID.

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In my experience, birds and mammals get supporting identifications within a few hours, big flashy plants and flowers within a few days, whereas small or “difficult” plants like grasses and sedges take weeks to months if at all.
However, when I want to get identification for an observation of a species or genus I’m fairly certain of, I will look at the top identifiers, select one with recent observations or identifications, and then send him or her a mail on the iNat website asking for help. Most are more than willing to identify, review or give an opinion.
Good luck with your mustard ids.
Kim

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Also remember to choose your identifier by geography.

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Even that isn’t guaranteed, though.

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… I mean… obviously given a certain quality of the observation :-)

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Shortpod mustard is in the computer vision because it is very abundant in Southern California, where many of us observe and confirm identifications of it. But that does not mean that it will be confirmed in other states or other countries. We happen to be familiar with it here, but many regions have a lot more species or people who don’t deal with mustard species ID.

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