Kentucky Botanists Big Year 2022's Journal

It's goldenrod season, and these glorious plants are attracting a lot of attention! Did you know there are over 30 species of goldenrod (Solidago) in the state? Kentucky's goldenrods range from weedy and common statewide, to globally rare and narrowly endemic. With all that diversity, they can be challenging to identify: a few species are highly distinctive and identifiable from a single photo, but many are very similar, and often one photo doesn't provide enough information to ID them.

My recommendation for getting your unknown goldenrods identified is to make a habit of taking multiple photos. Identifiers are looking for a particular set of characteristics to determine species ID's, so here are 4 photos you should take to give goldenrod gurus the visual information they need:

Photo 1) The Whole Plant

When you're making an effort to take detailed photos of leaves and flowering parts, it can be easy to forget to take a photo that shows the entire plant (or at least as much as you can get in the photo), but this shot is very important, and helps identifiers interpret all the finer details of your other photos in context. Make sure to take this photo straight on while standing a few feet away, rather from an overhead angle or looking directly down at it -- the lower parts of the plant will likely be out of focus or obscured if you are photographing from above.

Whole plant photos are helpful for showing growth habit, and overall size and proportions. This also important for showing the shape of the inflorescence, which are often distinctive to groups of goldenrod species. Is yours broadly pyramidal or cylindrical and upright? Plume-like and arching? Flat-topped to domed? An arching line of small clusters in the leaf axils? Or does the inflorescence have several long slender branches that spread out in all different directions? This shape can be very informative!

S. flexicaulis by fryj, S. caesia by sekistler, and S. nemoralis by cebalrai

S. altissima by ktuttlewheeler, S. erecta by kentuckybarefoot, S. rigida by tararoselittlefield.

Photo 2) Mid-Stem Leaves

The size, shape, hairiness, venation, and toothiness of leaf edges is best photographed on leaves near the middle of the stem. This photo will also show how hairy or smooth the stem is in the middle of the plant -- some species have densely hairy stems, others are smooth with a waxy bloom, and that difference is useful for differentiating between similar species.

S. patula by sekistler, S. sphacelata by emwachter, S. gigantea by qtowery

S. rugosa by sbrockway, S. nemoralis by sbrockway, and S. rigida by lzmorris

Photo 3) Basal Leaves (if present)

Some goldenrod species have a cluster of leaves coming out of the very base of the stem. If your goldenrod has basal leaves (or if you're not sure whether the lowest leaves you're seeing are considered basal leaves) make sure to take a photo of these, since they can be helpfully diagnostic.

S. hispida by abelkinser, S. arguta by hbraunreiter, S. faucibus by devinmrodgers

Photo 4) Flower Profile

While holding the stem or a branch of the inflorescence, snap a photo of a few individual flowers from the side. The size of individual flowering heads and the shape of the phyllaries is often distinctive.

S. buckleyi by cherthollow, S. rigida by cassisaari, S. caesia by weboflifephotography

Although the two are not closely related at all, basal leaves of tall rattlesnakeroot (Nabalus altissimus, Aster family) and palmate or early blue violet (Viola palmata, Violet family) can be mistaken for each other at first glance. Both species can be variably hairy, both have lobing that is highly variable, and they're both common across the state and are found in the same habitats. How's a botanizer to recognize each for what it truly is? Let's first look at the variability seen in each species, then I'll show you the easy, fool-proof way to tell these two apart.

Palmate or Early blue violet, Viola palmata

V. palmata is a "stemless blue" violet, a subgroup of violets that all feature basal-only foliage with usually blue-purple flowers, and there are around 10 constituent species of this subgroup present in Kentucky. This is what is known as a heterophyllous violet species, or one with different leaf forms (from Greek, heteros = different, phyllon = leaf). Typically, the earliest couple of leaves that emerge for this species are cordate (heart-shaped) and virtually indistinguishable from plain old common blue violet, Viola sororia. But each successive leaf that emerges is increasingly lobed and dissected, so by summer an individual plant may have a whole cluster of variably shaped leaves. Here's what that progression often looks like:

This rosette has several heart-shaped leaves, but the lower edges of the freshest-looking leaf held by @hbraunreiter are showing signs of what's to come.

