On the hunt for Rhode Island’s rare plans: Summer program sends budding botanists into the field

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - The students were not lost - but given the cryptic, outdated directions that had guided them, they had ventured far beyond the GPS point they targeted.

As part of a plant census-taking project, Brown University rising sophomores Avinav Cariens and Klara Zietlow were on the hunt for a specific rare plant at a nature preserve in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Their feet squished into the marsh as they examined the sticks and stalks around them.

That's when Cariens spotted something "alien-like," with tall, tubular stems sprouting from a base of feathery leaves and topped by white flowers.

"Klara and I were like, this plant looks so weird, it has to be rare," Cariens said.

When they showed photos to their Brown faculty mentor, Rebecca Kartzinel, she identified the plant as Hottonia inflata, an aquatic species known as American featherfoil that grows on the margins of wetlands, and confirmed that it was indeed a rare plant - one of many to add to the students' long list.

"It wasn't what we were looking for, but it was still really cool," said Cariens, who is concentrating in ecology, evolution and organismal biology.

As part of a botany fellows summer program, Cariens and Zietlow spent nine weeks tracking and hunting (but not gathering) rare plants. They were assigned to reference historical records of rare plants, re-find the sites when possible and record the plants' current condition.

The program, now in its second year, is organized by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey, a biodiversity conservation nonprofit located at the University of Rhode Island, and the Brown University Herbarium. It provides an opportunity for undergraduates pursuing careers in botany or field ecology to conduct field research while also updating records that are used for conservation, education and research and shared with state and local agencies for use in planning and permitting.