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Botanical Bioblitz Turns up Almost 100 Species Of Plants At Saguaro National Park

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A small example of the nearly 100 species of wildflowers at Saguaro National Park/Kurt Repanshek

Gaze across the flower-dotted landscape of Saguaro National Park and it's hard to immediately discern how many species are spread out in front of you. But a recent Bioblitz at the park in southern Arizona turned up near 100 species of plants, including two not previously known to grow in the park.

The Bioblitz was held March 7. More than 100 volunteers followed seven botanists across the parkscape to count wildflower species. They identified 99 species of winter annual flowering plants. Eighty-three species of flowers were identified in the Tucson Mountain District (west) and 59 species were identified in the Rincon Mountain District (east).

"The show of public support and enthusiasm for the project was impressive and we would like to thank all those who contributed to the data collection," said Andy Fisher, the park's chief of interpretation.

Within the nearly 100 species were two plants not previously known to be in the park, including western tansy mustard (Descurainia pinnata ssp. ochroleuca) and western marsh cudweed (Gnaphalium palustre). The University of Arizona is assisting the park by confirming the identity of these two new plants.

In addition, the park was able to officially list another species that had been known to exist but had not yet been added to the park herbarium collection. Matthiola parviflora is highly invasive and park staff and volunteers have been actively removing it through the weed-free trails initiative.

Because the Bioblitz was focusing on winter annual flowers, there were many other flowering perennial plants such as bahia, larkspur, and globe mallow, which were also beginning to bloom but were not counted as part of the one-day survey.

"It is not too late to appreciate the beauty of this season's flowers," added Fisher. "There are more species coming into full bloom within both the east and west districts of the park, right now."

The staff encourages the public to come out and enjoy some colorful landscapes, to bring their cameras to capture the rainbow of colors available now, and share them on the park's Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #SaguaroNPS

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