Plant identification

[Bulgary]

How can I identify a plant I don't recognize? Are there any other ways besides Google Lens?

[Tyras]

Definitely! Google Lens is useful, but there are actually several other great ways to identify plants, and honestly I’ve found that using multiple sources together usually gives the best results.

Some popular plant identifier online options are:

PlantNet
iNaturalist
PictureThis
Seek
Flora Incognita
Botan ID online

A lot of these apps use both AI and community verification, which can be more accurate than image search alone. I especially like iNaturalist because real people can confirm or correct identifications.

You can also identify plants manually by looking at:

leaf shape
stem type
flower structure
growth habit
smell
fruit/seeds
whether leaves grow opposite or alternate on the stem

That last one narrows things down surprisingly fast.

Another good trick is searching by region. For example:
“purple wildflower with serrated leaves in Texas”
often works better than a generic image search.

And honestly, gardening forums and Reddit can be incredibly good for difficult IDs because experienced growers notice details AI sometimes misses.