Digital Aids to Plant Identifiction

Online Search Engines

There are numerous web sites devoted to California native and introduced species of plants. (See Additional Resources below for details.) These are mostly designed for professional botanists or the serious amateur.

However, there are some online search engines that are designed for a simplified plant search not requiring the ability to use a dichotomous key.  There are also some Android and I-phone apps for your smart phone.

Two useful search engines not using a dichotomous key are Wildflower Search and PlantID.net. Both require you to note readily identifiable features as well as your location, elevation, and season. The search engine then returns pictures of plants that meet your description. You then pick the plant that looks the closest to the plant you’re trying to identify.

Wildflower Search includes an extensive database for all of North America.

Another search engine for beginners in botany is PlantID.net. Though it uses the same approach as Wildflower Search, PlantID.net focuses only on California plants.

Smartphone Apps

The same people that developed Wildflower Search have also created apps for your smartphone using the same technique. They have apps for all states and Canadian Provinces. Because of its size and diversity, there are several apps for specific parts of California. The app that includes Kern County is Southern California Wildflower Search.

Seek by iNaturalist is another app for your smart phone. It relies on you capturing an image of the plant you’re trying to identify. You can either capture an image of the plant in the field if you have reception or you can use an image captured previously.