My name is Kristen. Dena’inaq ełnen’aq’ gheshtnu ch’q’u yeshdu . I live and work on the land of the Dena’ina (Translated by Sondra Shaginoff-Stuart and Joel Isaak) in east Anchorage with my two children and my spouse. I’m a public school teacher and my children are homeschooled. We’re pretty urban – we don’t hunt or berry pick with fishing when we can. My botany journey is small. When I was a kid my family and I would go berry picking. I haven’t done much with my kids except one time on the Kenai when we were dip netting. My younger child ate every raspberry he could get his hands on. Usually I’m just looking out for what plants we’re allergic to! Last year we went exploring in some areas that wildfire had come through which was really interesting. My favorite plant is probably cherries because I love to eat them
My set up is an iPhone 12 so it’s hard to get a picture of my phone. I’ll be using that plus books and possible a tripod we have laying around. My 9 year old, Julian, has agreed to help me forage for the class.
The photo with the purple is one from the front entrance of AK regional hospital. It was such a nice bit of color while visiting a family member. The photo with the yellow is from the Anchorage Municipal greenhouse from last year.
Welcome Kristen,
glad you are getting some help for the class :). The top flower is a Hibiscus (mallow family, Malvaceae), one very similar in appearance to the one you are showing, but the native, yellow Hibiscus brackenridgei (Mao Hau Hele) of Hawaii was declared the official state flower in 1988. Yellow hibiscus grows on all Hawaiian Islands except Ni’ihau and Kaho’olawe. All three subspecies of the yellow hibiscus are listed as endangered species. Image from https://www.snapblooms.com/blog/hawaii-state-flower/ The lower image is of some pansies, the genus Viola. The cultivated ones are of hybrid origin and often come in multiple colors.