Here in @biomania's photo you can see the leaves becoming distinctly lobed, although there are still one or two heart-shaped leaves present.

Finally, here's an example of a summer leaf seen by @destes, where the lobes are dissected all the way to the petiole. Sometimes the early heart-shaped leaves are still present, sometimes they disappear by this time.

Tall rattlesnakeroot, Nabalus altissimus

There are 7 Nabalus species present in Kentucky: four of them are rare, two are uncommon or only present regionally, and then there's Nabalus altissimus which is common and present throughout most of the state.

Similar to Viola palmata, the earliest leaves are unlobed, although for Nabalus they're a more triangular or arrow-shaped, and they usually have several widely-spaced teeth along the edges as seen in this observation from @emwachter

It doesn't take long for 3-lobed leaves to emerge, like the ones seen here by @mikaylagroce https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/22515308

The exceptionally variable summer foliage can look like anything from this 3-lobed specimen seen by @jmashburn, to this 5ish-lobed individual seen by @ecruz0911, to a skinny-minnie observed by @nyssa_ogeche, with A LOT of room for variation in between.

How we tell 'em apart

Given the wild variability and overlap in leaf shapes, what's the feature that removes all doubt? The answer takes us back to their familial connections: Nabalus is a member of the Cichorieae tribe (a taxonomic level between family and genus) in the Aster family. And all members of this tribe including notable species like chicories, lettuces, and dandelions have white, milky sap, while all violet species have clear sap. You can see easily see this by tearing piece off a Nabalus leaf; here's @etantrah capturing it emerging from a stem:

Hope this helps you the next time you're confronted with an ambiguous basal leaf that looks like it might be one or the other!

Great news for Ranunculus micranthus fans! iNat's newest computer vision (CV) model just dropped (check out their blog post for more information), the last update was in back in July 2021. In the previous model, this taxon did not have enough Research Grade images to be included in training data, so it was not a species that the CV model "knew" or was apt to suggest. As a result, the top CV suggestion for observations of R. micranthus and a few other small-flowered buttercup species were almost exclusively for the much more widespread and common R. abortivus, leading to many buttercups being misidentified, sometimes even erroneously reaching Research Grade. It took a lot of meticulous QC work from dedicated Ranunculus micranthus fusspots, but over time many of these misidentifications were corrected, and more new observations were identified correctly, resulting in a dataset that finally met inclusion criteria.

What this means for you

If you create an observation of R. micranthus, iNat's computer vision will now probably actually suggest the correct species! (Homework: give the CV a test drive if you've got any spare micranthus pics and report back)

The bigger picture

This obviously affects much more than those of us with Ranunculus micranthus vs. abortivus monomania, and if you read through iNat's blog post you can see how many more species this new model has been trained on, and you may even notice an improvement in CV suggestions for various other species as well. Thanks to everyone who works hard to correctly ID species, whether it's a buttercup or not -- your efforts help to improve computer vision on iNat and make it as bang-on accurate as it can be for all of us. :)

KYBBY in Numbers

Here's how the Kentucky Botanists Big Year project is shaping up so far in 2022:

- 32 dedicated plant nerds (project members)
- 1,105 Research Grade observations of plants
- 228 Research Grade species

The current leaderboard for most Research Grade Species is:

1. @ruthsworld (64)
2. @gage_barnes (56)
3. @ktuttlewheeler (56)
4. @terrikoontz (51)
5. @john_abrams (47)
6. @sbrockway (39)
7. @hbraunreiter (37)
8. @jklmiller (32)
9. @berg000 (27)
10. @sal77o (25)

Note: the KNPS BotanyBlitz is from April 2-9 and the City Nature Challenge is April 29-May 2, so I expect we'll see a significant increase in observations and species over the next month and a few days. Will there be a leaderboard shakeup?? Who will reveal themselves as the dark horse iNatters in Kentucky this year?? Only time will tell, and I'm certainly looking forward to finding out.

