Just uploaded my 499th iNaturalist observation. What should be my 500th? 🤔

This is it, iNaturalist upload #500: good old Cassinia sifton… or is it good?
I decided to go with Sifton Bush over something more glamours or exciting as I just can’t help pass up an education moment!

Cassinia sifton (previously Cassinia arcuata) is a multi-stemmed medium shrub growing up to 2m X 2m. It has small leaves, flowers from February to April and prefers dry, poor and stony soils. It is a very distinctive and recognisable species.
It is widespread in NSW and has been introduced into the ACT, SA and WA.
As for Victoria, this is where it gets tricky…

Many botanists believe that it is not indigenous to Victoria. There are no records of this species in Victoria prior to the gold rushes in the 1850’s which would be unusual for such an easily identified and common species.
C. sifton is a colonising/pioneer plant, which means it spreads quickly after disturbances like fire, erosion and human caused changes. Pioneer plants are tough and can survive is difficult places and help repair damaged souls, making it possible for more sensitive species to recolonise later.
It is believed that sifton seed travelled down from NSW with gold prospectors and easily established due to the disturbance caused by the many thousands of people mining the land.

So what does this mean? Well honestly, I don’t know yet! The jury is still out on this one. No formal decision on the indigenous status of this plant in Victoria has been determined yet.

So this brings me to the reason as to why I even bother to upload an extremely common, potentially invasive species to iNaturalist. The answer is science! It doesn’t matter what the organism is; common/rare, invasive/native, sick/healthy, alive/dead… the observation could be useful to someone somewhere! Perhaps the clever people doing the study into weather or not C. sifton should be in Victoria or not could use the information. I’m sure they will want to know just how widespread it is in different vegetation types.

500: https://lnkd.in/dxqVDbTz