Geographical Extent:
Check   in map area   to limit the search to the current map area.

LAYERS

36.2709, -121.8315         Andrew Molera State Park (CDPR)

in selected area

These icons apply when the value of Documentation is reported:
Indicates a simple point.
Indicates an obscured point.
Indicates a record with a line or polygon.
Indicates a survey or checklist.
Indicates a quad (for certain plants in certain areas, only quad-level data is available).

This icon applies when the value of Documentation is specimen:
Indicates a specimen record.

This icon applies when the value of Documentation is potential habitat:
Indicates a record of potential habitat.

These icons apply if you have asked for zero count records or questionable records to be included in the results:
Indicates a record with Number of Plants equal to zero.
Indicates a questionable record.

detail: Open the detail page for this record, including all photos and any comments that may have been made on this record.

editor: Open Plant Observation Entry on this record.

location-closeup: Open the Plant Distribution application showing a close up view of the record location. It will show the polygon associated with this record, if there is one, and any nearby observations of the same plant.

comment (Calflora): Open the detail page for this record showing comments if any. If you are signed into Calflora you can add a new comment. This also works on CCH2 records.

Choosing Which Columns to Display
To show results in a table, the application comes with several predefined column sets. The default column set is called Basic, and includes a small photo, if one is available.

The column set called Photo View includes a larger version of the photo. The column set called Basic + Accuracy has no photo but includes two fields that indicate the spatial accuracy of the record: Location Quality (low, medium or high) and Error Radius (meters).

You can also make up a custom column set: open customize, and choose the columns you want. See this Data Dictionary for an explanation of all available columns.

Photos
If an observation has more than one photo, then a white number appears in the upper left of the photo indicating how many additional photos are part of this observation:

Sorting
Click on a column title to sort the results by that column. The first time you click, the results are sorted in ascending order, and the column head turns green. The second time you click, the results are sorted in descending order, and the column head turns orange.

Which Records are Excluded?
These types of records are excluded by default:

• records with zero plants
• questionable records
• records where the value of Documentation is potential habitat
• records where the value of Natural Status is not wild.

Scientific Name: Typeahead enabled. Type the first few letters of the plant you are looking for, and then choose it from the list. Typeahead also works with Common Name.

When are alternate scientific names included in a search? When you specify a complete scientific name, such as Frangula californica ssp. tomentella, the search results will also include alternate names of that plant, if they are equivalent. So for instance, a search for this plant will include records of Rhamnus tomentella.

(To see exactly which plant names are included for any particular plant, go to the Taxon Report for the plant, and look at the list of Alternate Names in the Name Status section. See Name Status Help for an explanation of how Calflora tracks accepted and alternate names.)

A plant name is referred to as a parent when there are recognized subspecies or varieties. So for instance, Frangula californica is a parent, because it has several subspecies (Frangula californica ssp. crassifolia etc.). When you search for a parent name, all subspecies and varieties are included in the search results. Any alternate names of the parent are also included in the search results, as well as any alternate names of its subspecies and varieties.

Other Data Sources: By default, a search from this application will only consider records contributed directly to Calflora. Open OTHER SOURCES to include data from other sources including the Consortium of California Herbaria (CCH2), the Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria, and/or iNaturalist.

Photos: Choose records with photos if you only want to see records that have photos. Some records have more than one photo, and only the first one is shown in the results -- press detail to see all of the photos for an observation.

Start Date, End Date: Use one, or the other, or both of these criteria to bracket the Observation Date of records you are interested in. Dates are entered in the format YYYY-MM-DD so that April 15, 2019 is written as 2019-04-15. If you enter 2019-05-20 as the end date, the result will include records that were entered on or before 2019-05-20. If you put the same date in both Start Date and End Date, the results will only include records entered on that date.

County

include surveys/checklists: By default, survey and checklist records are not included in the results. Check this box if you want them to be included.

Location Description Some observation records have useful information in the Location Description field. Enter a short phrase to find any records that contain that phrase in the Location Description field.

Phenology: Some contributors specify the phenology (for instance, Flowering) of the plant when they enter a record. Use this criterion to find records with a particular phenology.

Location Quality: HIGH - MEDIUM - LOW.
See also About Observation Datasets: Location Quality.

Plant List: To limit your search to certain specific plants, choose a plant list. Look for already defined plant lists with the Plant List Definition application, or define your own. Click on the view link to see an illustrated version of the plant list.

Natural Status:
any
WILD (the default value)
PLANTED
PLANTED - restoration site
uncertain

Indexed After, Before: Use one, or the other, or both of these criteria to bracket the Index Date (date added to Calflora) of records you are interested in. Dates are entered in the format YYYY-MM-DD so that April 15, 2023 is written as 2023-04-15.

Source: The source organization responsible for collecting the record.

Category: The category of plants you are looking for. One of
any
angiosperm
fern
gymnosperm
lycophyte
alga
bryophyte
lichen

Choose only vascular plants to eliminate algae, bryophytes and lichens.
See also About Calflora Categories.

Photo Contest Category: One of
any
Calchortus
Grasses + grasslike plants
Any other flowering plant
Gymnosperms
Ferns + Bryophytes

To make judging easier, observations entered into the May photo contest are divided into these five categories. There is a winner in each category. In past years there have been many entries of the various Calochortus species; this year they have their own category.

History Filter: A history stack is a way of organizing multiple records concerning the condition of a single patch over time. In a history stack, all of the records concerning the patch are linked back to the earliest, or root, record. When a history filter option has been chosen, a single record will be returned for each stack.

