yerbasanta

Joined: Mar 30, 2017 Last Active: Mar 27, 2024 iNaturalist Monthly Supporter since November 2021

Botanist with an interest in California-endemic plants and native communities. Interested in conservation biology and community ecology. Some knowledge of basidiomycete taxa, eager to learn more about birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.


Currently interested in differentiating local (Monterey Bay Region) Arctostaphylos, Quercus, and other tricky genera (Lupinus, Eriogonum, etc).

My notifications (@yerbasanta) were off until late October 2022, so if I missed your message or request for ID, it was not intentional! Feel free to tag me on observations in the Monterey Bay area.


Quick tips for what to document for plant ID

OAKS (and trees generally):
1) Please photograph the underside of leaves! This helps a surprising amount for identifying oaks in particular (as well as many other plant species)

2) Acorns and acorn caps attached to the plant

3) Trunk texture

4) Overall habit: Branching pattern, height, canopy spread

LUPINES:
1) Reveal and photograph the keel petal (hidden within the wings) to document the hairs (if any) on the upper and lower surface along the entire length.

Keel image: https://tchester.org/plants/analysis/lupinus/pix/lupinus_formosus_g4_17_crop_70_label.jpg

2) Guide to documenting lupines in more detail (including calyx, banner spots, etc): https://tchester.org/plants/analysis/lupinus/identification.html#fig_1_caption

WILDFLOWERS (IN GENERAL)

1 Area beneath flowers (involucre/hypanthium/calyx/sepals): this is surprisingly helpful, especially for ROSACEAE, ASTERACEAE, GROSSULARIACEAE, PAPAVERACEAE etc.etc

2 Basal and stem leaves

3 Close-up of stamens, carpels, petals


Search tags for self:
https://www.inaturalist.org/comments?commit=Search&q=@yerbasanta

Search comments by self:
https://www.inaturalist.org/comments?mine=true

Search comments by self by topic (replace 'gall' with search term):
https://www.inaturalist.org/comments?mine=true&commit=Search&q=gall

Annotating old observations for flowering/not QUICKLINK:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?reviewed=true&quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch%2Ccasual&order_by=random&user_id=yerbasanta&without_term_id=12&taxon_id=47125

IDing old observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order=asc&photos&place_id=any&quality_grade=needs_id&subview=map&user_id=yerbasanta&verifiable=any

Oaks of CA:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=14&preferred_place_id=1&taxon_id=47851&view=species

LEAF GALLS
list by plant species host: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/california-plants-with-mystery-galls/journal/39523-california-galls-a-host-plant-list-with-links
searchable database by plant host: https://www.gallformers.org/gall/3951

ID Fort Ord: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=fort-ord-flora-and-fauna&quality_grade=needs_id&subview=map

Burned Landscapes of California (ADD observations manually):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?created_d1=2020-01-01&has%5B%5D=photos&not_in_project=burned-landscapes-of-california&place_id=14&project_id=czu-lightning-complex-fire-perimeter&verifiable=any&iconic_taxa=Plantae

Leaf morphology (glossary):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Leaf_morphology.svg

eJepson (taxonomic keys in CA): https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/

CalFlora (search by county for species presence/absence): https://calflora.org


Taxonomy discussions reference:

QUERCUS
https://www.inaturalist.org/check_lists/70764-Fagaceae-of-California--US
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=14&preferred_place_id=1&taxon_id=47851&view=species

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LUPINUS
https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=9370

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