In March, the most frequently observed plants in Kentucky (all obs included, not limited to the KYBBY) were:

1. Virginia spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)
2. red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
3. rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)
4. cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
5. hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta)

Rare species and interesting finds

Kentucky iNatters have wasted no time this year in observing rare species, here are just a few that have been seen recently:

• snow trillium, state endangered (lots of obs, always a fan favorite)
• dainty Kentucky glade cress, state endangered
• nodding rattlesnake root -- this is a species that was formerly listed as Special Concern in Kentucky, but was “demoted” this spring to mere Watchlist status, thanks in no small part to the numerous iNatters who’ve helped document many new populations over the last few years, including @flyingbearjmh, @leighmaynard, @john_abrams, @ruthsworld, @b_georgic, @beargrass, @debunkshy, @emerlee, @laurabaird, @margaridamaria, @markjj1261, @meganclere, @mtwyandell, @rhyz0, @robert1971, and @sekistler
• We’ve also already had TWO new county records of rare plants made on iNat in 2022: Smallflower baby blue eyes observed by @gage_barnes in Trigg Co, and Prostrate blue violet seen by @laurabaird in Mercer Co, both are state threatened species. If you’re interested in checking out more rare species observations in the state, head on over to the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves’ project Kentucky Plants of Conservation Concern.
• @gage_barnes also discovered a curious, adventive population of Narrowleaf miner’s lettuce right in the middle of Murray, Ky -- this is a species native to the western US (see BONAP map) with sparsely documented occurrences in several states bordering the Mississippi River. This is the first time it has ever been documented in Kentucky. What a cool find!

Help Identify

The iNat community is 100% reliant on volunteer effort to QA/QC observations, and observations must reach Research Grade to qualify in the KYBBY. Wherever you’re able to confidently do so, please help out your fellow botanizers by identifying or confirming their observations. If you like, you can filter by taxa you’re most comfortable with, whether it’s a species like Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), a genus like violets (Viola), or a family like Campanulaceae. You can also filter by your county if you’re interested in focusing on observations in your locality. All identification assistance is greatly appreciated, and whatever you can contribute-- from identifying to species to simply refining broad IDs -- helps to improve the accuracy and completeness of iNaturalist data from Kentucky. Many thanks to @john_abrams, @davidenrique, @abelkinser, @jrichardabbott, @mjpapay, @burls, @ktuttlewheeler, @moritz3, @smschnerremd, @albach, @trscavo, @choess who have all made more than 50 identifications on other folks' plant observations in Kentucky this year!

And remember -- do tag all houseplants, garden plants, and those that are part of a landscaping arrangement (presence of mulch is a good clue) as captive/cultivated. This helps keep species range maps representative of only wild and naturally-occurring organisms.

Here's a link to the Identify Mode page, I've filtered it for all plant observations in Kentucky that still need ID's to reach RG, you may want to bookmark it!

-->Identify plants in Kentucky

Upcoming Kentucky Native Plant Society events

To kickoff the week-long KNPS BotanyBlitz, a number of iNat tutorial hikes are being held across the Commonwealth on April 1 & 2. There’s still time to register if you’re interested in attending a hike, so check out the list of locations for a hike near you!

Will you be joining us at Natural Bridge State Park on April 8 & 9 for Wildflower Weekend 2022? There’s still time to register for this event as well, we hope to see you there!

And now for the pics!

Here are a few that caught my eye recently, make sure to "favorite" any pics that make you swoon to highlight lovely photos or interesting finds!

Dreamy red trillium by @dperkins

Pretty in pink rue anemone by @john_abrams

Leatherwood’s charming lemon-drop flowers by @kmvowels

White troutlily struggling to get out of its leaf sweater by @jklmiller

Wood betony in pink and red by @meleagle

If you're an active botanizer in Kentucky

You should be a part of this project! Visit the project page here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-botanists-big-year-2022 and click "Join" in the top right corner. See you on the trails!

