By Karen Vanderwall
Probably like many of you, I regularly have the desire to identify plants. Sure, I do know how to key out plants. I have a multitude of plant guides and gardening books. But I often enjoy taking a few moments in my own garden to quickly identify a plant. Other times I am busy multitasking — walking or hiking near home or even traveling, having a conversation at the same time, and, unable to resist my curiosity, snapping a photo of a plant I see.
My enthusiasm for using technology to ID plants began with PlantSnap a few years ago. Since getting a more updated version of an iPhone, instead of using a separate app, I now just take a photo of a plant with my iPhone and can instantly have the identification. If you have an iPhone here’s how it works. Take a photo of a plant you’re curious about or one you have on your phone (it can be just the leaves but should be a good representation of the plant). At the bottom of the screen you will see an ( i ). Touch the ( i ) and under your photo you will see a leaf icon next to ‘Look Up – Plant’ — press there and you will see a couple of results (sometimes it takes a minute because it is searching the internet). What I also find nice is that below the results are photos from the internet. If the results seem inaccurate, you can sometimes get better results from comparing your plant to the photos and opening those sites that are similar.
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I have found that having some knowledge of plant families, leaf patterns, regions/zones or, in the garden, narrowing down the possibilities based on your seed mix (or maybe what your neighbor has growing in their garden) can give you a much more accurate identification.
In addition to simply using the photo app on your phone, there are many many other apps out there for IOS (iPhone) and Android, including FlowerChecker, LeafSnap, PlantID, PlantNet, PictureThis, Plant Story, PlantIn, PlantSnap, and Seek, to name a few. Wondering if other plant enthusiasts found any of the other apps useful, I did some research. There are many good apps that are free and most are available from Apple Store or GooglePlay.
Colorado State University Extension in Arapahoe County put together a list of plant ID apps used by Colorado Master Gardeners, Horticultural Staff and CSU professionals. Donnetta Wilhelm, Colorado Master Gardener with CSU Arapahoe County, wrote about their favorites in the article “High Tech Gardening Help.”
Below are the apps they liked best. Most are free and most use photo identification.
Pl@ntNet — Uses photo ID and works well for flowers, trees, grasses, conifers, vines, cacti and weeds. Scientists also analyze the photos to better understand biodiversity.
LeafSnap — LeafSnap is a Google product that uses photos as well. The app was developed by researchers from Columbia University, University of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution.
Garden Answers — They found the app easy to use. It can identify over 20,000 plants and also provides useful plant information.
ID Weeds — Developed by the University of Missouri, ID Weeds uses a key for identification of more than 430 weeds.
iNaturalist — Uses image-recognition technology identifying nature. iNaturalist is unique in that it identifies plants AND animals. According to their website, you can take or import a photo and view the top 10 similar species matches. Also good for citizen science and recording your own observations.
Colorado Woody Plants — An app created in 2019 by CSU. The app can identify more than 200 species of Colorado shrubs, trees, cacti and woody plants. You can search by plant characteristics or name and it has a favorites section to flag plant data that is most relevant.
They also liked regional specific apps such as:
Montana Grasses (the app is $4.99 and identifies 250 grasses commonly found in the Rocky Mountain region), and Colorado Wildflowers Guide (a free photo-recognition app that includes 3,384 species of plants, trees, shrubs, grasses, ferns, moss and lichen found in Colorado, searchable by flower color, time of bloom or location)
Michigan State Extension did an evaluation of 16 apps from 2018 through 2023. An article by Erin Hill, Michigan State University Extension, Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences written in March 26, 2024 describes the work.
The six apps they tested were: Google Lens, iNaturalist, PlantIn, PlantNet, PlantStory, and PictureThis. Their evaluation used photos of flowering ornamentals, broadleaf weeds, grass weeds, grass seedling, winter annual seedling, and one deciduous and one evergreen tree or shrub.
In 2023, all of the apps tested used photo recognition software and geolocation information to identify plants, but some that they tested prior to 2023 required more descriptive input from the user, similar to traditional plant keys. Most are free or have a free version. The Michigan State Extension found PictureThis to be the best app of the ones they tested with PlantStory coming in second and Google Lens at the very bottom.
The New York Times Wirecutter as well as CNN liked PlantNet. On the PlantNet website, they describe the app as a “citizen science project available as an app that helps you identify plants thanks to your pictures.” CNN commented that it was the fastest, most accurate plant identification app tested on their Android phone. They also found the app easy to use, accurate and fast.
The New York Times Wirecutter also liked iNaturalist for identification and also for ease of sharing and confirming your findings with other plant-loving friends and professional naturalists. They did not find it as simple to use as PlantNet.
After all my research I am more curious than I was before I started. Which isn’t really a bad thing in that I came away with the knowledge that there are a lot of people interested in learning more about plants! My conclusion is that I am going to upload some plant ID apps and see what works best for me.