Our goal at TPWD is to find, document and track all of the 400+ rare plants in Texas. But we could use your help! Through this iNaturalist project, our main goal is to help you help us.
Pictures are worth a thousand words; however, identifying certain species from photos can be impossible. Many plants have microscopic features that cannot be captured with a typical camera lens, yet other species are perfectly identifiable with the right photos.
We can only identify plants based on the evidence you provide us. The following guidelines will assist you in capturing verifiable rare plant observations.
- Put your free hand or a ruler in the photo. This will help with focusing and provide a sense of scale.
- Take whole plant photos and close-up (or macro) photos of flowers, fruits, AND leaves. Photos of flowers (cluster, individual, side, front, and bottom), fruits, and leaves (arrangement on the stem, lower and upper surface) will
...more ↓
Our goal at TPWD is to find, document and track all of the 400+ rare plants in Texas. But we could use your help! Through this iNaturalist project, our main goal is to help you help us.
Pictures are worth a thousand words; however, identifying certain species from photos can be impossible. Many plants have microscopic features that cannot be captured with a typical camera lens, yet other species are perfectly identifiable with the right photos.
We can only identify plants based on the evidence you provide us. The following guidelines will assist you in capturing verifiable rare plant observations.
- Put your free hand or a ruler in the photo. This will help with focusing and provide a sense of scale.
- Take whole plant photos and close-up (or macro) photos of flowers, fruits, AND leaves. Photos of flowers (cluster, individual, side, front, and bottom), fruits, and leaves (arrangement on the stem, lower and upper surface) will provide the necessary information to increase successful identification. If possible, fill the frame of the camera with each part so details are easily detectable.
- If you did not identify the plant, tell us who did (if known, include current or former affiliation/agency).
- Familiarize yourself with the rare plants in your area and know their key characters. Visit www.tpwd.texas.gov/gis/rtest/ to search for plants in your county AND the surrounding counties. By doing so, you will know what to look for while you’re out and about. Key characters are unique characters that only one species has and which enable identification. Many of these plants and their key characters can be found in the Rare Plants of Texas book under the Similar Species section in each species profile. Please list key characters in the Description section of iNaturalist to aid others with identification.
- Take notes. Estimate and record the number of plants you saw, and whether they were in flower and/or fruit. Add this to your iNaturalist observation.
- Mark cultivated observations as not wild.
- Don’t trespass!
Identifying rare plants can be fun and challenging! Many of the key characters are hard to see, and successfully using plant keys requires learning a new language. In Texas, there are ~5,200 species of plants, ~450 of which are rare. This large number can create confusion and increase the possibility of misidentification. Your submissions will be invaluable to TPWD’s rare plant conservation efforts! So again, welcome! And THANK YOU for accepting this challenge! We are glad you are here.
Anna Strong, TPWD Rare Plant Botanist
less ↑