Author Topic: Wildflower Plant Identification  (Read 4579 times)

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Offline riverbee

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Wildflower Plant Identification
« on: August 28, 2014, 11:02:34 pm »
technology~ imagine someday being able to scan a plant we are unfamiliar with, upload it to a web site and have it identified within minutes.....
or take a photograph of the bloom, pre bloom, leaf and stalk structure, upload it and have it identified......
like a fingerprint match or dna match....... it could happen! :D

until then........ :D i have a friend who is a horticulturist and a forester, i have also used the county extension agents of various departments to help me identify different plants and trees.  all i do is send them an email with a photograph, bloom or pre bloom, leaf and stalk structure and they tell me what it is.
we have spent a great deal of time planting fields for honey bees and other pollinators, done a great deal of research for this and have been fortunate with the advice given to us with prairie moon nursery in minnesota.

i have some books also, so i am asking everyone to post what has been helpful to them in the past to help identify wildflowers, or what books you use in your area for identification. 

i use/have used the following guides:

Wildflowers of Wisconsin Field Guide by Stan Tekiela
Wildflowers Of Wisconsin
this is a great little field guide for wisconsin with great color photographs and is grouped by color of the plant, and also gives pertinent info on the plant and the author's notes or knowledge of it.

What's Doin' the Bloomin'? A Pictorial Guide to Wildflowers of the Upper Great Lakes Regions Eastern Canada and Northeastern U.S.A.
by Clayton & Michele Oslund

What's Doin' the Bloomin'?
great color pictorial guide by season, and also wections on grasses and sedges, vines, flowering woody plants and ferns (plants without flowers) and other great useful info.

Wildflowers in the Field and Forest A FIELD GUIDE TO THE Northeastern United States
by Steven Clemants and Carol Gracie

Wildflowers in the Field and Forest
this is an awesome more in depth and comprehensive color field guide by color of the plant, and insets of photographs of other identifying features of a plant with maps of range and bloom time.  very descriptive, very useful.  easy to use.

last but not least, i like to know the value of a plant especially to honey bees, for nectar and pollen and other great info.  for that resource i have :

Honey Plants Of North America
by John H. Lovell 1926

Honey Plants of North America
i own this in a reprint in softcover, would like to have the hardcover, but they sell for a few bucks. although this book contains black and white photographs, there is great in depth information on all plants valuable to honey bees whether it be for pollen or nectar, or propolis and other great info, like color and taste of the honey produced.  a great read and a great valuable reference book to have.  most bee suppliers carry the softcover reprint.

share what field guides or books you use or have used in your location to help identify wildflower plants!

i keep wild things in a box..........™
if you obey the rules, you miss all the fun.....katherine hepburn
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Offline Garden Hive

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Re: Wildflower Plant Identification
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2014, 07:34:55 am »
Good Topic River

I like the convenience of the computer. Here is a site that I use for my area.

North Carolina Native Plant Society

http://www.ncwildflower.org/plant_galleries/browse_all_pics/

Offline Zweefer

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Re: Wildflower Plant Identification
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2014, 09:51:03 am »
that tech has already been started.  if you have an iPhone, I would try the following apps. 

Leafsnap http://leafsnap.com/  -This is more for trees you want to identify. 
This is what Riverbee envisioned I think...   here is a promo video. #t=77

For flowers I use Garden Compass https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garden-compass-plant-disease/id605855033?mt=8
-I have used this with great success. overall fast response time.

Another couple to consider would be Plantifier https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plantifier/id524938919?mt=8
Instead of tapping professionals, this uses crowd-sourcing to get your answer. I found the response time to take a bit longer than Garden Compass, but you may be luckier than I :)




Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
Henry David Thoreau

Offline CpnObvious

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Re: Wildflower Plant Identification
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2014, 10:48:27 am »
Google Images offers this feature, too.  You can use your camera or upload the image and it will do a search:

https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&ei=95EAVLbhF8XTsQSD9ILwBg&ved=0CAMQqi4oAg



Offline riverbee

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Re: Wildflower Plant Identification
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2014, 11:34:12 am »
boy that guy likes to talk, kept waiting for a demonstration........ :D
simple instructions:   ;)

Google Search By Image

i have used google image search, identifying plants seems to be hit and miss with it.

i had to laugh, i use books and you all are using technology.......... :D
i don't own a smart phone, but those look like really cool apps zweefer.  tim, the north carolina website is pretty cool!
i keep wild things in a box..........™
if you obey the rules, you miss all the fun.....katherine hepburn
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Offline CpnObvious

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Re: Wildflower Plant Identification
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2014, 11:38:13 am »
i had to laugh, i use books

Books...?  Are those the things made of of flat pieces of plant fiber all glued together on one edge?  Back in the 80s they had plastic covers on them called "dust jackets"?

Yes, he does like to talk, on and on and on and on... then BANG!!! No demonstration... But he did explain it.  I provided a link to the images search page as well. :)

Offline Zweefer

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Re: Wildflower Plant Identification
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2014, 03:23:52 pm »
I still go through plenty of books riverbee.   
I have a very worn field guide I use to identify edible plants and berries while camping.
Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.
Henry David Thoreau