Vanessa

(Cross-posted from the KNPS Wildflower Week BotanyBlitz journal)

In March and early April, along wet roadside ditches, moist woodland openings, and shaded floodplains, you may find an abundance of a certain conspicuous seedling having large, rounded leaves that are shallowly notched at the tip:

(seedling pics by @terrikoontz)

These rubbery, bluish-green, and decidedly chonky cotyledons belong to Kentucky's two native Jewelweed species, the orange-flowered Impatiens capensis and the yellow-flowered Impatiens pallida. Both species have seed leaves that are distinctively oversized, with each leaf about the size of a quarter. As the stem begins to elongate, these seed leaves give way to the plant's true leaves, which are hairless, ovate, and broadly toothed along the edges:

(Jewelweed plants with stem leaves and cotyledons still attached by @mewells)

I'm not aware of a reliable way to identify Jewelweed seedlings to species, although later in the spring when the plants are larger, you can tell them apart before flowering time by examining the teeth along the leaf edges: the leaves of Impatiens capensis generally have 9 or fewer teeth on each side of the leaf, while those of Impatiens pallida usually have 10+ teeth per side.

A caveat!

There may be a few species with seedlings that are somewhat similar, but Jewelweed is unique in having the largest and broadest seed leaves you're likely to encounter in its preferred habitats.

Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum) species also have fairly prominent seed leaves (more or less the size of a nickel), but they're still mostly smaller than Jewelweed and are softly hairy, whereas Jewelweed is hairless, rubbery, and blue-green all over. Here's what Great Waterleaf looks like as a wee baby, if you zoom in you can see the soft fuzz on its leaves:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/72217256
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/71846387

(Cross-posted from the KNPS Wildflower Week BotanyBlitz journal)

We're fast approaching (or maybe already there in certain areas) that point in spring where there's no question which Dicentra species we're looking at, it's either tiny breeches or tiny hearts:

(Left: Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) by @herbane; Right: Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis) by @maryrebeccau)

But what about before the flowers have fully developed? We've all been there, in early to mid-March, impatiently staring at a clump of Dicentra leaves and wanting to know which species it is. Fortunately, there are a couple of clues that can reveal their identities from relatively early on. The following images are from this observation of Squirrel Corn, side by side with with Dutchman's Breeches.

Clue 1: Lower Leaf Surface

Turn over a leaf and examine the color of the underside. The difference can be subtle, but Dutchman's Breeches is pale green on the underside (on the left in both photos), whereas Squirrel Corn has a grayish cast (on the right in the photos), particularly on newer leaves, although the intensity of the grayish cast does seem to diminish somewhat as Squirrel Corn foliage matures.

Clue 2: Corm Shape

Dicentra corms often sit rather close to the soil surface, and may be partially visible if you pull back the leaf litter at the base of the plant. If you can see the tops of any corms, look for either pointed-tipped corms (like garlic cloves) for Dutchman's Breeches, or rounded potato-like corms for Squirrel Corn.

So next time you're out photographing either of these species, make sure to flip over a leaf and gently check for visible corms, they might help you recognize these wildflower friends earlier than you thought possible!

(Cross-posted from the KNPS Wildflower Week BotanyBlitz journal)

Today I thought we'd take a look at two common, native, small-flowered Buttercups, Ranunculus abortivus (Small-flowered or Kidney-leaf Buttercup) and Ranunculus micranthus (Rock Buttercup). In overall aspect, these two are strikingly similar:

• basal leaves on long petioles that vary from basically round to kidney-shaped to tri-lobed
• stem leaves that are deeply 3-lobed with lanceolate to oblong lobes
• dinky flowers
• not particularly restricted to any particular habitat, and can be found in a variety of dry to mesic wooded sites, fields, riparian areas, roadsides, etc.

