#plant psa

[trexalicious]

A reminder for those of us with cats at Easter that lilies of ANY kind are BAD for cats. Some species such as Calla, Peace and Peruvian do not cause kidney damage or death like Easter and daylilies, but they can still cause irritation and gastrointestinal issues if ingested...

[rebeccathenaturalist]

hey there! fellow naturalist (albeit less experienced!) here! in regards to the AI-generated ID guides, do you have any advice for helping the general public learn to recognize them? are there any giveaways other than incorrect information a layperson might not pick up on that we can tell people to watch out for?

Hi, @fischotterkunst! It's a messy topic, to be sure, but here's what I've been seeing of these AI-generated texts, at least on Amazon:

--If you sort your search for "foraging book" or "mushroom hunting" or whatever search string you use by "Newest Arrivals", you'll notice that there is a glut of books that have come out in the past few weeks. Yes, there are always new books, but this is at a higher than normal rate, which suggests AI is behind at least some of them. There ARE occasionally real authors' books that just happened to come out recently, so don't dismiss every single book that is a fresh release. Use the other criteria below.

--They will invariably be self-published or from some publisher with zero online presence. Not a problem by itself; my own chapbooks are self-published on Amazon KDP. But they come out every three months, not every three days, because I am researching, writing, and editing them all myself, rather than churning out content with AI.

--The titles and subtitles are often very long and stuffed with keywords. They are obviously optimized for search engines rather than being descriptive of the book and they have a rather clunky fashion.

--Look for obvious typos and other errors; for example, in the image above we have "WILD MUSHROOM COOKBOOK FOR BEGINNER: The complete guide on mushroom foraging and cooking with delicious recipes to enjoy your favorite". It should be "for beginners", and the subtitle just...ends prematurely. Favorite what? Favorite mushrooms? Favorite cartoon characters? Favorite color? Also, while there are lot of variations on name spellings, "Magaret" instead of "Margaret" stands out as a possible fake in combination with other clues. (All her other books also have this spelling, though.)

--This is a BIG one: Who's the author? Check their bio. In the above image you'll see that "Jason Cones", the author of "The Wild Edible Plants Forager's Handbook: A Beginner's Guide to Safe Foraging, Including How to Identify Edible Plants, Learn About Their Medicinal Properties, and Prepare Them for Cooking", has a very generic picture and bio that has pretty obviously been generated by AI. If you search for him online, the only page for an author named Jason Cones is the Amazon author page--no website, no social media, no interviews, nada. Even a brand new author will at least have something other than their Amazon page, and they'll mention experience, credentials, other biographical info.

--Look at the author's other books. Magaret seems to focus on cookbooks of very specific sorts, but again they've all come out in a very short time. They also tend to often be on really super-specific niche subjects--this, again, is not a red flag in and of itself, but it's a common pattern with AI "authors". Jason Cones, on the other hand, has written over two dozen books not just about foraging but anger management techniques, acupressure, and weed gummies, and all of his titles have come out since last December.

--If all the books have the same cover but slight differences in title, it's also a big red flag. There are reputable publishers of regional foraging guides like Timber Press, but their books are written by multiple authors and have come out over a long stretch of years (plus they're a well-known publisher with a solid track record, online presence, etc.) Also notice the typos in the title and subtitle; everyone says "Mushroom Foraging", not "Mushrooms Foraging", and "Keep Track Your Mushroom Sightings" is missing "of".

--Compare the descriptions of multiples of these new books and you start seeing patterns. If you look at the images above, you'll notice that both Lorna K. Thompson's "Foraging Recipe Cookbook" and Kevin Page's "The Ultimate Foraging Guide for Seniors" have a very similar formulaic description. They start with a brief story about a person in a town or village who discovers some foraging secrets and then transforms his life, and then a list of things you're supposedly going to find in this seemingly miraculous book. This basically reads like "Hey, ChatGPT, tell me a story of a person who improved their life with foraging in two hundred words or less!" Also, the ends got cut off of my screen shot, but they both end with "GET YOUR COPY TODAY!"

