Research grade number holding steady
Sometimes the research grade species count moves backwards! I was briefly up to 1191 but am now back to 1190. The culprit is this plant--or rather, my misidentification of it. I had identified this as Hippodroma longiflora, or "Star of Bethlehem," a tropical flower with FIVE PETALS. And worse than that, I did it twice, and both times someone came along and AGREED with me! The strength of iNaturalist is in the sheer number of experts using the site, so that blunders like these inevitably get sorted out.
This plant turns out to be (most likely, let's not act too confident) Ornithogalum umbellatum, or "Star of Bethlehem." That is to say, one of at least eleven different species of plant with this name. Is there a crisis of imagination in the botanical naming field? Maybe let's tap the brakes on the religious symbolism names for the next few hundred years. Anyway, O. umbellatum is an Old World plant that was brought to North American gardens, from whence it escaped to become listed as invasive in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and a few other spots. It requires a freeze to get the bulbs to propagate, likely limiting it's spread. Due to its schedule of blooming from midday to sundown it also has the common names "nap at noon" and "eleven o'clock lady."
