Public engagement project
Visual-Flora - a plant identification tool for smartphones
The development of simple user-friendly electronic identification keys for plants growing in the wild in the UK, including all higher plants and ferns as well as liverworts and mosses
Active
July 2008
Project overview
We have been developing simple visual identification keys to aid the identification of plants that may be found in the wild in the UK. These keys aim to be of use in the development of skills in plant identification. Identification can be based on flower colour/shape or on leaf characters. The main visual key covers over 1800 species of UK higher plants and allows the user to identify plants by selecting the most similar image at each stage. The identification key is currently being extended to include multi-access keys for bryophytes (Mosses and Liverworts). A draft has been incorporated for mosses and one for liverworts is being developed.
Output
The current versions of the identification keys can be accessed at the Visual Flora website. The current test versions of the moss keys are also available from the Visual Flora website.
Collaborations
Development of the various keys has been in collaboration with colleagues at the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) and the British Bryological Society (BBS), while the multi-access keys are based on the Identikit framework provided by the Field Studies Council (FSC).