Common Lomatium (Lomatium utriculatum) Apiaceae
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21210447 by @langooney

They might be considered lost plants: species that were documented as occurring in San Diego County by a voucher specimen many years ago and then not seen since. There are over 50 lost plants in San Diego County. A recent perfect storm resurrected one of them.

On March 13, 2019, Brennan Mulrooney and Antonette Gutierrez were working in Mission Trails Regional Park and found an unfamiliar plant with yellow flowers in an umbel-shaped inflorescence. Brennan took photos and posted them on iNaturalist. The next day, Jon Rebman saw the observation and identified the plant as Common Lomatium, also known as Foothill Desert-Parsley (Lomatium utriculatum), a species that was last documented in San Diego over 50 years ago and for which there were only 3 specimens in the SDNHM herbarium! Jon knew a volunteer in the Plant Atlas Project who lives near Mission Trails and immediately sent her an email asking if she could visit the site and collect a sample for the herbarium, if the population of the plant was adequate. The parabotanist, who wishes to remain anonymous, but you probably can guess who, went to the area the same day and found a significant population of a plant with yellow flowers in an umbel-shaped inflorescence and so she collected a sample. Before leaving the area, she ran into Margie Mulligan, a botany department associate at the Nat, who had received word from Brennan about the rare plant. Since she was in the area, Margie decided to stop by, and upon looking at the specimen collected by the parabotanist, kindly informed her that it was Sanicula arguta, not Lomatium utriculatum. So off they went to look some more. Margie soon spotted the desired plant just uphill a short distance. The slightly chagrined parabotanist was able to appreciate that Lomatium utriculatum had brighter yellow flowers in a more flattened umbel, finely dissected leaflets, and prominent sheathing on the stems.

This all came together very nicely--Brennan and Antonette found the plant and posted the photos; Jon identified it; the parabotanist collected it with help from Margie; and the plant is now documented as continuing in San Diego County in a location where it was not previously known to occur.

Imagine if we could clone Jon Rebman how much more would be discovered about the diversity of plants in our region. He can't be out in the field every day, as much as he might like that, and even if he were, he can't be everywhere at once. But you and I can serve as additional eyes and legs by getting out, taking photos of plants (especially those that are unusual), and posting them on iNaturalist. Maximizing the reach of scientists like Jon Rebman through citizen science initiatives like the San Diego County Plant Atlas Project on iNaturalist will further the museum's efforts to be the premier collections-based environmental education and natural history research resource in the San Diego region.