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.

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Currently interested in differentiating local (Monterey Bay Region) Arctostaphylos, Quercus, Diplacus, 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.

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Quick tips for what to document for plant ID

OAKS:
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): this is surprisingly helpful, especially for ROSACEAE, ASTERACEAE, GROSSULARIACEAE, PAPAVERACEAE etc.etc

2 Basal and stem leaves

3 Close-up of stamens, carpels, petals

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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

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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

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Taxonomy discussions reference:

QUERCUS
https://www.inaturalist.org/check_lists/70764-Fagaceae-of-California--US

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DIPLACUS
Diplacus I (Forum): https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/18699-diplacus-dilemma-in-california-area
Diplacus II (Taxon changes I):https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/39636
Diplacus III (Discussion) :https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/18612-observation-of-the-month-red-sticky-monkeyflower-diplacus-puniceus-phrymaceae
Diplacus IV (Taxon changes II: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/37711
Diplacus V (Section Diplacus):https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/777236-Diplacus

Diplacus Key: https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=11356
Diplacus ID help: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?reviewed=any&quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch&page=3&verifiable=true&taxon_id=777236&rank=section

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