Have you received a beautiful plant as a gift, but don’t know what it is or how to care for it? Do children ask a lot of questions about the natural environment, or do you yourself want to know more about what surrounds you? In this publication we will tell you how you can determine the exact name of a decorative flower or plant from a photo.
All ways to find out the names of unknown flowers
If you don’t know what the plant is called, then it’s not clear what conditions it requires. If not properly cared for, it can quickly wither and die.
What are the obvious ways to determine the name of a flower:
| Search methods: | Explanation: |
| Read reference books. | This method has many disadvantages. Information in print media quickly becomes outdated. Finding the right book can be difficult even for a specialist. In addition, many people's hand-drawn illustrations or black and white photographs do not correspond in any way to actual plants. High-quality color images often do not accompany every article, even in a good reference book. |
| Ask the experts. | Unfortunately, most people only have the opportunity to talk about this topic with the saleswoman from the flower shop and strangers on the forum. All these people are not required to understand every bush they come across and can also make mistakes. |
| Describe your problem in text to a search engine. | However, you will have to personally review the mountain of information on the topic. |
| Upload a photo of a flower into a special program. | Artificial intelligence is already successfully able to identify plant species from photographs. |
Determining the name of a plant using a smartphone
To make his work easier, upload photos taken in good lighting. Try to make the image look as clear and bright as possible.
Department of Biology
If you are somehow connected with a teacher or student from the Faculty of Biology, you can contact them with a question. The botany department should help. In the end, this is their bread, and science should help people in everyday life.
In addition, they should have illustrated plant identification guides. If you leaf through such a book together, you are very likely to find what you are looking for.
Google Lens for identifying plants from photos
Google Lens app has a Plant Detection mode. It does not always cope with the identification of rare species, but it can give a good hint in everyday conditions.
What to do to determine the name of your flower from a photo using Google Lens:
- Download the Google Lens app. Then turn it on and select the desired mode.
- Point your smartphone lens at the object you are interested in.
Google lens pointed at flower - Wait for a small colored circle to appear. If it doesn't appear, move the camera in front of the plant. When you finally see the circle, tap it with your finger.
Google Lens in action - Choose one of the name options.
How to determine the name of a flower in Google Lens - Read the description provided by Google. If you doubt the plausibility of the result, try photographing the plant from a different angle.
Description of a tulip in the Google Lens application
This program also makes it easier to search for desired products in online stores, scan QR and barcodes, copy and save text. The Google Images service also identifies plants from photographs, but the Lens app will help you cope with this task much faster.
We also suggest you learn: How to determine the color of a pixel online.
How to ask Alice about the name of a flower
The passive-aggressive voice assistant Alice is built into the Yandex and Yandex Browser applications (https://yandex.ru/alice/images). There is also a version for Windows. Alice is trained to recognize flowers and plants, so you can try sending her a photo and see how well she copes with searching for information on the Internet.
How to work with Alice to determine the name of a flower from a picture:
- Go to the application. Start a conversation with Alice by clicking on the white and purple symbol, made in the form of a rounded triangle. Then tap on the schematic image of the camera.
Alice voice assistant symbol - The message “Take a photo” will appear on the screen. Send a photo of the flower you are interested in and wait for a response.
- Almost instantly you will receive the expected name and a selection of images with similar plants. If one of them catches your attention, you can go to the web page describing it.
Yandex search result
The main advantage of Alice is that she operates mainly with information from Russian-language sites. However, translating a page from English is also not difficult for modern artificial intelligence.
Search bar
It is enough to type a suitable query into the search bar of your browser, and the Internet will immediately return dozens of ready-made answers with names and photos. Among them may be what you are looking for. Or you'll have to do a little more work.
How to formulate a request? If you need to find out the variety of Crassula, you can type “Crassula species with photos and names” or “Crassula varieties with photos” into the search bar.
If you are looking at Hatiora salosa, then you can formulate it like this: “succulent of thin segments name.” The search engine will immediately return suitable options.
There are always signs of an unknown flower from which you can start in your search.
This is the appearance of leaves, flowers, sizes. It is logical to add the words “name” and “photo” to the request. If you formulate the question precisely, the desired answer will be known in just a few seconds.
PlantNet is a smartphone application that will determine what kind of plant is in the photo
French botanical organizations came together for a joint project and released the PlantNet .
How to find out the name of a flower using it:
- Tap on the button in the form of a camera located in the lower right corner;
- Then take a picture of the flower or find the image you want in your gallery;
- Indicate the part of the plant that was photographed.
