Helleborus and Wisteria are two very beloved taxa to me, and I would love to see species from either genus in the wild.
While I personally have no interest in recreational use of any psychoactive substance, I still find the ethnobotanically relevant taxa to be extremely interesting. I’m particularly fond of the Salvia genus, so the rarely observed Salvia divinorum (diviner’s sage) would be a treat to find.
I’ve also begun making observation wishlists each for year. These aren’t necessarily my top “plantasies” so to speak, but they do include plants I hope to see when I know I have a reasonable probability of coming across them in my travels. Here are the plant taxa from my 2022 list.
I’ve been thinking of building a plant watch list as well. I hadn’t thought about using iNat to build the list.
I’m going to start with plants with iNat observations near me that I haven’t seen. I think this will also motivate me to change up my hiking routine - maybe get out of my comfort zone a bit.
I’m convinced that I read right and that while there may be some hyperbole regarding the exact pollination dynamics, this plant really does exist. I would love nothing more than to see this plant in the wild and watch it as it employs its grizzly means of procreation
Okay, my earlier reply to this was for plants that could be seen within the United States. But as for exotic (to me) ones – ones that would require travel:
While I doubt I would ever even be within its native range let alone be able to actually find one, I do daydream of seeing a Saint Helena Ebony at times.
There’s a lot of plants around that are exclusively remote or on private property, like the Hawaiian orchids that Tony Iwane has seen (yes I’m jealous!!), as well as some others like “window pane” monardella here in California: https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=11875
Each year I’m learning a whole suite of plants I wish I would have the chance to see in the wild, so it’s hard to choose just one!
Nasa angeldiazioides (Loasaceae) - it has these super intricate leaves which appear to be a mimic of the completely unrelated Angeldiazia weigendii (Asteraceae); both growing practically in my neck of the woods! I made several trips to the type locality of the former - without luck - and I have yet to see the latter alive! as Mr. Henning - one of the world-leading experts in the study of Loasaceae - says: “(This is) one of nature’s strange secrets” one of the many the Neotropics hold for us to discover…
Same here. I’m particularly excited about a forest of Pseudomonotes tropenbosii, one of 2 dipterocarps in the Americas. It’s known to associate with fungi like Austroboletus amazonicus and since lately I’ve gotten into mycorrizal fungi, it would be a nice bonus.
Another species that’s been popping up a lot lately is Hesperoxiphion huilense - an irid thought to be a Colombian endemic - that has been rediscovered in Peru and Ecuador thanks to this very site. A friend of mine lives near a known population, and has the privilege of seeing them bloom for the few hours they do in the wet season (i.e. Right Now!)
To finish this, there are 2 natives I really would love to see again: Stenomesson chloranthum - found it once (didn’t know what it was!) during a family trip in flower and fruit. (but never again) and Cobaea flava aparently a first for iNat when I saw it, but I’ve revisited the location, and, much like the Stenomesson, it’s gone :(
I have many ‘plantasies’, but Amborella trichopoda is high up there on the dream list - phylogenetically, it is sister to all other flowering plants… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amborella
Yes I agree, Amborella is absolutely fantastic. This is true of the whole flora of New Caledonia, this island is unique in every way with its ultramafic soils and its numerous endemic species, genera and even entire plant families. The appearance of the nature there is also unique because there are few herbaceous plants but countless species that grow as shrubs or trees.
I wish a few more people from endemia.nc would get involved with iNaturalist as well:
