Wacky Wednesday: Shazam for plants is here
If you are a plant lover and can’t seem to keep track of all the plants you encounter on the daily, look no further than PlantNet, the Shazam for plants.
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Most of us could never identify the 400 000 flower plant species that exist in the world. Luckily for plant lovers, the weird and wacky world of plants has now been captured in an app.
The name of the app is PlantNet and it helps you identify a specific plant from any picture whenever you come across it.
How does the app work?
The app collects data from a large social network which uploads pictures and information about plants. Scientists from four French research organisations including Cirad, IRA, Inria/IRD, and the Tela Botanica Network developed the app. It is available on iPhone and Android devices, it is essentially the Shazam for plants.
It features visualization software which recognises many plant species, provided they have been illustrated well enough in the botanical reference base.
PlantNet currently works on more than 4,100 species of wild flora of the French territory, and the species list is provided through the application. The number of species included and images used by the application grows as more users contribute.
Where to find this app?
The app is available on iPhone and Android devices. You can download the app on Google Play Store.
This video explains how it works