Photo credit: Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, by Glenda Ferguson, 2023 INPS Photo Contest.

 

Florathon 2024

How many native wildflower species will you find in bloom?

Let’s make this year’s Florathon the biggest and best ever! Form your teams now, give yourselves a name, solicit sponsors, and prepare to venture out into Indiana’s lovely natural areas to spot flowers in bloom. The Florathon is a great way to enjoy spring wildflowers and support a worthy cause. The event promotes donations to Letha’s Youth Outdoors Fund, whose aim is to engage children with nature.

Sponsor Your Team with a Donation

 

What’s a Florathon?

Teams of two to six people, traveling together, visit natural areas in Indiana during a 24-hour period of their choosing. This year’s dates are from Saturday, April 13, through Friday, May 31, 2024. The object is to identify as many native wildflower species in flower as they can.

Team members enlist sponsors (family, friends, office mates, church groups, carpool, businesses, whatever) who honor their efforts by making a donation to the Indiana Native Plant Society. This year’s Florathon proceeds are earmarked for Letha’s Youth Outdoors Fund.

Sponsors who donate $35 or more are eligible for a one-year complimentary INPS membership (pertains to first-time members only).

Video of Bloomin’ Stellarias’ winning 2019 effort

Why Should I Participate?

  • To raise money in support of the INPS mission.
  • To learn (or improve or teach others) identification of native wildflowers.
  • To enjoy being outdoors in a natural area in the spring.
  • To meet new people, make new friends, and enjoy seeing old friends.
  • To have fun!

How Do I Participate?

  1. Fill out the Team Roster sheet with contact information to facilitate contacting your team members.
  2. Enlist the support of sponsors using the Sponsor Pledge Form.
  3. Keep track of their commitments and payments on the Sponsor Summary sheet.
  4. Pick your natural areas to survey and choose the time you will visit. Visit as many as you want within the 24-hour plant-hunting period.
  5. On site, record all the native herbaceous species in flower (forbs) using the downloadable Species Sightings forms provided here. You can use the form with Common Names or the one with Latin Names, your choice. Or, you can create your own recording method using our Excel Spreadsheet.
  6. Send in the completed Team Roster, Sponsor Summary, and Species Sightings forms and sponsor checks to Florathon Chair Barbara Homoya, 529 Hornaday Road, Brownsburg, IN 46112. The deadline is June 15, 2024.

Will There Be Prizes?

Yes, team awards will be announced at the INPS Annual Meeting. They will include:

  • Most native species recorded
  • Most new members recruited through donations
  • Most money raised
  • Most counties visited

Competition Rules

The aim of the Florathon is for you to enjoy the outdoors, participate in citizen science, and have fun with your team while raising funds for a good cause. Just a few rules need to be observed:

  1. Team should consist of two to six persons. No need to register your team in advance.
  2. Team must travel and walk together as a group to find the native plants.
  3. Teams may record only the native species viewed within their chosen 24-hour survey period between April 13 and May 31, 2024. The county in which the species is observed should be recorded as well.
  4. Only native wildflowers in bloom (forbs) may be recorded. No trees, shrubs, grasses, sedges, rushes, or ferns are to be included.
  5. Teams will make a good faith effort to identify plants correctly.
  6.  Teams will record only plants actually seen. The honor system applies.
  7. Be certain to acquire permission when visiting private property. On public land familiarize yourself with the property regulations. In most cases you are required to stay on marked trails.
  8. Avoid visiting sites with fragile ecosystems and trampling tender vegetation.
  9. Do not seek out threatened and endangered species, but if discovered do not publish location information, especially on social media sites.     

Will the Collected Data Be Used?

Records of which species bloom where and when are useful for tracking the health of our native plants and their response to climate patterns. We will share our citizen-scientist data with biologists and ecologists who can analyze our findings and plug them into their studies.