User:MtBotany/Writing a US or Canadian plant article

Essay on how to write a solid "B" class article for plants that are native to the North America north of Mexico.

Why?
This is all the information that I wish I had known when I was working on my very first article, now named Drymocallis fissa. Since this sort of thing is easier as a dialogue rather than a monologue and I'm going to use my dark arts to create a sort of homiculus that can ask the right questions of me and comically misunderstand me. So artcaulius invokus hocus pocus JungeBotany!

JungeBotany: "Did you just create me so you'd have someone to talk to?"

More or less.

JungeBotany: "I can't believe I'm doing this to myself again. Right. So what are we talking about?"

Writing plant articles on Wikipedia.

JungeBotany: "I've never done that."

Exactly, but would you like to do it?

JungeBotany: "Yeah, maybe. I've often been annoyed by the lack of information in some articles. And they're missing some of the best plants entirely, but won't someone yell at me?"

Nope! You just need to prove what you're saying. Also, you need to think a little strategically instead of getting your heart

Pre Writing
So this is only about writing plant articles about plants native to the United States and Canada, prossibly also Greenland since it has few plants that won't also be in Canada.

JungeBotany: "What if I have my heart set on writing about a tropical Orchid? Wait, did what I just said have a hyperlink in it?"

Don't worry about that, you'll get used to it. All part of the DarkWikiArts! But if you really want to write about something outside of the continental US and Canada (and maysibly Greenland) then you'll have to look things up in other sources and it can get complex. Some of my awesome expertise will apply, but not all of it. And that's the first lesson. Before you even start and article you need to pick your battles. The very first thing you're going to do is head to Plants of the World Online and see if your plant is 'really real'. Put in a plant, any plant.

JungeBotany: "Okay, how about Campanula rotundifolia? Put that in and didn't even have to complete it. Select and, hey! That's not right. It says this is not native to North America."

I know. Now. See POWO has its own way of doing things. It splits some things that are you're used to seeing as one species and lumps other things you are used to being separate. However, it has the great advantage of being worldwide, unlike smaller national databases like USDA PLANTS, which you're already used to using and it updates more often. It is not always "right", though. All of taxonomy is like Wikipedia. Consensus informed by facts. If everyone else says POWO is wrong, then POWO is probably wrong, but it is the best place to start. Then take a look at World Flora Online as a check, but be prepared to abandon an article for now if you run into problems at the next two steps. Don't create a draft page quite yet! First you need a description of the plant.

JungeBotany: "So get out a wildflower field guide?"

Not a bad place to start, but also it is going to have a very short description. Field guides prioritize portability over detail. This is an electronic encyclopedia (first pillar). So it should have as detailed a description as a somewhat average person might want and there is no need to cut out stuff to "save space". So I suggest looking in Flora of North America (beta) first. Depending on when this timeless void™ is connecting with the outside world, it may or may not be complete, so search your plant and see if there is a description. This is also a great opportunity to fact check POWO. If you have a description, great! If not you can choose to move on to something easier or to search hard in sources like Biodiversity Heritage Library or Archive.org for botany books. Just be aware that old books can be wrong due to not having enough information about a species when it was printed.

"Are we finally