Overview of PlantID.net

 

PlantID.net is set up to help you identify any plant you find in the wild in California.

 

How it flows

 

Here’s a simple schematic that shows how you’ll use this system to make your plant ID. 

·        Start with a search or choose a location from the Menu. 

·        This will take you to the Plant ID List, where you can refine your search, read ID tips, compare illustrations, and come up with a possible match. 

·        Then drill down deeper into a Plant Page and Slideshow to confirm your ID and learn more about your plant.

 

 

The Plant ID List

 

As you see above, the central page is the Plant ID List, which is much more than a list.  It has

·        Easy searches that you can accumulate – for instance “red 5-petaled flower in bloom today”.

·        Plant ID tips and captions.  In combination with images these give you a good idea of what to look for.

·        Several views and sorts.

·        Links that let you to drill down to more information on a plant once you find a likely match.

 

Getting more information

You can find out more about each page by clicking the  icon in the upper right corner.

 

You can learn about procedures – for instance how to load your own photo, load your own plant list, edit plant lists, and even write glossary articles and state-wide plant information, by clicking About on the home page, and then choosing How to do stuff.

 

 

Vocabulary

 

Here are a few terms that have special meaning in PlantID.net:

ID Guide – an illustrated plant list written by a local expert, to introduce you to a location (Spring Wildflowers of Mt. Burdell), or a focused topic (Thistles of Marin County).  These are designed to be easy to use, with ID tips, captions and lots of photos put together to make plant identification straight forward.

Checklist – a Plant ID List showing all plants found in a park or on a trail  Checklists are different than ID Guides because they are designed to show every plant in an area.  Checklists have many search filters to help you get to a short list of possibilities.

Local Expert – ID Guides and Checklists are put together by local experts who share their knowledge with you via PlantID.net.

PlantID.net is designed to be easy to use, so we use every-day English to describe plants.  Sometimes we’ll add a technical term in parenthesis to give a more precise meaning.  Technical terms are usually underlined, which means you can click the link to see an illustrated glossary article on it.

 

PlantID.net is authored by many people, so you get the benefit of a Wikipedia-like array of information:

 

·        Knowledgeable photographers contribute their photographs. 

·        Plant Experts write species ID tips. 

·        Local Experts assemble focused, short ID Guides. 

·        Reviewers check facts. 

·        Editors maintain consistent style between ID Guides.

 

Start playing around to see what you can do.  Have fun!

 

 

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