Application to recognize plants

How many times has it happened to you, during a trip out of town, a hike in the mountains or a simple walk in the park, to come across a flower or a tree that you were not able to recognize immediately? In many circumstances, then, your doubt remained unresolved and you returned home with the regret of not having identified a plant that intrigued you very much.

Fortunately, nowadays it is possible to take advantage of the support of various extremely effective tools for smartphones and tablets which, with a few taps, allow you to identify numerous plant species with an excellent approximation, referring to databases developed by major research institutes. and the active participation of passionate and particularly lively communities.

How do you say? Are you very interested in this and want to deepen the subject? Perfect! If you are so determined to expand your knowledge of botany through the use of an application to recognize plants, you just have to continue reading the next paragraphs: you will see that it will only take you a few minutes to find the solution that suits your needs. . I just have to wish you good continuation!

Index

• Application to recognize plants for free
  • PlantNet (Android / iOS / iPadOS)
  • Seek (Android / iOS / iPadOS)
  • Herbarium – Offline Herbarium (Android)
• Other apps to recognize plants

Application to recognize plants for free

Your green thumb is already ready to test all the features of your next application to recognize plants for free: I’m sure you will spend a lot of your time cultivating (it really should be said!) This special passion with the tips I’m about provide you.

PlantNet (Android / iOS / iPadOS)

PlantNet is considered by many to be the best free application for recognizing plants: consider that it was created thanks to the collaboration between famous French research centers such as CIRAD and INR, specialized in the study of agriculture.

The main purpose of PlantNet is to allow the identification of plants and flowers through the smartphone camera, thanks to the integration with a vast online database that interfaces with an excellent recognition system, also supported by help and contribution of Wikipedia users.

The app is available for both Android devices (also check on alternative stores if your device does not include Google services) and iOS / iPadOS. To download it, simply tap on the link above and press the Install / Get button, waiting for it to be downloaded and installed (in the case of Apple devices, you will be prompted for identity verification via Face ID, Touch ID or Apple ID password ).

Then start it by clicking on its icon. At the first access you will be asked to grant the app to use the geolocation: accept. The first screen shown is the one relating to projects, in which it is possible to consult a rich database that records the activities of its numerous users, divided by thematic or geographical area.

The contents are easily accessible by pressing the project of interest, but to deepen the various posts and access the Details section or, in general, participate in the life of the community and also publish your own surveys, you need to register.

To proceed in this sense, press the profile icon, at the bottom right, and press the Login button. At this point you can choose to authenticate with your Google profile by touching the button with the relevant icon (you will be sent back to the service authentication module), or create a new account. In the latter case, press the words Sign up and, in the following screen, fill in the data Username, Email, Password (which will be confirmed in the next field), Surname and Name. At the end, press the Accept Terms of Use option and tap the button create an account.

Now let’s see how plant recognition works: this feature is available even without registration but, as mentioned above, it will not be possible to share the results of your activities. First of all you need to select a project from the screen indicated above: if you can’t identify one that goes well with the characteristics of the plant you want to examine, I suggest you press on the first one, that is World Flora.

At this point, then, press on the camera symbol, located in the center of the menu at the bottom and, if you want to take a photo of a plant, tap on the camera image in the center of the display.

Only for the first use you will have to press the Allow button twice, in order to allow the app to access both the camera and the multimedia contents on the device. After that, the plant that you want to identify and press the shutter release button can instantly frame: if the photo obtained satisfy you, click on the checkmark located on the bottom right, otherwise repeat the operation by pressing the X.

If, on the other hand, you want to upload a photo from the Gallery of your smartphone, press on the smaller icon located on the left of the previously indicated screen and select the image to be analyzed.

In the next screen you will need to associate the image with a type of element: if, therefore, you have immortalized a leaf, a flower, the bark of a tree and so on, press on the relevant box and wait for the system to recognize it. If so, you will see a specific screen with the most consistent results and the respective percentage of approximation.

If one of the results matches, you can press the Confirm button and if necessary, after registering, publish the result on the wording Contribute in (possibly also selecting a project other than the one originally chosen via the side drop-down menu). If, on the other hand, the recognition is not successful, you may see the proposal to perform the operation by referring to a different project.

Finally, I would like to point out two other useful features on PlantNet: the first, accessible by pressing the icon with the symbol of several people, allows you to view the latest posts published by users in chronological order, while pressing the list symbol it is possible access a rich database divided into the categories Family, Genus or Species, which you can query manually.

Seek (Android / iOS / iPadOS)

How do you say? Would you like to receive information on both the flora and fauna of the environment in which you are and are you looking for an app to recognize plants and animals? In this case, I’m sure it won’t take you long to fall in love with Seek, an application developed thanks to the collaboration of the iNaturalist team, born from a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.

The app in question is available both for Android devices (try to check also on alternative stores if your device does not have Google services) and iOS / iPadOS. After downloading and starting it, by clicking on its icon, you will be offered the possibility to register (in this way you can also actively participate in the life of the community) or to continue without an account. In the first case it is necessary to press the Subscribe to iNaturalist button, subsequently inserting the date of birth.

