Many things happened last year, so I didn’t go out hiking and photographing many new plants. That doesn’t mean the are no new Dent County Flora entries.
Beginning an Entry
Of course, I begin a new entry by taking photographs. This sounds easy, but can be very frustrating.
Plants don’t run off, however they do blow in the wind, get eaten by insects and other animals or stepped on. Then there are the ones I find once and, somehow, can never find again.
Each plant needs several pictures. First is one of the plant. Some plants are surrounded by other plants.
Second are pictures of the front and sides of the flowers, the leaves and the stems. These can often be done all at once.
The last picture is of the fruit or seedpod. Sometimes I have to go back several times before this is ready to photograph.
Which Plant Is It?
I can usually spot new plants, ones I haven’t seen before. I may not know the name of these plants, but I know they are new Dent County Flora entries.
My book shelf has many plant books on it. Some are popular plant guides put out by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Others are botanical works like Yatskievych’s three volume “Flora of Missouri”. Another favorite place to look is missouriplants.com.
I put pictures on iNaturalist. Sometimes someone there can identify this new plant.
Making an Entry Page
Usually the flower is the main photograph on the page. I crop and resize it to fir properly. The side of the flower, leaf, stem and fruit or seedpod form a column down one side.
Under the flower picture is the plant picture. Between them is a short comment about the plant like its habitat or key identification hints.
One thing I don’t do is tell people exactly where I find a plant, if it is rare or something people want to dig up. Some plants are so commonly found, it doesn’t matter as all a person has to do is slow down and look.
When Will the Flora get Done?
I don’t know if it ever will. In a way, I would like to finish it. In a way, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is getting out and looking for all of these interesting plants.