The quality of Budburst phenology data relies on the quality of your plant identification in the field. However, plant ID can be incredibly challenging, even for experienced botanists, naturalists, and gardeners! This page provides some resources that Budburst citizen scientists may find helpful when attempting to identify new plants in the field.
Apps
We had our team try out several popular plant ID apps and score their accuracy and ease of use. Check out our rankings below:
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Seek by iNaturalist (Free) only available for iPhone
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Flower Checker ($1.99, offers in-app purchases) iPhone | Android
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PlantSnap ($3.99) iPhone | Android
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PlantNet (Free) iPhone | Android (Important: Change location settings to “USA” under “Projects”)
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Leafsnap (Free) only available for iPhone (Tree identification only)
Do you have experience with these apps or use a plant identification app not listed here? Let us know!
Online Keys
These interactive, visual online keys also provide a nice starting point for plant identification for non-experts.
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Discover Life, IDnature Guides
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Arbor Day Foundation: What tree is that?
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Go Botany (plants of New England)
Is your favorite online key to identify plants missing from this list? Let us know!