Big Thicket Observations
All my Big Thicket observations are up (except for a few outside the preserve boundary)! For those who weren't there, it was a great trip. There were a lot of highlights but I've only chosen a few here. Aside from the general awesomeness of the trip, it also gave me a few thoughts on Euphorbia.
Firstly, I saw two species in person for the first time: E. corollata and E. cordifolia. I also saw two species on the preserve that were not on the plant list (Euphorbia prostrata and E. hyssopifolia). I also saw a species (not on the preserve but nearby) that is not known from East Texas (E. serpillifolia; unless it turns out to be E. meganaesos, but that's a potentially complicated story for another day). Euphorbia serpillifolia is only known from the Trans-Pecos in Texas.
Lastly, @ellen5 noticed today that the cyathial appendages of the Euphorbia corollata plants at the preserve were shorter than those growing further northeast. The short solution would be to call all the plants E. pubentissima and be done with it. However, I ended up looking at the two specimens I collected in the area and comparing them to the new volume of the Flora of North America. One of these specimens keyed to one of three different species depending on which one of three different characters were used. This ultimately means that there is some work to do in the complex and a new taxonomic problem to untangle.
Overall, I'd say it was a productive and fun trip .... even if I didn't see Euphorbia humistrata.
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It was a totally grand time and a great opportunity for me to learn from and be inspired by all the experts. Thanks for all your help, Nathan!
I am still slowly working on getting my observations reported soon... Too many places to go and irons in the fire the past week. Looking forward to the next meet up!
Awesome! You all made a lot of observations at Big Thicket. Is anyone writing up a summary? Did you get a group photo? Tagging @sambiology
I suppose I should write up a little summary of the trip, @carrieseltzer -- @briang did get a group photo, although it was missing quite a few folks that were off exploring! :) It was bioblitztastic!
Hopefully if this happens again, we can 'encourage' more TX national parks to participate. :)
@sambiology PLEASE write a trip summary! This is a valuable demonstration of what you can accomplish with a trained and motivated bunch of people. This was a massively productive BioBlitz that doesn't at all qualify as "mini", except possibly in budget ;-)
@sambiology Could you include the photo and a list of those missing in it? Thanks...
@nathantaylor7583 I pulled "weeds" from the Milam County Master Gardener chapters's demonstration garden this morning... almost three 5-gallon buckets of Nodding Spurge (Euphorbia nutans). Such beautiful specimens!
@connlindajo Wow! That's a lot of spurges. You're making me drool! ;)
A trip summary would be really nice. I really hope Big Bend decides to jump on the bandwagon. It seems like a good way to get large numbers of observations.
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