#bonap

[burningeyeslikestars]

[autisticplants]

bro my orthodontist asked me for a native plant she can keep in her screened porch in a pot thats like. part shade yknow and the fucking floodgates opened. AND I ONLY RECOMMENDED MALVAVISCUS ARBOREUS I DIDNT EVEN GO INTO OTHER PLANTS I JUST INFODUMPED ABOUT THAT FHDHFJDHFHDJFJGG help.

[neverfeltthewinterquitesodead]

it would be even more amazing if you could search for your county and have it all linked to the bonap database but BOY would that be a long list. and a lot to implement.

absolutely blissful looking through native plant images

[dailybotany]

found this weird flower on a fence at my local community garden and i was wondering if it could be id’ed? unfortunately i couldn’t get any other pictures than this one. im in south florida but ive never seen anything like this before so i have to assume its nonnative. flower was about the size of my palm if that helps. thanks!

@salty-but-bland It looks like blue passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) to me! They are native to South America, but have been introduced widely through cultivation. There are some Passiflora species that are native to your area, though! If you're curious, I'd check out BONAP (here) for range maps (it has its issues with accuracy, as any large aggregation of data can and is a little out of date, but still relatively reliable!)

[smoqueen]

Bonap O. Teat

[rebeccathenaturalist]

How to Identify American Holly

Click here to learn more about the How to Identify article series.

Name: American Holly (Ilex opaca)

Range and typical habitat(s): Typically southeastern United States, from eastern Texas to the Atlantic coast, southern Missouri, and central Florida to scattered portions of New England. iNaturalist observations also place it in portions of Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Oklahoma, showing some expansion compared to the 2014 BONAP map, so its range may be expanding in response to climate change. In most of its range it is an understory tree growing in the shade of larger species. However, in Florida’s scrub habitat it grows as a shrub.

Photo by Derek Ramsay, GNU FDL 1.2

Distinguishing physical characteristics (size, colors, overall shapes, detail shapes): At first glance American holly looks quite similar to the European holly (Ilex aquifolium) so commonly used got holiday decorations (more about the differences between the two below.) It has medium to dark green oval-shaped leaves, sometimes with a yellowish tint, whose margins (edges) have concave curves between sharp points that are regularly spaced; large leaves may reach three inches long.

Photo by Famartin, CCA-SA-4.0-INTL

The American holly’s leaves have a leathery, stiff texture, and may appear waxy, and the underside is paler, often yellow in color. Each leaf has a central vein (midrib) that is depressed, appearing almost like a deep crease. Thinner veins branch off of both sides of the midrib. Some leaves may display smooth margins instead of the more typically spiky ones, especially when they are high enough to be out of the reach of browsing herbivores like deer.

The foliage stays green throughout the year rather than being shed in fall; a given leaf may stay on the tree for up to three years before being displaced by a new replacement leaf. The leaves grow in an alternate pattern along a twig, with each leaf growing a little further along the twig than the last. The tree’s branches and trunk are covered in pale gray bark that is relatively smooth, but may have horizontal and vertical striations, along with various nodes and bumps, and might also play host to white patches of microlichen colonies. Other lichens, as well as mosses, also may add color to the American holly’s bark.

Photo by Krzysztof Ziarnek, CCA-SA-4.0-INTL

An exceptional specimen of American holly can reach almost 100 feet tall when mature, though it grows slowly. Such large trees are generally a century or more old, and the oldest on record was just a few years shy of 150.

The flowers of American holly are small (1/2″ or less across) with green centers and four (sometimes six) white petals that are broad with a rounded end, and whose tips curve back toward the plant. They grow in clusters of several flowers sprouting from one spot. American holly is dioecious, meaning that there are female and male plants; the males tend to reach sexual maturity a few years earlier than the females, but they all are generally reproducing by the age of ten.

When fertilized by insects the female flowers then turn into the well-known red berries. Technically these are drupes rather than true berries, with four seeds apiece, and while they start out green they ripen to a bright red. The berries are popular with birds like cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum), but are toxic to humans and our pets.

Photo by Douglas Goldman, CCA-SA-4.0

Other organisms it could be confused with and how to tell the difference: Due to their similarity, American holly and European holly may easily be confused at first glance, and both prefer the understory of a forest. However, the European species does not grow as large. The leaves of European holly are darker and have a glossier appearance; the edges may also be more warped where those of American holly lie comparatively flat. Moreover, European holly grows more commonly along the west coast of North America, and is more sparse throughout American holly’s native range, especially outside of cultivated spaces.

European holly (Ilex aquifolium)

Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) is another species native to the southeastern North America, particularly the Gulf Coast states and the southern third of the Atlantic coast. It is a much smaller shrub that rarely exceeds thirty feet tall, and its leaves are round with serrated or scalloped edges rather than the pointed margins of American holly. The petals of the flowers may not curve as much as on American holly.

Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria)

Dahoon holly (Ilex cassine) also grows in the extreme southeastern United States, from Louisiana to the southern tip of North Carolina, and primarily along the coastline except in Florida where it can be found across much of the peninsula. Its leaves are longer and more slender than those of American holly, and the margins are almost entirely smooth except for a series of very small spikes.

Dahoon holly (Ilex cassine). Photo by Douglas Goldman, CCA-SA-4.0

Possumhaw (Ilex decidua) has long, slender leaves with a gently pointed tip and serrated edges. This deciduous plant drops its leaves in fall, unlike the evergreen American holly.

Possumhaw (Ilex decidua)

There are other plants that have similar leaves to American holly but that grow out of its range, such as the various species of Oregon grape (Mahonia spp.) in the Pacific Northwest, and holm oak (Quercus ilex), for which the genus Ilex was originally named.

Further reading:

USDA: American Holly

North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Ilex opaca

Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Ilex opaca

Native Plant Trust: Ilex opaca – American holly

University of Connecticut Plant Database: Ilex opaca

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[bplant-org]

We are on Tumblr!

Hello, we are here finally!!!

This account is run by Alex (@cazort) who is a long-time Tumblr user and previously posted about our site only through their own account, and who does almost all of the work on our site, although we rely on contributions from a ton of other photographers for contributing open-licensed images, and lots of help with consulting (and our logo) by @sylviaodhner.

And of course we also rely on tons of other websites and resources including iNaturalist, BONAP, POWO, USDA PLANTS, Illinois Wildflowers, Go Botany, and many others, including lots of books and print sources. So we are somewhat of a collaborative effort, building off tons of other resources.

Not 100% sure what we are going to post here? It will probably be random and involve lots of pictures of plants.

Feel free to send plant-ecology-related asks!

We cover all of North America but we have focused more on the northeastern U.S. and gradually working our way west and south, so for now we may be a bit more useful for people in the eastern to central parts of the continent, but the hope is to cover everything.

[cazort]

okay now go out and do this IRL with actual endangered species

BTW it is actually not that hard to do with plants on a local scale, especially with species that are still common in parts of their range, but have become locally endangered. I have managed to reintroduce two locally-extirpated species in my county, and they are now thriving, and if you go even more micro than that, you can reintroduce species to small, fragmented habitats like small forested parks in urban areas.

if you reintroduce native plant species, typically the animals that depend on them will just show up, usually because insects show up to eat the plants and then as enough insects you get more animals like birds and small mammals that eat both insects and seeds, and then it turn these support other animals.

you can start getting into this by using tools like iNaturalist, and BONAP to look up how to ID things and what is native to your area and such. I also run bplant.org which also has resources on what is native where and links to all sorts of other sites

[pseudomonaslisa]

this is mlm-wlw solidarity

[cazort]

Wow, it was surreal getting a notification about this post. I made this post 8 years ago and since then, things have changed and I've also learned a lot about what resources are out there, and even created new resources!

USDA PLANTS is no longer the best source. Biota of North America Project, a.k.a. BONAP, has much more accurate county-level maps that address many of the shortcomings of the USDA maps.

But also, a few years ago, I started bplant.org, which also has plant range maps (also more recently I started a Tumblr for it: @bplant-org) but bplant's range maps are done by ecoregion, not by political boundaries like states or counties. They're currently not quite as detailed or fine-resolution as BONAP's county-level maps, but I think ecoregions are a much more logical and science-based way of tracking what is native where. (Here's an explanation of why ecoregions are better than political boundaries and here is a post about some later improvements I have made to bplant's maps, and note as of September 2022 all maps on bplant are the improved 2nd-generation maps referenced in that July 2021 post)

You can ideally combine both approaches, looking both at the coarser-level ecoregion-based maps on bplant, and BONAP's finer-level county-level maps.

Also you can donate to this project and I really appreciate donations. I want to some day (ideally as soon as possible) not only pay myself a living wage for working on this site, but also hire a staff. And of course, I also encourage you to donate to BONAP and other organizations working in plant conservation.

If You Care About Bees, Butterflies, Hummingbirds, and Other Pollinators

I see posts circulating about bees that are like, support bees, plant these flowers.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to what to plant to be best for bees. There are over 25,000 species of bees known worldwide (source). Insects co-evolve with plants, so bees native to a local area are best supported by plants native to that area. There are lots of other pollinators too, including butterflies, hummingbirds, wasps, and other insects and animals.

Some plants that are ideal for supporting bees in one area, might actually be harmful to plant in other areas. For example, Solidago canadensis is outstanding for supporting bees in North America. But in Europe, China, and Japan, it is invasive and supports few bees.

How can you help?

Plant flowers native to your local area

Plant wild-type species, not cultivars or named varieties of plants. Cultiivars often have been selected for altered flower sizes, shapes, or colors, which can make them less valuable to bees.

