If you’ve ever photographed a picture of a beautiful flower or tree, only to be clueless as to what it’s called, you no longer have to scour the internet with a descriptive internet search (are those leaves serrate or sinuate?!) to try and identify it.
A new app called Pl@ntNet can help you identity types of plants using just an image and your smartphone.
The app, which was developed by several French research institutions and a network for botanists called Tela Botanica, uses technology similar to facial recognition software to identify species of plants using photographs uploaded by users. Since it’s designed for French users, it does contain a plethora of European plants, but users can help grow the database by adding in photos from around the U.S. and identifying species on their own.
For those of you who are into botany, Pl@ntNet is available for download in Apple’s App Store. Once you’ve downloaded it on your phone, all you have to do is snap a photo of your favorite plant, upload it to the app, and wait for it to comb through similar images to help you finally identify that strange plant growing in your yard.
Learn more about the app in the video below:
[youtube id=”W_cBqaPfRFE”]
Photo by Vince_Vega 