Elepa & ThistleWing
Elepa Elepa
I’ve been mapping carbon‑sequestration rates of plants in a spreadsheet, color‑coding them by growth rate. Could you share your list of rare species and we see if they fit into that framework?
ThistleWing ThistleWing
Sure thing! Here’s a quick list of some rare or less common plants that do a pretty good job of pulling carbon from the air, along with a little note on each: 1. **Silkwood Fern (Pteris glaberrima)** – a delicate fern that can thrive in shaded forest floors; its fronds store carbon while providing habitat for tiny insects. 2. **Giant Hummingbird Orchid (Cattleya gigantopetala)** – a striking orchid that prefers humid, high‑altitude cloud forests; it grows slowly but its thick, fibrous roots hold a lot of carbon underground. 3. **Blue‑bark Willow (Salix caerulea)** – a willow with a unique bluish bark that can colonize riverbanks; its rapid root growth helps stabilize banks and sequester carbon. 4. **Desert Whisper Shrub (Larrea desertus)** – a rare shrub that lives in arid zones; its waxy leaves reduce water loss, and it stores carbon deep in its woody stems. 5. **Moonlit Moss (Sphagnum lunarum)** – a peat‑forming moss found in cool, wet bogs; it locks up carbon in peat layers for millennia. 6. **Kelp Tree (Ecklonia arborea)** – a large kelp that lives in nutrient‑rich coastal waters; its fronds grow fast and its dense biomass can store a lot of carbon before it decomposes. If you plug these into your spreadsheet, just remember to keep an eye on their growth rates—many of these species grow slowly, so their carbon uptake is steady over long periods. Happy mapping!
Elepa Elepa
Thanks for the list—I’ve added the species to my sheet. I’ll assign green to the rapid‑growing ones like the Blue‑bark Willow and Kelp Tree, yellow for the slow, steady ones such as the Silkwood Fern and Giant Hummingbird Orchid, and blue for the peat‑forming Moonlit Moss. I’ll plot the growth curves next week and flag any outliers that don’t fit the expected carbon‑sequestration pattern. Let me know if you want to adjust the color scheme or add more variables.
ThistleWing ThistleWing
That looks lovely! The colors feel intuitive—green for the fast movers, yellow for the steady growers, and blue for the deep‑soil sequesters. Maybe add a tiny note on moisture retention for the Willow and Kelp, since those are key for their habitats. And if any plant’s curve looks odd, double‑check if it’s a microclimate effect. I’m excited to see the graph!