MoonShadows
Almost Self-Reliant
Unfortunately, I am one of the few people east of the Mississippi that still uses a flip phone, but if you have a smart phone, here's something you may like. I don't know how well it works.
With around 17,000 species of native flora in the US, plus tens of thousands of additional species of other plants (not to mention algae and mosses), even the most expert botanist would fail to recognize every plant they came across.
It’s frustrating, though, when you discover a beautiful wildflower or unusual looking shrub, and you struggle to discern its genus.
Instead of wasting time trawling through websites or asking your gardener friends, why not simply take a snap and have an app do the work for you?
Although not completely foolproof, these 12 apps and online tools are some of the best ways to quickly and easily identify plants from pictures.
1. Plantifier
This crowdsourced plant recognition tool allows users to upload a photo of any plant they find, while the team from the MyGarden.org community try to correctly recognize it. Easy to use and completely free of charge, Plantifier even lets you save the photos you take in your personal collection for later reference!
Get Plantifier for Apple or Android.
2. LeafSnap
Probably one of the best apps of this type, LeafSnap has been developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution.
This free mobile app uses visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves, and the image bank contains beautiful pictures of leaves, flowers, fruits, petioles, seeds and bark.
Get LeafSnap for Apple here.
3. LikeThat Garden
The free LikeThat Garden application uses patented visual search technology to identify flowers from your image. Once you upload your photo, you will instantly be able to retrieve information on the plant in question, as well as search through similar-looking flowers for inspiration and ideas.
Get LikeThat Garden for Apple or Android here.
4. Garden Compass Plant / Disease Identifier
Upload a photo of a plant to this mobile app and a team of highly-regarded plant experts from around the world will help you identify exactly what you’re looking at. They will even tell you how to grow and care for it!
What’s more, these garden advisors will identify bugs that you snap eating your plants, or signs of disease that are affecting the health of your garden flora, and provide you with information on how to eliminate the problem.
Get Garden Compass for Apple or Android here.
