# Native Plant Right-Now Almanac

> A web field companion for finding seasonally active native plants, exploring regional plant information, and planning when to begin watching for seed readiness.

## Major features

- Select a curated iNaturalist area and find native plants with flowering, fruiting, or budding observations during the current seasonal window.
- Open a plant guide with common and botanical names, regional observation counts, seasonal phenology charts, native or introduced status, and county distribution.
- Verify supporting records through links to iNaturalist.
- Create a Collection Times list by matching plants observed in the selected area with Seeds to Community Washtenaw data.
- Group the printable list by the month to start watching for seed readiness, with species sorted by botanical name.
- Test a temporary latitude/longitude circle with a maximum radius of one kilometer without creating or saving a new place.
- Display observations inside the selected circle and faint nearby observations out to twice its radius for context.
- Print the final seed-readiness table.

## Data sources and interpretation

- iNaturalist supplies plant observations, place filters, taxonomy, photos, observation counts, and phenology annotations.
- Ecological Commons provides access to ecological datasets and supporting plant information.
- Seeds to Community Washtenaw supplies the `start_seed_watch` guidance used by Collection Times.
- BONAP supplies county-level plant distribution maps.
- Seed-watch months indicate when to begin checking seed readiness. They do not guarantee that seed is ready to collect on a particular date.
- Seeds to Community timing is Washtenaw-based guidance and may not represent conditions in distant selected areas.

## Public app routes

- `/` — seasonal native plant finder and area selection
- `/collection-times` — seed-readiness watch list, temporary radius search, observation map, and print view
- `/species/:taxon_name` — individual plant guide
- `/about` — methodology, sources, and technical explanation

## Interaction notes

- The application is a client-rendered React web app and requires JavaScript for live data.
- Custom latitude/longitude circles are temporary and are not saved as named places.
- Collection Times and area searches use REST data requests; they do not require an LLM.