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[Mandrake]

Dear members,

this thread is for compilation of basic information for the identification of plants.

In this first post, I'm leaving here

1) A visual glossary of leaf morphology. Find out how to properly describe and ID types of leaf, according to their shape and arrangement, margin and venation.

2) A good example of a Dichotomous Key for identification of plant families.

The dichotomous key is a method in taxonomy that is used to categorize plants and animals. It is a form of single-access key where there are only two options at each step. The key is a series of questions with yes or no answers that is used to find what groups an organism belongs in by asking about the organisms characteristics.

Dichotomous Key to Plant Families - Go Botany / New England Wild Flower Society

As always, contributions are welcome!

Thank you all,

Mandrake

4 Likes New Wisdom, Seed Collector, fairdinkumseeds and dEEcor like this.

[Sunshine]

I believe the terms singular and compound are also used when identifying plants by their leaves. It has been ages since I took horticulture class, but I distinctly remember these terms being used to describe the leafs. (e.g. pinnately compound)

That chart could come in use later on down the road. For that I give a +1.

[Seed Collector]

http://botanydictionary.org/

http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/guide_to_vascular_plants Guide to the Vascular Plants of the Blue Ridge by B. Eugene Wofford - also useful outside that area; the closer, the better.

2 Likes Mandrake and fairdinkumseeds like this.

[EIRN]

I do not know if it is apropriate here...any way it is a good source of images of plantas to identification
http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/


example

2 Likes Mandrake and Seed Collector like this.

[krsnakat]

http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/BI211/PlantFamilyID.html

Online implementation of the Hansen and Rahn punched card system for flowering plant family identification, great resource.


http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/

This site contains images and information on over 1,700 landscape plants (mostly woody) listed in alphabetical order by genus.
The site also has a link that helps identify landscape plants, according to leaf shape, plant form, etc

2 Likes Seed Collector and EIRN like this.

[muze801]

Not really practical as a field guide or anything, in the sense that it's a just long list of names without any clues to morphology until you click a link, but every time I do there's almost an immediate connection in my head to a common nameless plant that I should've already known (or vice verse).

Weed ID Database - Auburn University College of Agriculture

1 Like Seed Collector likes this.

[muze801]

I found this really cool program/interactively navigable database for Identification, among other things: Introduction
Program and database download here:
Interactive key and information retrieval using Intkey (Windows)
And here's some usage tips:Hints on using Intkey with this package Principles of Interactive Keys

Some things are obviously out of date or missing, but with how fast taxonomy moves along it makes little practical difference.   As far as I can tell all the information is public domain and there is a LOT of information tucked away in the database texts (as well as other databases, available here if interested:Other Databases )

[LIBERTYNY]

   http://leafsnap.com/


 "Leafsnap: An Electronic Field Guide

Leafsnap is a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. The free mobile apps use visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves. They contain beautiful high-resolution images of leaves, flowers, fruits, petioles, seeds and bark.

The original Leafsnap currently includes trees found in the Northeastern United States and Canada, and will soon grow to include the trees of the entire continental United States. The high-resolution images in the original app were created by the conservation organization. Finding Species."

 
 

1 Like TheGardenShaman likes this.

[fairdinkumseeds]

This one has been really handy for me as I often don't even know where to start, and most of the things I have trouble with are uncommon in our area(these days).
Only for QLD Australia(and nothing equivalent as far as I can see elsewhere in other states).
It lists ALL recorded plants, animals, fungi, ferns, natives and escapees that have been EVER recorded in a local council area or region or national park dating back to the 1700's!!!

Customizable PDF or Text document that you request for email and download. Choose an area, tick the boxes, put in your email and in a couple hours you have a list to DL.
https://environment.ehp.qld.gov.au/report-request/species-list/

Already helped me ID 6 more species.

1 Like LIBERTYNY likes this.

[medolon]

These days all you need is https://lens.google.com/. I tried a bunch of plant id apps, and a lot of them are very bad. Google lens delivers much much better.

If you're on android, it's just the google lens symbol that you need to hit when you view the photo on your phone and voila you have it recognized.

2 Likes ONandONandON and TheGardenShaman like this.

[TheGardenShaman]

The app "PictureThis" has helped me identify plants on many occasions. Their website states that we can identify 10000 plant for free. They do have a premium service too.

The app can also be used to identify specific problems on plants by taking a picture. My favorite thing about the app is that it gives you a lot of info regarding the plant in each photo you take. It's a fun learning experience. Really!

https://www.picturethisai.com/

[HortyCulture]

great info! saved for later use. thank you <3

1 Like TheGardenShaman likes this.