I enjoyed BioBlitz a lot more than I expected.  I did the first shift and was placed in the plants group.  Our leader Bob led us to the Twin Lakes area where we examined and identified plant species around one area for about an hour and a half or so.  He explained the history of the Botanical Gardens and how it contained a huge area of natural growth in the center, which I found really interesting.  I had just learned/become aware of the fact that a lot of natural reserves and parks are not all truly natural areas and most are man-made.  I learned about this in Costa Rica where in one national park, the only section of land that was true natural forest was this little square of land that the old owners had kept as their front yard.

At the Twin Lakes, which Bob told us were natural, were a lot of trees and bush growth, as well as weeds.  He showed us a small weed, spotted spurge, that had a lot of very interesting features when looked at very closely.  We all used hand lens to look closer at the features and then identify them with certain plant manuals specific to the northeast area.

Spotted Spurge through a hand lens.

Avoiding a wasp nest on the ground, we looked at a bush further away from the paved road and near the expanse of trees.  In it were touch-me-nots with intricate yellow flowers and buds that explode on touch when they’re fully grown.  There were also porcelain berries in rich purples, blues, and aquas that are invasive to the area.

Porcelain Berries and Touch-Me-Nots

One of the organisms we picked up was a poisonous berry weed.  Apparently it is a mitogenic species that when consumed by mammals causes an overproduction of white blood cells until they consume the blood system and kill the person.  Scary.  It only take around 3 berries.  I definitely wouldn’t have known this without going to BioBlitz.

In part from Rob’s fascination and close examination of the species, weeds became much more interesting.  There’s a lot more to them then they are given credit.  We found two fuzzy leaved plants that looked similar, but had different amount of fuzz and both were apparently very different species.  The fuzzier one was commonly named lambs wool and the other was named flannel.

After we went into a lab to further examine things we found and learn how to store the species.  We used a flattening system of wooden boards and cardboard like pieces and dry mats to flatten multiple species together.  We learned to flip certain leaves over so that they can be examined in the future.  We also looked closer at the flannel leaf to see the little hairs closer.  See photos.

It was a really interesting experience getting to know more about the botanical garden and the plant species.  Rob’s enthusiasm and knowledge helped a lot to spark our interests.  I really liked learning especially about the specific protective features that evolved in these species, like poison or seed spread methods.  I would like to go back and investigate some more sometime!