By Vanessa Voelker
We had another awesome week of wildflower appreciation during KNPS’s 3rd annual Botany Blitz! The Botany Blitz is a wildflower-focused bioblitz where participants try to document as many plant species as possible during the week before Wildflower Weekend. This year’s Blitz ran from April 8 through April 15. As in previous years, the Botany Blitz was hosted on the iNaturalist platform, which makes it easy for participants to document, share, and identify their observations through iNaturalist’s website and mobile app. We also hosted a series of “First Day Hikes” across the state again this year: on Saturday April 8, several local naturalists and experienced iNaturalist users lead guided hikes in preserves, parks, and other natural areas across the Commonwealth. Many thanks to the hike leaders for helping us kick off the Blitz!
And without further ado, this year’s winners of the Botany Blitz are:
- For the categories of both Most Species and Most Observations, @spenner swept first place with 276 species and 420 observations.
- For the category of Most Identifications, @tgregory74 took the top spot with 733 ID’s.
Congrats to both for excellence in botanizing! A few more Botany Blitz stats as of the writing of this article (these numbers may change over time):
- 66 observers made a total of 3,747 plant observations during the Blitz.
- Those observations were comprised of 650 species, which included 603 vascular plants, 37 mosses, and 10 liverworts.
- 165 identifiers from both Kentucky and other states helped to identify the observations we all made.
- The top five most frequently observed plants during the week were:
If you’re not an iNaturalist user or have never participated in a blitz before, here are a few words from folks in the Botany Blitz leaderboards for Observing and Identifying, regarding what they enjoy about the platform and events like the Botany Blitz:
@spenner: “I had the good fortune this year of already having a family hiking trip planned to McCreary County during the Botany Blitz. I definitely tested the patience of my family with my constant stopping to take pictures, but what an incredible place to look for wildflowers! One highlight of many was seeing and learning more about the different violets. My yard, of course, has loads of the Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia), and I see quite a few Cream Violets (V. striata) at a couple of nearby locations. But that’s largely it at my usual haunts. So to see ten species of violets in bloom in two days in McCreary was a delight. I doubt that I can pick a favourite, but I was impressed by how many nooks and crannies on rock walls would have a tiny lovely Sweet White Violet (Viola blanda) growing in them.”
@tgregory74: “Whether I’m ID’ing other people’s observations, or learning how to ID new plants, iNaturalist has been a great outlet for me to botanize even when I’m not able to go out into the field. As someone fairly new to iNaturalist, I thought the KNPS 2023 Botany Blitz was a fun way to work through some genera I’ve had confusion with (looking at you Viola…), and learn about plants I don’t typically see in my area (inner Bluegrass). The Wildflower Weekend hikes were a blast and I saw a lot of cool plants that I had never seen before, but by far my highlight of the week was getting introduced to some populations of Bird’s foot violet (Viola pedata) in the wild and realizing how charismatic and beautiful that species is. My runner up species would probably be the Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata). I know it’s seemingly everywhere once you get into sandstone-based substrates, but we don’t have that species in the inner Bluegrass so it’s a delight every time I find one.”
@ktuttlewheeler: “Wildflower Week is something I look forward to every year. I’m always on the lookout for cool plants but this is a great opportunity to really devote some time to it. Going to Cumberland Falls let me check out plants in part of the state I haven’t spent much time in, and it was really exciting to see some plants I hadn’t seen before like native azaleas (Rhododendron sp.) in bloom, Eastern teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens), and a bunch of different ferns.”
@coleperry: “I live in the OH-KY-IN tri-state, so the Blitz gave me a reason to try some new parks & locations in my home state of KY. I also love the opportunity to review my familiar, local trails: taking stock of everything I can differentiate. I’ll enjoy doing this yearly! I was also pleased to spot Azure bluets (Houstonia caerulea) & Smooth rockcress (Borodinia laevigata) for the 1st time. Plus I worked on several species differentiations that have been tripping me up :)”
@captbillp: “I have derived much pleasure in communicating with experts and citizen scientists on iNaturalist; with the mutual benefit of learning and discovering more about the natural world. As an older member of society I would encourage young people to embrace this beautiful planet, and work hard to maintain the good in it.”
@m_whitson: “Between many rainy days and the hectic end of the semester, April can be a frustrating month, because the wildflowers call, but I can’t always get outside. Identifying Kentucky Botany Blitz observations lets me enjoy what’s blooming around the state without having to stray far from my computer. I particularly enjoy seeing observations of Long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata), because it isn’t a common species in my area and the long spurs are adorable. I’d love to see what pollinates it!”
And finally, here are a few photos from the Botany Blitz to admire, thanks to all the participants for making this another great week of botanizing!
Pinxter Flower (Rhododendron periclymenoides) photographed by @riparian_paparrazi (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154852074)
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) also featuring Stella, Henry, and their hiking cat Benson, photographed by @tararoselittlefield (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154219048)
Fire Pink (Silene virginica) photographed by @dakotaross (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155043091)
Blue Eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) photographed by @spenner (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155089708)
Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) photographed by @reupurtbones (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155113211)
Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) @ktuttlewheeler (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155172883)
Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia) photographed by @sbrockway (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/154720935)