O is for Orobanche uniflora - One-flowered cancer root! This parasitic plant species grows across North America, but I found this one on a sand dune in the San Rafael Swell. You can tell it’s parasitic because it doesn’t have any green parts.

The coolest thing about programming (not with LLMs, actually coding) is how close it is to spells. When you know how to code, the computer does what you tell it to. It's pleasing and beautiful. Chatbots take away that ability and skill, in totality forever, since they cannot follow instructions.

Excited to dig into this list! I'm sure I read 24 of them, maybe more. Including Shel Silverstein really sold me

It's the perfect time in northern Utah for coffee in the backyard. We (Francis the Dog and I) are really enjoying "Grizzled" by @bittelmethis.bsky.social . It makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood animal nerd tenancy and grateful for my career as a scientist

Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

post the best picture you have ever taken of your pet (if you feel like it):

STOP PUTTING AI IN ALL MY STUFF www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

I tell my students that writing is an exercise in figuring out what you think; it's not a place to deposit what you've already worked out. If you step on a frictionless surface, momentum takes over and you just slide; there's nothing to interact with, which means there's nowhere to stand.

If you don’t stop in mid-sentence to check a thing and then three hours later you’ve learned the entire history of canned food but not finished the sentence, why even be a writer?!

YOU CAN'T MAKE ME

The Wetlands Team jumped at the chance [pun intended] to join the Division of Wildlife Resources while they counted Columbia Spotted Frogs (Rana luteiventris) in the West Desert!

Fun #TenMinuteMerlin out in Utah's West Desert. White-crowned sparrow was a new one for me! The thrasher and plover were incorrect, but I still got excited at the possibility

I tried out @skwinnicki.bsky.social 's #TenMinuteMerlin thing at my home in Salt Lake and holy crap!!! What a great idea!! 10 minutes I can't use my phone to doom scroll and I re-learned the Robin's call that has made me so happy this week

N is for Nicotiana attenuata - Coyote Tobacco! The leaves of this native tobacco have a long tradition of ceremonial smoking use by indigenous Americans. Europeans took notice of the fragrant clouds & brought tobacco back to Europe. Ceremonial smoking was much different from smoking today.

Ugh. Left town for work and even on the weekend, things are happening. Awful things. Enjoy Desert Dog helping with a wetland delineation

M is for Mitella pentandra (yellow) and M. stauopetala (white) - miterworts! I couldn’t choose my favorite and the wacky petals on miterworts are very hard to capture using a cell phone camera.

Happy World Wetlands Day! Did you know that 75% of Utah’s wildlife relies on wetlands at some point in their life? Three-percent of our land area is responsible for so much food and sheltering! Wetlands also help improve water quality, sequester carbon, and reduce drought and flooding risks!

This is a post about animal excrement and the English language. bull$#!% = nonsense/lies chicken$#!% = petty or cowardly horse$#!% = nonsense/lies dog$#!%= low quality ape$#!% = wild bat$#!%= crazy Ordered above from oldest to newest: bull$#!% (1914), bat$#!% (1971).

L - Lupinus argenteus - silvery lupine. Linneaus assigned the name Lupinus (“wolf-like”) because he believed they degraded the land, but they actually improve it! Lupines are legumes which form symbioses with soil fungi that allow them to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and add it to soils!

Check out my latest thing on #Phragmites in UGS's Survey Notes: geology.utah.gov/map-pub/surv...

K is for Astragalus kentrophyta - spiny milkvetch. I had a helluva time finding a native Utah species that starts with K and that I had pics of. I'm bending my own arbitrary rules because one of the old genus names for this milkvetch is Kentrophyta. And it's adorbs.

J is for Juniperus osteosperma - Utah Juniper. Junipers are one of the most common, awesomest trees here, striking dramatic, twisting poses all over the desert. They grow slowly: 0.05 inches in diameter a year. But they live for a very long time; they don’t even make seeds until trees are 30 yrs old

I is for Iris missouriensis - the Rocky Mountain Iris. This stunner grows in wet meadows across the West (pictured here in the La Sal mountains). It takes a few years to establish, but once it does the Iris can tolerate drought and flooding.

G is for Gentianella amarella - Autumn dwarf gentian. I was so excited to find this beauty on Heliotrope Mountain (11,132 ft) then so disappointed to find no fun facts about Gentianella on the interwebs. Actual facts are very cool. Gentians grow at high elevation, living in the harshest elements.

F is for Fallugia paradoxa: Apache Plume, a gorgeous desert shrub in the Rose Family (Rosaceae). The enchanting feathery bits are styles that remain after the petals fall. When the ovaries mature into seeds, the styles catch on the wind and carry the seeds to a new location they can germinate in.

E is for Eriophorum scheuchzer: white cottongrass. This is in the same family as bulrushes and sedges, but has a look all it's own. Cottongrass grows most often in the northern latitudes of Alaska and Canada, but can be found in high elevation wetlands farther south, like the Uinta mountains.

C is for Circaea alpina: Small Enchanter’s Nightshade. This enchanting beauty grows in moist soils of the forest understory. One source calls it a “juicy perennial.” Despite its common name, it's not a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), it’s in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae)

B is for Bidens cernua - Nodding beggarstick. The genus name Bidens is not affiliated with any American political parties, it’s a combination of ‘bi’ (two) and ‘den’ (tooth), named because of it’s toothy fruits.

A is for Arnica cordifolia - Heartleaf arnica. This bright yellow flower thrives under conifer canopies, it’s such a delight to see. Arnica is a common type of tea, but this species has different ethnobotanical purposes. Poultices of the plant were used to treat swelling, bruises, and cuts.

Zoophilous: Animal-pollinated #BotanicalAnatomical Pollination is so cool. Flowers & pollinators evolving together, one gets to reproduce w/o inbreeding (plants) & the other gets sweet treats (the pollinator). Utah examples: Beetles pollinate flowers that can handle being crawled on (unknown aster)

As long as I live, I will never understand how “it should be easier for multi-billion-dollar corporations to dump poison in the water my children drink” became popular politics with half the country. www.nbcnews.com/science/envi... 🌎🧪

Bonus points if you use this word in your next 'Out Of Office' reply.

It's #InvasiveSpeciesAwareness Week when I'm extra insufferable about pointing out non-native plants. Wetlands grow so many invasive species because they're located in low places where seeds, plant bits, & garbage accumulate & the conditions are perfect for growing gnarly plants

Less than one fifteenth of a percent of the national budget. Thousands of dedicated, already-underpaid but passionate and incredibly important workers with the rug ripped out from under them. www.hcn.org/articles/peo...

Xenomorphic: Possessing obvious physical adaptations to a dry environment, such as the succulent, water storing stems of a cactus. #BotanicalAnatomical

This is a post about animal excrement and the English language. bull$#!% = nonsense/lies chicken$#!% = petty or cowardly horse$#!% = nonsense/lies dog$#!%= low quality ape$#!% = wild bat$#!%= crazy Ordered above from oldest to newest: bull$#!% (1914), bat$#!% (1971).

Weed: An aggressive plant which colonizes disturbed habitats and cultivated lands #BotanicalAnatomical Some of the worst weeds are also the prettiest. For example: bull thistle, dyer's woad, teasel, and myrtle spurge