Plant flowers that bloom at different times of year

Plant flowers with different shapes, sizes, and colors

Plant lots of flowers and shrubs and trees and make your yard and garden lush and rich in biomass and biodiversity

How can you find out what is native?

In the U.S. the USDA maintains a plants profile for every plant, which shows a range map of where it is native (and/or where it has become invasive).  For example, here is the map for Solidago canadensis.  The USDA also has a plant guide for many plants, here is the plant guide for Solidago canadensis. It can tell you a lot about the plant, and there’s a section for “pollinator habitat”.

To look up a specific plant, type in its common name in a search engine, and figure out the scientific name.  Then search for the scientific name together with “USDA plant profile” or “USDA plant guide” and you can look up this guide.  People living in other regions will need to find other resources but there are lots of resources that can help you learn both what plants are native to your area, and which ones support the most bees.

I also know a lot about ecology and gardening, so if you have a question about anything related to native plants and supporting ecosystems through your garden, please ask me! I live in Delaware am especially knowledgeable about the mid-Atlantic US.

Please reblog this to help raise awareness of these issues!

[dykered]

Christina in the new bonap video is calling a girl called emma in her house...is she....you know..... bonap diehard fans please tell me i need to know

[mrfahrenheit46]

benhardy1: When there's a great view behind you but a far better one in front of you @joemazzello

I guess cardboard ben is jealous now

[geosesarma]

Well "midwest" is..... not explaining the full story for E. purpurea lol, its a bit fuzzy where it does and doesn't naturally range, nor is BONAP fully updated for the extent of its introduced range (iNaturalist gives a bit of a clearer picture?) but you can see how some of its native range fringes (green counties are common and native yellow is rare and native) DO extend into the southeast into the belt of longleaf pine savanna

Theres also Echinacea laevigata, a tried and true east coast endemic found along the piedmont thats historically had a small, patchy range thats only gotten smaller and patchier due to habitat destruction, it was since 1992 federally endangered but was bumped down to threatened a year ago due to the success of conservation/restoration efforts, population's pretty stable now to my knowledge

Yep. Plants Time

Pontederia cordata - Pickerelweed Verbena hastata - Blue Vervain Monarda fistulosa - Wild Bergamot Asclepias incarnata - Swamp Milkweed Sagittaria latifolia - Broadleaf Arrowhead Coreopsis lanceolata (!) - Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Nonnative to New Jersey, but often included in native seed mixes used for restoration projects, though considering its native range on the east coast ends in Virginia/How well it does up here and further north maybe it did range up here prior to glaciation?) Cyperus squarrosus - Bearded Flatsedge Solidago juncea - Early Goldenrod Echinacea purpurea (!) - Purple Coneflower (Another nonnative-native, a classic plant of midwest prairies thats been spread nationwide through both garden escapees and inclusion in native seed mixes) -8/23, Bergen County, NJ

[bplant-org]

We interlinked with another website, Maryland Biodiversity Project (MBP), which tracks not only plants but all living organisms in the state of Maryland. What this means is that, where records exist, the plant pages (2,949 have been linked up) on our site now link to the corresponding pages on MBP. We still have 285 unmatched records which require manual review (such as because the scientific names don't match, which is common when plants classified differently by different authorities.)

MBP is super significant for two reasons. Not only is it the most valuable resources for researching plants in the state of Maryland, but it addresses a hole or weak point in the data on plant distribution.

The main two sources people use when researching plant distribution in the US are the USDA PLANTS database, and BONAP, which is a non-profit that has expanded on and improved the USDA PLANTS data. Both of these sites have county-level data for most of the entire lower 48 states. However, for some reason, Maryland lacked such data. BONAP had been gradually improving on this, and had made significant progress, but since BONAP covers the whole US, it still had quite a few instances of missing data.

MBP is super thorough, filling in extensive gaps and giving unparallelled, comprehensive coverage for the entire state.

We give the example below of a specific plant: American Burnweed (Erechtites hieraciifolius), which is a common weedy plant that is native and ecologically beneficial. This species had extensive missing data in the USDA, and still some missing data in BONAP, but it actually occurs in all counties of Maryland as reported by MBP (anyone in Maryland can check this, it's a common plant and you can find it just about anywhere!)

Especially if you live in Maryland, check out MBP! It is a very cool project and covers a lot more than just plants.

[scarlettqueen98-blog]

I just squealed on a bus full of kids omg this is too pure😍😍

[sujini123]

👯‍♀️ ᴍᴇʀᴄɪ ᴇᴛ ʙᴏɴ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴛɪᴛᴇ 🥂 - thαnkѕ fσr αll thє lσvєlч вírthdαч wíѕhєѕ αnd gíftѕ 😘🙏 - #saturdaynight #bonap #fitzroy #brunswickstreet #bonappetitbistro #authentic #frenchrestaurant #melbourne #australia #weekend #1664blanc #jambon #etc #goodtimegoodcompany #melblife (at Bon Ap) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoDoPVkFG47/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1gzk1y6r9cyh0