Plant Hunt

Artemis II landed this week after a trip around the Moon. Today it's the 65th anniversary of the first crewed spaceflight in Vostok 1. It's staggering to think that all human spaceflight has happened within the life span of a single person.

Yuri Gagarin took off in 1961 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This time of year is probably one of the worst times to leave Kazakhstan, because it's Tulip season, and Central Asia is the centre of Tulip diversity. He may have headed for the stars, but he left something spectacular behind him. The nine tulips below are just a sample of the many species in the region.

One of the things that struck me putting this together is that if you want to discover a new species, and immortalise yourself, then Kazakhstan is a good place to go. Tulips have been cultivated for centuries, so you'd expect them to be well understood. However, there's a lot of Central Asia that hasn't been fully botanically explored, and there's still likely plenty of unknown tulip species to be found, as new discoveries are still being made.

There is a bit of urgency to finding these species, as they're under threat. Around half of known species are at risk of extinction, thanks to climate change, and grazing, along with agricultural intensification, urbanisation and mining. Presumably the undiscovered species are in similar peril, and we might yet lose them before we even know they exist.

How to Play

Plant Hunt is a game of memory. The goal is to match all the cards in the shortest number of time and attempts. You uncover cards in pairs, by clicking or tapping the back of them. If the cards match, you'll see them in large form, and they'll stay face up. Once you get them all, you'll get a time and move count. If you like you can share this with others, or be sneaky and try again. Though you might find your memory playing tricks, the more attempts you make.

If you want more information about the plants, you'll find it below the playing area.

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