To proceed, then, tap the Next button and enter your email in the appropriate field. You must also accept the terms of service and the privacy policy, by pressing on the side boxes, in order to apply the checkmark, then pressing the Next button to go to the final step, in which you will have to indicate a username and password. To conclude the operation, then tap on the Register button.

At the first use you will have to allow the app to access the location of the device by pressing the word Allow only while using the app, then you will need to press the Continue button to start using the service.

The main interface is particularly intuitive: if you want to take a photo of a flower, a tree or an animal, just press the camera symbol, in the lower center. Also in this circumstance, at the first use you will have to press the Allow item to allow Seek to take pictures, then you will have to press the Continue button after reading the information message with some important general recommendations.

At the same time the camera will be started, in which some very special Seek features have been integrated. Let me explain: the app, in essence, is equipped with a complex automatic identification system that uses the phylogenetic tree. When you frame a plant or animal specimen, you will see a progress bar consisting of some dots, corresponding to the 7 taxonomic levels, appear in the upper part of the display.

At this point, I suggest you try to shoot the plant or animal from multiple angles, in order to allow the system to process different images and progress in the recognition of all the aforementioned levels. As Seek is able to recognize the characteristics of the organism, new dots will be added, up to the last step, the Species, which will allow you to obtain a precise definition of what you are observing.

At this point you can also take a picture by pressing the central button: an operation that will allow you to access a card with the result of the processing, which you can further explore by pressing the See species button. From here, moreover, it is possible to optionally proceed with the publication on iNaturalist (after registration) using the relative button.

If, on the other hand, you intend to upload a photo from the gallery of your device, just click on the wording Photos, located at the bottom right of the camera screen, to access the library of your images. By tapping on the content you want to analyze, then, following the processing of the image you will be sent back to the screen with the result.

Finally, at any time, you can easily consult your measurements by pressing the ☰ symbol, at the bottom left, and selecting the My observations option from the menu that will be shown to you.

Herbarium – Offline Herbarium (Android)

Would you prefer not to use an automatic plant recognition system and would you just like to be able to access a real herbarium to be consulted if necessary even offline, perhaps free and completely in Italian? In this case I think the Herbarium – Herbarium offline app is right for you.

The latter is only available for Android devices and therefore basically consists of a catalog, particularly rich in information, in which the user must manually enter some data relating to the plant, which will allow the system to filter the corresponding species.

Let’s go into more detail: after starting the app, by pressing on its icon, to start your search you will have to press on the magnifying glass symbol in the center of the main screen. In this way you will access a list of species of which a preview and their name will be shown.

There are really many elements that can be consulted, so the first thing I suggest you do is to apply a color filter: just select it in the bar at the top, in order to streamline the number of plants available in the screen below.

Another useful feature that can help filter content is that of geolocation: to activate it, press the triangle-shaped button at the bottom right and, on first use, give Herbarium permission to access the location of the device. In this way, only the species belonging to the flora compatible with the altitude and the habitat in which you are will be included.

Finally, it is also possible to select only the species in bloom: by pressing the button with the symbol of the petals, at the bottom right, only the plants will be included which, in consideration of the period of the year in which the survey takes place, are in the phase of flowering.

Finally, I would like to point out the presence of a convenient search bar, located at the top, which will allow you, by pressing on the magnifying glass symbol, to type useful text to further filter the contents. Once the species has been identified, just click on the corresponding box to access a very complete and comprehensive information sheet, in which you will also have the opportunity to create your own herbarium.

To do this, simply press the [+] symbol at the bottom right and, in the following screen, tap on the word Add to my herbs. You can also enrich this section with a photo of the plant, which you will be able to take on the spot by pressing the camera symbol at the bottom right (the first time, also in this case, you will be prompted to allow access to the app to this functionality).

Other apps to recognize plants

You think that the solutions presented in the previous chapters are very interesting, but you would not mind being able to evaluate other apps to recognize plants: no problem, in the next paragraphs you will find a careful selection for Android or iOS / iPadOS which, I am sure, will further stimulate your curiosity.

• Google Lens( Android ) – you may not know that, but Google Lens is particularly effective, among many things, as an app for recognizing plants and animals. If, then, you want to know more about its operation, perhaps to be able to use it also on Apple devices (where it does not have a dedicated app), in this article you will find all the information you need.
• Garden Answers( Android / iOS / iPadOS ) – if you like automatic recognition systems, through this free app (with ads and offers for in-app purchases) you can take advantage of a system capable of accessing a database that allows you to instantly identify more than 20,000 plants.
• And what flower is this? ( Android ) – this is another free app (it is expected, however, the presence of ads and purchases in the app) which, similar to Herbarium, allows you to access a vast catalog of plants, filterable by indicating some parameters such as color, habitat or number of petals.
• PlantSnap( Android / iOS / iPadOS ) – in addition to being able to count on the automatic identification of over 600,000 plants, would you also like to receive gardening tips for many of these species? If so, PlantSnap could be for you. I also inform you that it is also free, but it contains ads and offers in-app purchases.