The program is available absolutely free of charge. The creators do not provide any paid options. Download it to your device with Android OS. iPhone owners will need to follow this link.
PlantNet app
PlantNet will offer a list of similar objects and determine the exact name of the flower from its photo in Latin. The database of this application is enriched by the collective contributions of users. Anyone can create their own account and mark whether the artificial intelligence handled the plant recognition correctly.
This may be useful: Search by photo from your phone in Yandex.
LeafSnap
An excellent application for identifying plants and flowers. Quite possibly one of the best of its kind on the Play Store. Harmoniously combines beautiful design and functionality.
Just take a photo of a specific flower, and LeafSnap will give you a wealth of information about it once it finds it in its database. If you want, you can dig into this database yourself. The developers claim that their brainchild can accurately recognize 90 percent of all known flora.
Available for Android.
iNaturalist will help you identify a plant running Android OS
The iNaturalist application was developed by specialists from the University of California. Like PlantNet, it specializes in working with wild life forms.
iNaturalist logo on smartphone screen
Instructions for use to determine the type of plant from a photograph:
- Point the camera at your subject.
iNaturalist app - Click your flower.
How to shoot with the iNaturalist app - Click on the “View offers” button. The program will offer a number of titles.
- Select the desired option from the list provided and load it into the database. To make it easier for other users to work with the application in the future, add a description.
This program is completely free. It does not contain built-in restrictions on access to its functions. She's not very good at recognizing rare species, but she's sure to do a good job on most objects.
PlantSnap will help you find out the names of any flowers
PlantSnap application contains a huge database of information on mushrooms, cacti, flowers, succulents, and trees from photos.
To download PlantSnap from Google Play, follow the link. iPhone devices can download the app from the App Store.
PlantSnap app
How to use PlantSnap:
- Click the plant on the camera;
PlantSnap app in action - Wait a couple of seconds;
- Analyze the output.
Information in PlantSnap
PlantSnap runs free on Android. When used via iPhone, it requires a subscription fee. In the free version, you can take no more than 10 photos daily. However, the program does not always produce the correct result from the first photo.
Selecting an Option in the Snapchat App
Plantix
If you want to grow something yourself, Plantix will come in handy. The main goal of the application is to help you get a healthy harvest. Here you will find information on 30 main crops and more than 400 of their damages. All you have to do is take a photo of the diseased crop, and then - the wonders of high technology. In general, this is a kind of doctor for your crops.
The content is translated into 18 languages, which is rare. Plantix also has a large farming community with more than 500 experts. You can ask any questions. In addition, the application contains tips on crop production and an agronomic weather forecast.
Available for Android.
Find & log animals and plants - works via GPS to find plants
This application will ask the user to indicate their location. It uses GPS tracking and can determine what animals and plants may be around you.
Find and Log app
The database is replenished by users. If you are a naturalist, you can add your description, providing it with observations. The user can make a list of favorite animals or plants, as well as look at other people's lists.
Recommended reading: Find clothes from photos.
Insect Identifier
I already briefly mentioned Insect Identifier at the beginning of the article. It identifies insects and thus helps to know which ones are harmful to plants and which ones are not. Just take a photo of the pest, and the application will find mountains of information about each insect, as well as many of its photographs.
The developers note that they take information for their machine learning algorithm only from reputable professionals. The company also notes that the database is constantly updated with new information. You can also keep a diary of caught insects in Insect Identifier. True, you will have to pay 399 rubles for the application.
Available for Android.
Picture This is a photo app for active nature lovers
The application stores a large database of various plants from around the globe. It also unites gardeners into a single social network. If Picture This was unable to determine the name of the flower from the photo, you can add the picture to the database marked “Unknown.” If one of the project participants knows the correct name of the plant, he will sign it.
Download the program on Google Play. iPhone users can go to the App Store using this link.
Picture This app logo
The free version allows you to recognize up to 10 images per day. It is advisable to photograph not whole bushes, but leaves and flowers separately, taking them close-up.
Common mistakes
In general, using the resources listed above to find out the name of a plant is not that difficult. However, there are still common mistakes that cannot be ignored.
- Poor quality photo. This includes a photo in the dark, a bad angle, and a blurry image. Remember, the better you photograph the plant, the better your chances of finding out its name.
- Violation of the terms of use. Each resource has its own rules. We advise you to read them before using them to avoid getting banned.
- Using only one application/resource. This is not a mistake, but rather a flaw. To get more accurate information, check the photo on at least two resources.
- Hope for 100% result. Unfortunately, no website or application can provide a 100% guarantee of accurate results. Therefore, there is always the possibility of error.
