Growing up, wherever I lived I would find the woods. I recall spending hours turning over rocks looking for salamanders, keeping a homemade pressed leaf diary of tree species, collecting small fish and turtles for my aquarium, and frequently being late for family meals. I had many copies of audubon field guides that I would flip through to aid the process. Nowadays, we are lucky to have a great selection of phone based apps that make identification easier than ever. After all, having a broad knowledge of your local plant and animal species is the foundation of being a naturalist and conservationist.
Lately I have used the app "iNaturalist" to find species I can't readily identify, because of its photo recognition abilities. The citizen science aspect of the app also shows great promise in allowing anyone to add locations of species they find to the cloud. There are many options out there, some which replicate the field guides I used as a boy. For this reason, I am choosing to showcase a great app made by the Virginia Tech school of Forestry, the VT Tree Identification app.
Simply designed and easy to use, the VT Tree ID app uses pictures and a process of elimination to identify a selection of tree species that are downloaded to your phone based on location. I like it because unlike iNaturalist, it encourages the user to use traditional dendrology skills to identify. This enables the user to identify using the process of elimination without depending on technology- as it should be. Here are scome screenshots of the app in use.
1. This shot is the "basic" view. If you are pretty sure you know the species, or are close but need confirmation, this view is the best. It shows all tree species for your location, with pictures. You may also enter the scientific name to narrow your search.
2. This shot, shows the selection under the "basic ID interview" option. The user can select a few broad identifiers and quickly find their species.
3. If your are really "stumped", you may opt for the "advanced ID interview". These are more specific, using surrounding habitat, buds, fruits, and other identifiers to aid your query.
All in all, its a great app that uses traditional methods of dendrology in app format. I would encourage anyone that desires to expand their tree id skills, while developing their independence away from technology. Happy Hunting.