Common New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus americanus)

NATIVE. On a disturbed hillside near the edge of a dense hardwood/coniferous forest in NW Georgia (Gordon County), US.

comments (8)

Christine Young

Lion

@Ferdy, is there a way to add the subspecies to this ID? Posted 7 years ago
1. Flown Kimmerling
  
  Lion
  
  Thankies! It seems like he has added one for me before? Maybe my memory is just bad! Haha! Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    Pretty sure he's done it for me before too, but my memory might be iffy as well, lol :) Posted 7 years ago
3. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Hi! Sub species need some explaining. Technically speaking, the lowest level in the taxonomy that the system supports is the species level. So sub species do not exist. However, we can work around this (and regularly do) by creating multiple species records, one for the main species, and one (or more) for the sub species.
  
  The system does not understand the relation between multiple such records, it just sees them as different species, since they have a different name. The workaround works though, because it allows you to identify your post down to the sub species (even though the system just sees it as a different species). Sub species (again, seen by the system as just species) also show up in the species tree as a separate entry. The only true limitation is that species and sub species sit next to each other in the species browser, as the system does not know there's a hierarchy between them.
  
  With that in mind, the question becomes, when do we create a sub species record? We don't have a hard policy on this and generally leave it to moderators to decide. I do have one guideline to consider: if the main species is not created and this is the first observation, to me it makes less sense to create the sub species whilst there isn't a main species. But that's just an opinion, not a hard rule.
  
  If anybody insists on sub species for additional precision in identification, I can get behind that. It may be biologically relevant after all. In such cases, I'm such a generous person that I gladly give said person species creation rights (yes, you can totally translate that as me being too lazy...ahem busy to create them).
  
  Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
4. 1. Flown Kimmerling
    
    Lion
    
    I totally understand!
    
    The only time I'm really set on listing a subspecies is when I've carefully keyed out/differentiated its features. I can provide this additional information with my spottings in these cases if you would like. Subspecies are quite important for the naturalist, in my opinion. Often these subspecies are upgraded to a species level ID, so it interesting to monitor these changes! Posted 7 years ago

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Oh and Lisa, I was not kidding: you document with a lot of precision. I often see you adding very relevant species info on the post, information that could go on the species record.

If you're interested, I could give you those additional rights. Christine and I can walk you through how to use them. Think about it, and any answer is fine :) Posted 7 years ago
1. Flown Kimmerling
  
  Lion
  
  Sure! That's definitely something I'd be interested in! Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    That is great to hear! It's getting late here so tomorrow I will enable your moderator rights, and send some explanation along with it. You'll then be able to create species as well as sub species as you see fit :) Posted 7 years ago

The Common New Jersey Tea

A variety of New Jersey tea found in various habitats of the piedmont, mountains, and (very rarely) coastal plains of eastern North America. There are three varieties of Ceanothus americanus: var. americanus, var. intermedius, and var. pitcheri. They can be differentiated by leaf shape and indumentum.

Info 2 0

Similar species: Rosales

Species identified by Flown Kimmerling