Looking at them side by side, you can see how it's kind of a "Patty Duke Show" situation, but with buttercups:

(Left: R. abortivus by @easter22; right: R. micranthus by @sarcasticdungbeetle)

(Left: Basal rosette of R. abortivus by @sam727, right: Basal rosette of R. micranthus by @tanyuu)

Even so, you might be able to visually detect a key difference from the above photos: the foliage and stems of Ranunculus micranthus appears more grayish-green due to the presence of long, soft hairs on the stem and petioles, and the light pubescence on the leaves. Ranunculus abortivus tends to be darker or deeper green, because its stems, petioles, and foliage are all glabrous (hairless). This is probably the easiest ways to tell the two apart vegetatively; here are some closeups:

(Left: glabrous stem of R. abortivus by @emily7; right: softly hairy stem of R. micranthus by @vvoelker)

As you become more familiar with these two, you'll notice a few more differences:

• The bases of basal leaves are more truncate to cuneate for R. micranthus, compared to kidney-shaped to cordate for R. abortivus
• On average, R. abortivus tends to be a bit more robust in stature, often with with stouter stems
• Although it is possible for them to co-occur in the same habitat, R. micranthus is slightly more conservative and skews toward somewhat drier habitats

For further reading and additional comparison notes, the website Missouri Plants has great photos and descriptions of both R. abortivus and R. micranthus!

Note: these are not the only small-flowered Buttercup species in Kentucky, but they are two of the most common and widespread lookalikes. A few other small-flowered Buttercups to be aware of include:

• Ranunculus recurvatus - Also common and widespread, but with larger stem leaves and generally less likely to be mistaken for abortivus or micranthus (distribution in KY)
• Ranunculus allegheniensis - Restricted to the southeastern Appalachian Plateau counties, this species may resemble R. abortivus in overall aspect and glabrous stems, but with hairy sepals instead of hairless (distribution in KY)
• Ranunculus harveyi - Most similar to R. micranthus, but with noticeably slightly larger petals. This species is only known from Cumberland and Clinton Counties in Ky (distribution in KY)
• Ranunculus sceleratus - tends to be a wetland or wetland-adjacent species (distribution in KY)
• Uncommon to rare native wetland Buttercups - Ranunculus ambigens, Ranunculus laxicaulis, Ranunculus pusillus
• Non-native and weedy - Ranunculus parviflorus

(Cross-posted from the KNPS Wildflower Week BotanyBlitz journal)

In open calcareous woodlands of Kentucky, there are two relatively common native Chickweed (Stellaria) species you may encounter: Star Chickweed (Stellaria pubera) and Tennessee Starwort (Stellaria corei). They are very similar in overall appearance -- so similar that Tennessee Starwort was once considered just a variety of Star Chickweed, rather than its own species. But there is a fairly easy way to tell them apart when they're in bloom. Let's take a look!

Star Chickweed (Stellaria pubera)

(Left photo by @michaela_rogers, right close-up photo by @melanielinkperez)
Star Chickweed is a delightful spring wildflower with white, star-like flowers. In the close-up photo, check out the green calyx behind the petals. (Note: scroll down to the 4th photo here if you're not sure what the calyx is.) The sepals -- or individual leaf-like bracts that make up the calyx -- of Star Chickweed are always shorter than the petals. Now let's look at...

Tennessee Starwort (Stellaria corei)

(Left photo by @drdeforest, right close-up photo by @stephen_bucklin)
Pretty similar, huh? Once again, check out the close-up photo: look at those long, sharply pointed sepals! The sepals of Tennessee Starwort are as long as or longer than the petals. This is a diagnostic feature that you can use to distinguish between the two species.

Star Chickweed is somewhat more common throughout Kentucky than Tennessee Starwort (you can check out their county-level BONAP range maps here), but particularly for botanizers in the Bluegrass Region or Appalachian Plateau, either species could be seen on a woodland hike in spring. So if you see either and you're still not quite sure which it is, don't forget to include a good photo of the sepals in your iNat observation!