Free knitting a textured background in green with and endangered flower from US/Mexico border area and another from the US/Canadian border area. The main body is a rib that = 3K, 1P,1K, 1P. The area with the Western Fringed Prairie Orchid (platanthera praeclara) incorporates yarnovers that have been slightly cabled and the Otay Mesa Mint (pogogyne nudiuscula has small stars to simulate the whorls of the mint stem.

FYI--Here’s some of the scientific information that I submitted with the NerdWars challenge:

It is important to have fact-based awareness of climate change and the effects of human development on the biological world. Both of these flowers have suffered loss of habitat and both flowers are listed by international organizations as species that require a multinational effort to preserve, since their native environment crosses borders. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “Red List of Endangered Species” is one of the most pre-eminent documents for a list a ranking of endangered species in both the plant and animal kingdoms. The IUCN is the largest professional global conservation network and non-politically–influenced environmental organization that produces factual data in a neutral forum. They list the Western Fringed Prairie Orchid as endangered. The U.S. List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants listed them 1989 and have begun a recovery plan.
The Otay Mesa Mint is a very rare plant that doesn’t even have a listing in the IUCN “Red List”. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System’s “Catalogue of Life: 30th May 2014” (http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/117...) refers to Otay Mesa Mint is listed by U.S. Center for Plant Conservation as endangered in the U.S. and most likely extinct in Mexico. The U.S. List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants lists them as endangered and the federal government is working with the state of California to create a plan to preserve the desert wetlands where they occur. My thanks to Anna Bennett for her permission to reproduce her photos; some of the only extant of this species.