I have not purchased any of these books to verify how awful the content is, but what little content I can see in the previews is uniformly formulaic and, again, reads like someone asked an AI to write content on a topic with some specific keywords thrown in. Needless to say, I do NOT recommend any of these books.

Also, I feel really bad for any actual authors who released their books in the past few months. They're likely getting drowned out by this AI junk, though hopefully they're getting enough attention for their work through their publishers, social media, etc. to get some sales. Support your real-life authors, and boycott AI!

Finally, PLEASE reblog this! It's really, really important that people know what to look for, and the more posts we have floating around with this info, the less likely it is someone's going to get poisoned by following what these books have to say.

[another-little-hippie]

POST FOR PENISES!

[woodsy-hoe]

exploring in the ferns :-)

[dailybotany]

Rhodiola rosea - roseroot

Found on cliffs, ledges, and sea-beaches in Arctic and sub-Arctic/boreal regions, this plant is threatened in several countries and is listed by CITES in Appendix II (not necessarily threatened/endangered, but requiring trade regulation to avoid "utilization incompatible with their survival).

In recent years, populations have shrunk dramatically as the herbal medicine market has increased demand for Rhodiola rosea to "treat" a wide variety of ailments, despite the fact that mild anti-anxiety/stress effects are the only effects that have received any support from peer-reviewed studies (source). Supply for this market is entirely sourced through wild harvest and is the greatest threat this species currently faces.

[genuinebluff]

In Times of Emergency, ask yourself: It it time to BITE?

B : Bandage Tightly: bandages can never be tight enough.

I : Ignore Distress : They're trying to distract you from helping them by saying things like "I don't want your help!"

T : Talk Constantly : Speaking rapidly and at a high rate of volume is calming.

E : Elevate Aggressively : An injury can truly never be elevated enough, go to any length to ensure maximum elevation.

[lunar-bunn]

I thought the very first rule of toxic plants was: DO NOT BURN

[imperfectparakeet]

Milkweed PSA

DO NOT plant non-native milkweed

Milkweed is where Monarch Butterflies lay their eggs. Planting milkweed is great and you should definitely if you live somewhere in north or south America. However if you are, please spend a few minutes to google if the milkweed you are looking to plant is native. Non-native milk weed disrupts their migration as well as increasing the chances of parasites spreading between monarchs. It does not take that long to google it so please if you are going to plant milkweed plant what is native to your area.

[sap-woods]

[dustybones]

thinkin about wfa Ivy

[daisiesonafield-blog]

CANADA RECALL

Full article here

UPDATE AUG 14 2024:

Link

[ralfmaximus]

Explore 6000+ plants, sorted by pretty much any criteria. Then find the cheapest way to buy them.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

How to Identify Spotted Lanternflies

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

Name: Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma deliculata)

Range and typical habitat(s): Native range includes China and Japan; is invasive in North America and South Korea

Distinguishing physical characteristics (size, colors, overall shapes, detail shapes) and behaviors: The spotted lanternfly is a distinctive looking insect at any stage of development. The nymphs/instars have round, black bodies that taper to a small head with two large, round, yellowish eyes, one on either side. Younger instars have white spots, while the fourth and final instar additionally features bright red patches on its body. They do not have wings.

The adult spotted lanternfly is about an inch long, and is tan to light grayish-brown with a dark head and legs, and a dark triangle on the shoulders. The forewings also feature dark spots, and a dark web-like pattern at the wingtips, which are rounded in shape. The hindwings are often cover when the insect is at rest, but when spread they display bright red patches with black spots, and the distal ends are black with a white horizontal bar across each. The abdomen is thick and has yellow stripes, and the tip of the abdomen is red. The head is comparatively small, and again has two yellowish round eyes. In spite of having wings, they do not properly fly. Instead, they use these wings to help them leap from one plant to another.

