Plant Idents
When one of us was a student, Friday mornings were always a tense time. A 10 o’clock start, admittedly, but the 20 milk bottles arrayed on the long bench at the end of the laboratory struck fear into the heart. It was plant identification time and each bottle contained a twig or stem of some tree, shrub, climber or herbaceous plant. Correct identification of more than 50% was joyous - but rare.
The world of work necessitated a rapid honing of native trees and shrub recognition. Battered British floras attested to constant work on wild flowers, peaking in spring and early summer when the previous year’s knowledge had seeped into the sediment traps of winter. A grasp of ornamental horticulture (ie garden flowers) came and went according to level of garden visiting (and plant labels!) but recognition skills fluctuated alarmingly over the years.
But, of course, these days, the tech savvy generation are using plant identification apps to check out plants they can’t recognise. The results can be helpful, hilarious, misleading or downright frustrating.
Recently, three of us went on a couple of garden visits on the Kent/Surrey borders. We started at Titsey Place, near Oxted in Surrey (images right and below).
The youngest member of the group (under 40) noticed an older member (well over 40) using a phone app (so smug) to identify a plant the name of which had been obliterated by anno domini (so embarrassing). Very soon another couple of apps had been up loaded and we started comparing notes.
Results were unexpected as illustrated by the three images below. Consistency was impressive (all three apps identified all three trees as Fagus sylvatica) but all had insufficient nuances/resources in their data bases to explain why the three beech trees could look so different.
So we hatched a cunning (if very unscientific) plan, to test out various apps and see what they were capable – or incapable – of doing. Thanks to the magnificent National Garden Scheme (https://ngs.org.uk/find-a-garden/) we selected another garden to visit the following day and then settled down to define a short list of plant identification apps to test.
We discarded any app which wasn’t free and any app which put too many barriers between the user and the plant to be identified, such as asking for too much personal information. Any app which wasn’t simple to use was also scrapped. We also looked for apps which majored on ornamental horticulture rather than, say, British wildflowers. We ended up with a short list of three:
Candide – which one of us had already uploaded for free as a result of a visit to the Newt garden in Somerset; has a tendancy to crash; needs extremely clear photos with good light and few distractions such as neighbouring foliage; tells you when it can’t identify the plant you have just photographed
Flora Incognita – highly rated and very easy to use; suggests additional or alternative photographs of the plant in question and a % confidence rating on suggested identity
Plantnet – again, well rated and easy to use, offers no suggestions for alternative photos and is less confident in its results
We only looked at basic plant identity uses and didn’t assess the other aspects of the apps eg gardening tips.
Yes – we said it was very unscientific, but please enjoy some of the results.
We’ll start with a couple of easy ones.
What we thought: tobacco plant What we thought: oxeye daisy
Candide: Necotiana alata/Sweet tobacco Candide: Leucanthemum vulgare/oxeye daisy
Flora Incognita: ditto Flora incognita: ditto
Plantnet: ditto Plantnet: L. maximum/max chrisanthemum
What we thought: didn’t know; we now know it’s a Spider flower! What we thought: Crocosmia
Candide: Cleome (spider flower) Helen Campbell Candide: Crocosmia auria
Flora Incognita: Cleome guaranitica Flora incognita: ditto
Plantnet: Cleome hassleriana Plantnet: ditto
What we thought: Robinia pseudoacacia (there’s a label) Lace Lady That we thought: A fir (Abies sp)
Candide: No idea Candide: Erica (blame the photographer)
Flora Incognita: Robinia pseudoacacia (not bad) Flora incognita: Korean Fir
Plantnet: No idea Plantnet: ditto
What we thought: Sedum What we thought: not sure
Candide: Hylotelephium telephium/orpine aka S. telephium Candide: Chestnut leaved Rodgersia
Flora Incognita: ditto Flora incognita: Spirea/Japonica/Rubus/don’t know
Plantnet: ditto/but using the English name Butterfly Plantnet: Rodgersia
It was a delightful couple of afternoons. Both visits provided varied horticultural pleasures, seats for weary legs and much appreciated tea and cakes. Both gardens also gave the apps a good run for their money.
Our conclusions? All three apps were helpful, particularly for retrieving plant names buried deep in the heads of the over 40s. But don’t take them at face value. They can only work as well as the light/camera/operator can capture an image. Check the results again and again. Unlike books, apps do well in the rain, of course, and can be easily updated, but a flat phone battery can bring the botanical adventure to a grinding halt. Anyone got a charger?