First observation of Sisyrinchium platycaule (Asparagales; Iridaceae) on Inaturalist.

Make the first observation on Inaturalist is an important event because this observation can be used later to made more identifications of the same species. The genus Sisyrinchium have around 150 described species and many of this species have very similiar morphology.

October 27 I decided make some photos, I choosed a pasture to explore for herbs and insects. I found some Sisyrinchium, I was looking for rare species and ignored Sisyrinchium micranthum. Three forms looked diferent from S. micranthum and I took shots. Later, when I upload the pictures I was convinced that one of them are S. micranthum, despite it looked diferent at field.

To identify I consulted Flora e Funga do Brasil site (https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/listaBrasil/PrincipalUC/PrincipalUC.do;jsessionid=F0F858585E5FCCDE8A4EFA8F22A5EB6A) and made a search selcting genus Sisyrinchium and state of Rio Grande do Sul. Most of the species have pictures and I could compare with my own photos. One of them, that I thinked was S. micranthum, matched perfectly with S. platycaule images. Compared with S. micranthum is a smaller plant with free tepals, with a different tepal color pattern.

It was the first observation on Inaturalist identified as S. platycaule. I found another of my observations that matched as S. platycaule, misidentified as S. micranthum. Later, I searched the site for more observations of this species and found a total of 7 observations.

I believe this species was overlooked because is hard to identify and don't attract much attention of naturalists at field. Also, the region of occurence still have very little botanic identifiers.

Posted on 30 de outubro de 2023, 02:29 PM by regisrafael