My Seek Findings - August 2

My Seek findings - August 2 - By Felicia

I like to bring my phone along whenever I go outside, and not because of social media or games. It’s because I have a wonderful app called Seek, that I wrote an article about a few days ago that you can visit right here.

Recently, when I walked outside, I saw some really interesting plants, animals and fungi. All are fascinating, some are endangered, some are poisonous, and some are actually edible! This article will be all about my interesting observations in my neighborhood.

1. Oleander (Nerium oleander)

I observed this on July 24. After doing a bit of research on Seek, I found so much about it. This species was brought to the area by humans, and doesn’t naturally occur here. Oleander is very, very toxic in all its parts. It is the one and only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. It is so widely cultivated that no exact location of origin has been found as of now, though our best guess is that it originates from southwest Asia.

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Plantae (Plants)

  • Phylum Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)

    • Class Magnoliopsida (Dicots)

      • Order Gentianales (Gentians, Dogbanes, Madders and Allies)

        • Family Apocynaceae (Dogbane Family)

        • Genus Nerium (Nerium)

        • Nerium oleander (Oleander)

2. Trooping Crumble Cap (Coprinellus disseminatus)

I observed this on July 25. Trooping Crumble Cap is sometimes called fairy inkcap. Funnily enough, this mushroom is edible, but not very tasty, experts say.

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Fungi (Fungi including Lichens)

  • Phylum Basidiomycota (Basidiomycete Fungi)

    • Class Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)

      • Order Agaricales (Common Gilled Mushrooms and Allies)

        • Family Psathyrellaceae (Psathyrellaceae)

        • Genus Coprinellus (Coprinellus)

        • Coprinellus disseminatus (Trooping Crumble Cap)

3. Brown Rove Beetle (Platydracus maculosus)

I observed this on July 22. This species is native to Canada. Unfortunately, Seek didn’t provide any information about the brown rove beetle, but Seek did provide the taxonomy. Here it is.

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

  • Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

    • Class Insecta (Insects)

      • Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

        • Family Staphylinidae (Rove Beetles)

        • Genus Platydracus (Platydracus)

        • Platydracus maculosus (Brown rove beetle)

After scrolling further down, I discovered how rare this species is. Only 662 have been observed in both iNaturalist and Seek combined!

If you want to find out more about your environment with the Seek app, you can check out my previous article here.