Popular smartphone apps that help users name plants can be as little as 4% accurate when identifying species by their flowers – but are still a useful tool in helping engage people with the natural world.

Researchers from Leeds and Galway universities used six common apps – Google Lens, iNaturalist, Leaf Snap, Plant Net, Plant Snap, Seek – to try to identify 38 different species of plant at four locations across Ireland, all using a Samsung Galaxy A50.

Plant Net and Leaf Snap were found to be the most accurate, correctly identifying plants by their flowers 88% and 84% of the time, but still short of what the team considered a highly consistent level of accuracy, set at 90%.

Google Lens, which can be used not only to identify plants but also animals, products, buildings and text, ranked third, correctly identifying plants by their flowers 68% of the time, and by their leaves 55% of the time.

iNaturalist ranked lowest, at 4% and 7%.

While most people don’t use the apps for foraging, and are therefore unlikely to be at risk from accidental poisoning, another concern with the misidentification of plants is the removal of endangered or at-risk plants accidentally labelled as weeds or toxic plants – or the failure to remove harmful plants deemed safe.

However, the team also highlighted the benefits of using such smartphone apps for encouraging engagement with plants.

‘Plants account for over 80% of biomass on the planet, but many people struggle to identify even common plants in their own areas,’ the team wrote in the journal PLoS One. ‘This lack of engagement with plants is often referred to as “plant blindness”, although “plant awareness disparity” and “plant awareness” have both been suggested as more inclusive terms.

‘Overall, none of the apps in this study achieved a highly consistent level of accuracy – over 90% – but several were quite good at identifying herbaceous plants. The technology is also improving all the time, and it is therefore likely that apps will only continue to become more accurate. 

‘There is significant potential for the use of some generalist ID apps to help people identify plants. They have potential to be of use in a wide range of situations from curious gardeners, to trainee environmental professionals to teaching.

‘However, apps should be considered an aid to plant identification and not assumed to be correct, particularly if the plant in question might be toxic or otherwise harmful.’

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