I thought as much, wasn’t sure what all are protected.
Well one can now only plantasize
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For the future, many of the Cape Cod coastal plain ponds in Massachusetts have Sabatia kennedyana, but you need to visit in a droughty year, as they only flower when the pond water level is low and the pondshore is exposed. (But I bet you knew all that.)
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It’s a droughty year:)
It certainly is! But getting a little late in the year, I think. But coastal plain ponds are always worth visiting.
I’m kind of spoilt for choice with the biodiverse fynbos in my region here in South Africa!
That said, I would most love to see the Australian flora, especially Banksia, giant lobelias in Kenya, and cliche as it may sound - the giant redwoods in California.
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Cliché it may be, but I wish everyone could see both coast redwood and giant sequoia. They are awe-inspiring.
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I’m sure there’s some NPS-affiliated conservancy you can volunteer for that would get you the opportunity to visit. Odds are you’d have to live nearby to make it work, though.
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There’s a cartoon my grad school advisor had on the wall, “If we knew what we’re doing, it wouldn’t be research.” A specific goal can provide useful structure, if it leads you to places you would not vist otherwise, and thus to unexpected things you would not see otherwise.
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I just finished watching ‘Dropout’, the film story of Elizabeth Holmes. One of my favourite moments in the film is when one of her profs visits her start-up and comments about the giant Yoda quote she had put up on the wall at the building’s entrance. You know, “There is no try, only do”.
The prof, who was totally unimpressed with the ‘science’ she did not see in the tour responds with the fact that really all science IS trying!
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The Yoda quote is fun, because it’s ambiguous. Compared to “do”, “try” is, to me at least, associated with both greater uncertainty and a greater focus on achieving a specific outcome. If I focus on one half of that vs. the other, I arrive at different conclusions about whether “try” is better aligned with good research than “do”.
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I would very much like to find another specimen of Lysipomia rhizomata.
I was with the group that found the only observation on iNat, but I was too preoccupied with birds and trying to stay warm (there was still plenty of frost on the ground) to get a photo.
We’re all pretty ‘green’ to plant IDs and there’s quite a few species in the area so we didn’t realize what we had seen until we got home and confirmed the ID with a specialist.
We went back to the site last weekend, but we didn’t keep great records of the exact location, but we were unable to find any specimens.
I’m concerned the specimen observed was likely poached or damaged during recent construction to the guard rails in the area.
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Wellwitchia
That puts me in the right place to see a myriad of snakes & lizards of which my bucket list is large. Bitis peringueyi & B schneideri. Pachydactylus rangei, Ptenopus garrulus… I am sure there are more that my old brain cannot remember.
This also puts me in the range of a host of very badass composites and more. The Galdiolus clade, Moraea and other Irises and many more.
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Rare cousin to Penstemon and Keckiella Genus Uroskinnera · iNaturalist would be fantastic to see in person
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My list would be too long… There are so many amazing species!
One of the species that would make me extremely excited is Viola nassauvioides.
This is one of the already amazing rosulate Violas in the subgenus Neoandinium but this species is so different from all other known species that it is the only species of section Confertae.
The plant looks more like one of the Nassauvia species in the family Asteraceae, especially like Nassauvia argentea. But it has the flowers of a Viola species.
Nassauvia argentea: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/801341-Nassauvia-argentea
https://www.srgc.net/documents/publications/Viola%20monograph.pdf
A picture of Viola nassauvioides is on page 28,
Text on page 112, 189-190
Quote: One of the three sections of the subgenus with only one member, in this case as a
single site rarity not known since its type gathering. Its exact location is also unknown. The field note on the specimens and indication in the type description, both by Philippi,
state respectively: “Cordilleras centrales” [Central mountain ranges] and “Cum Viola
cotyledone nescio quo loco Andium lecta fuit” [I do not know where in the Andes it was
collected together with Viola cotyledon]. V. cotyledon has been recorded from the south of the
Santiago Metropolitan Region down to Arauco. The evidence suggests it probably inhabits [or
inhabited] somewhere from southern Santiago to northern Maule [Curico Province] regions.
The species might already be extinct but it is also possible that it will be rediscovered some day…
I still have some hope that the species will be found again at some point. For me, this species is just as legendary and mysterious as, for example, Thismia americana:
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Boquila… because how the hell does a plant do that?!
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What does it do?
Boquila trifoliolata is a climbing vine that is capable of mimicking the leaves of its supporting bushes and trees.
Depending on the plant it grows on, it can look very different, so it is not easy for its predators to recognize it. The plant is even able to imitate artificial leaves that are made of plastic, thats why scientists now think that the plant has some sort of vision using light sensitive ocelli.
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The most insane thing to me is how it can mimic non-living stuff and do so without any direct contact with whatever it’s mimicking
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Just when you thought plants couldn’t get any trickier! That is an astounding feat of botanical adaption.
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https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/787205-Boquila-trifoliolata/browse_photos
Plants with eyes … perfect for Halloween!