Let the plant hunt begin!

The 2013 field season officially began on March 9th with flowering Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus feotidus), but it has been a late spring with only 18 species recorded so far for the month of April.  

This year we hope to break several landmark records to add to our massive 88 231 record database; 

i. 100 000 records total and 

ii. 1300 taxa for all provinces in Ontario

Provincially rare plants to hunt for this year are;

1.       Butternut (Juglans cinerea); S3?/END/END – Norfolk & Hamilton Counties

2.       Sharp leaved goldenrod (Solidago arguta); S3 – Lanark County

3.       Green milkweed (Asclepias viridis); S2 – Norfolk County

4.        White prairie orchid (Platanthera leucophaea); S2/END – Essex County

5.       Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata); S3 – Essex County

6.       Perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata); S3 – Norfolk County

7.       Sweet pignut hickory (Carya ovalis); S3 – Brant & Norfolk Counties

For the first time since we began the Plants of Ontario project in 2006 we've been able to construct regionally rare plant (R1 - 3 ranked) lists for Ecoregions 6E (Mixed deciduous forest region) and 7E (Carolinian forest region).  This list includes 1101 taxa for 7E and 942 taxa for 6E.  We also greatly appreciate UTM coordinates for any R1 - 3 ranked plants you may encounter while performing field surveys/investigations this year.  I'll be posting the regionally rare plant list on the EARTHQUEST website, so that you may download it and know which plants to hunt for over the next several weeks.  

If you find any S1 - 3 ranked plants I would appreciate UTM coordinates for our SAR plants of Ontario book.  I also plan on conducting a site visit to some natural areas in search of targeted plants on the hunt list above or regionally rare plants from the official EARTHQUEST regionally rare plant lists.  Site visits will be announced periodically.  The first site visit may be to Sudden bog in Waterloo county for the month of May.  If you'd like to attend please let me know.  

We were also able to produce a master plant species list for the Grand River Conservation Authority on 637 species of vascular plants, including locally rare (L1 - 3 ranked) plants within their watershed.  We hope to do the same for the Bruce Trail Conservancy's Bruce Trail and the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority.

This week's mystery plant emerged from the ground today.  Please let me know what it is - species common/latin name and S (provincial) rank by next week.  We'll continue these mystery plant quizes as the spring/summer progresses as they are an excellent way to prepare you for field investigations and practice your field ID skills.