Brent Baker

Joined: Feb 1, 2019 Last Active: Mar 27, 2024 iNaturalist

As of March 2024, I own and operate Pine Ridge Gardens, a small native plant nursery in west-central Arkansas. I was formerly a botanist (>12 years) with the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, a state agency administering the Arkansas Natural Heritage Program and the Arkansas System of Natural Areas. I was also the Collections Manager for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission Herbarium (ANHC). I was a member of the Arkansas Vascular Flora Committee and was one of the editors of the 2013 Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas. I have a B.S. in Environmental Science - Biology Emphasis and a M.S. in Biology - Botany Emphasis, both from the University of Central Arkansas. In total, I have about 25 years experience as a field botanist. I am an active member and past president of the Arkansas Native Plant Society. I have a general and professional interest in the vascular plants of Arkansas but have gradually expanded my interests regionally. I also have a special interest in the genus Streptanthus and have worked on research projects regarding some south-central U.S. taxa. Furthermore, I have interests in particular genera such as Gillenia, Hibiscus, Krigia, Liatris, Monarda, Verbesina, and Vernonia, but the list continues to grow. I'm more familiar with North American (specifically United States) flora regarding those genera, though. For the sake of speed in identifying observations, I don't always leave an explanation initially, but I do try to respond to questions, although there were a few periods of time when I had to take a hiatus from iNat and was not able to go back and find all the comments and questions addressed to me during my absence...my apologies!

For those interested, my profile image is a photo of a flower of Ouachita twistflower or pine-oak jewelflower (Streptanthus squamiformis), a species endemic to a small portion of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma.

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