The nymphs usually hatch in April or May. By July, the first adults appear, and prepare to mate and lay eggs. One female can lay up to fifty eggs that are protected in a waxy casing; they look a bit like a clump of clay or dirt stuck to a tree, wall, or other surface. They will overwinter in that spot, and in fact the colder the temperatures the more eggs hatch the following spring. The adults, meanwhile, usually die off by the end of the year; a lanternfly that has reached one year in age is geriatric indeed.

Spotted lanternflies are herbivorous; the nymphs prefer the tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), but will also opportunistically feed on other plants, ranging from trees to grapevines to soybeans. The nymphs and adults both suck sap from their host tree using specialized mouthparts, and in sufficient numbers can be deadly to the plant. All told, spotted lanternflies have been observed feeding on the better part of two hundred plant species.

Other organisms it could be confused with and how to tell the difference: There are two other species in the genus Lycorma that look quite similar to L. deliculata; both are found solely in Asia. L. imperialis, found in China, India, and Bangladesh, looks almost identical to L. deliculata, except the base color of the forewings in adults tends to be darker and greener in tone than the grayish-brown seen in L. deliculata. The coloration on L. imperialis’ abdomen may also vary, with orange or red patches being common.

L. imperialis. Photo by Tanja Popp, CCA-SA-4.0-Intl

L. meliae is more obviously a different species than L. deliculata. Its forewings are a deep red with the same black spots and webbing pattern. There is also a variant that is solid black except for white spots on the forewings, with a deep red to orange abdomen with black stripes or splotches. L. meliae is only found in Taiwan.

L. meliae. Photo by Lin Sun-Fong, CC BY-SA 2.0

Anything else worth mentioning? Spotted lanternflies are considered to be a highly invasive insect in North America; they arrived by accident in 2014 and have been spreading throughout the northeast since then. They do significant damage to crops such as soybeans (Glycine max) and apples (Malus domestica), and also attack native plants like black walnut (Juglans nigra) and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). The nymphs parasitize the tree in such large numbers that they can cause severe damage in a short period of time. Additionally, leaking sap from the tree as well as the nymphs’ waste (honeydew) not only drip onto the plants’ leaves and hinder photosynthesis, but they also promote fungal growth that further injures the plant.

In its native range, the spotted lanternfly’s usual host is the tree of heaven. Like the lanternfly, this tree is also highly invasive in North America, and has been a key factor facilitating the spread of spotted lanternflies. Many efforts to control or prevent the spread of lanterflies involve removing tree of heaven, which can be quite difficult to eliminate completely. However, evidence is growing that lanternfly nymphs that feed on plants other than tree of heaven are not as healthy, and this may be a crucial control in keeping these insects in check.

People in North America who find the nymphs or adults, and especially egg casings, are encouraged to smash them on sight. Other regions around the world that regularly trade agricultural products with China or North American countries are also on the lookout for any sign of spotted lanternflies being introduced.

Further Reading:

USDA APHIS: Spotted Lanternfly

PennState Extension: Spotted Lanternfly

Invasive Bug Prompts Quarantine In Pennsylvania Townships

Spotted Lanternfly in New Jersey: What you need to know

Spotted Lanternfly (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) Can Complete Development and Reproduce Without Access to the Preferred Host, Ailanthus altissima

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!

[tired-space-politician]

"Speaking of minor to great medical annoyances. I'd like to remind everyone to not go running up and down stairs in a hurry. Don't be like my mun who tripped up the stars and abraided her hands on some asphalt and has some truly astonishingly large bruises on both legs to match. Mun is fine, mun just has hands covered in the equivalent of 10,000 shallow paper cuts in the shape of little moon craters."

[blubushie]

NEW MAGGIE PICS DROPPED

(my mom bought flowers and she just made herself comfortable)

OH BEBBY OH...

[niymue]

HELLO 🩶 I JUST LEFT FOR VACATION WITHOUT MY COMPUTER SO I WILL DO ALL MY UNANSWERED WCIFS WHEN I GET HOME. LOVE U BE GOOD SEE U SOON 🩶🩶🩶