This criterion has three options:

all records   -   only the most recent   -   only reference records

Number of Plants:

include questionable records: Some observation records have been identified as questionable by Calflora users. By default, these are not included in the results. Check this box if you want them to be included.

Documentation:

LEGEND

In addtion to the default Record Type theme, there are three other themes available: Plant Name, Management Status, and Plant Count. For these three, if a polygon is available for a particular observation, it can be displayed in a color that matches the icon.

Once this theme is selected, open Plants with Icons and press NEW PLANT. Enter the name of a plant, choose an icon, and press accept. For instance, you might pick the red square icon to represent Rubus armeniacus.

Here is an example showing eight weeds recently mapped by Marin County Parks in the Roy's Redwoods Open Space Preserve:

If you choose the large white square as an icon for a plant, then no icon will be displayed on the map.

You can view observations acording to their management status using the following icons:

You can view observations acording to the value of Number of Plants using the following icons:

Drawing a Polygon
You can draw a polygon on the map to limit the search area. Open POLYGON and click start drawing. Then click on the map to lay down the vertices. Click stop drawing when your polygon is complete.

For a step-by-step explanation of the process of drawing your own search polygon, see Drawing a Polygon.

If the polygon you drew might be useful later, you can save it by name. Open SAVED SEARCH POLYGONS, enter an name, and press SAVE.

You can see all of your saved polygons in the Shape Editor application.

Using a Saved Polygon
Open POLYGON. If you know the ID of the polygon you want to use, enter it in the Shape ID box and press apply.

Otherwise, open SAVED SEARCH POLYGONS. Your named search polygons will appear in the drop down so that you can choose one by name.

Watershed
Protected Area (CPAD)
Ecoregion
Jepson Bioregion
CNPS Chapter
Zip Code
USGS Quadrangle

Generate a photo essay from the current results. See About Photo Essays.

Choose a format, and press DOWNLOAD. The current results will be downloaded with all columns that are currently showing.

Note that the Location Quality field is included in all downloads. If the value of Location Quality is high, the plant really was seen at the specified coordinates. If the value is medium or low, however, the coordinates indicate the general area in which the plant was found, and not a specific location. These records are useful for landscape level analysis of plant distribution.

If your search includes records from the Consortium of California Herberia (CCH) special conditions apply. These conditions are part of the Memorandum of Understanding between Calflora and the CCH which allows Calflora users to download CCH data. First, all of the records from the CCH will be grouped together in the downloaded file. Second, two other fields will be included in the results, Source and Citation.

Source and Citation should be included in any subsequent use of any downloaded record.

For CCH records, the value of Citation is, for example:

Consortium of California Herbaria [CCH]. 2023. Specimen data from CCH contributing herbaria. Retrieved from Calflora https://www.calflora.org/ Oct 01, 2023.

The value of Source is the abbreviated name of the herbarium.

You can save an Observation Search search and run it again later. To save the current search, open TOOLS / SAVED SEARCHES. Choose a name for the search, and press SAVE. You can also restore a previously saved search from here.

To see all of your saved searches go to MyCalflora / Searches.

To set up an email alert from a saved search, go to MyCalflora / Alerts.

To use a saved search to load historical records into Observer Pro, go to MyCalflora / Preferences / Using Observer Pro as an Independent.

Presence and absence of Dittrichia graveolens, Rush Creek Preserve, Marin County. This search uses Plant Count symbology theme. Places where zero plants were found are indicated by a gray diamond icon .

All records (including questionable records) of Pseudognaphalium biolettii.

Reported records and potential habitat records of Camissonia lacustris near Clear Lake.

2022 March v 4.44   This application shows bryphyte data from the Consortium of North American Bryphyte Herbaria.

2021 October v 4.41   CCH2 data is downloadable.

2021 May v 4.36   This application shows data from CCH2 instead of from CCH1.

2021 May v 4.34   There is a PHOTO ESSAY function in the Tools menu.

2021 February v 4.30   There is a DOWNLOAD RESULTS function in the Tools menu.

2020 December v 4.21   SYMBOLOGY has been renamed LEGEND. To see the current legend, or to change legend themes, open LEGEND in the top left corner of the map.

2020 November v 4.19 Two new advanced search criteria: include questionable records and Documentation.

2020 October v 4.17 A new advanced search criterion: Number of Plants.
A new symbology theme: Plant Count.

2020 April v 4.04 The resize thumb -- a control to change the height of the map-- is back! Find it in the lower left corner of the map.

2019 July v 3.83. There is a new predefined column set called Basic + Accuracy which includes two fields that indicate the spatial accuracy of the record: Location Quality (low, medium or high) and Error Radius (meters).

2018 November v 3.49 In the table of results, all columns are sortable. Click once to sort in ascending order (green); click again to sort in descending order (orange).

The column headers are pinned to the top of the page when you scroll down.

2018 September v 3.40 The Symbology control is available under TOOLS.

2016 August This application will only work with search polygons that have fewer than 3,000 vertices.

If you have a search polygon with more than 3,000 vertices, consider trying to simplify it, or use another approach such as searching in more than one county.

2016 July When you define a custom column set, it is stored in browser memory, and will be used the next time you use this application from the same browser,

You can now specify more than one county as search criteria.

2015 October When you select a plant list, a view link appears. Click on this link to see an illustrated version of the plant list.

2015 June History Filter included as a selection criterion.

2014 June Map Layers has a new look: open Climate to find a particular climate layer, such as Warm Months. Open Region to find a region layer, such as Watershed.