How to ID plants just by the leaf

[galanthophile]

I was helping out at a local park last week and the girl who worked there was asking for help in identifying some of the plants in the Dene where we were clearing weeds. I could ID most of them but there were one or two that I didn't know. Where is a good place to start identifying plants when you only know what the leaf looks like? Thanks

[Dorts]

You need to get hold of a 'vegatative key'.
You'll find one in Francis Rose's Field Guides where he includes a key to plants not in flower.
Dorts.

[aeshna5]

There is a fairly recent book devoted to just this:

The Vegetative Key to the British Flora by John Poland + Eric Clement

A BSBI publication by 2 authoritative field botanists.

[Deb London]

I believe Leafsnap might be worth a try if you have a iPhone/iPad. It's free.

http://foresttalk.com/index.php/2011...r-iphone-ipad/

[poschiavanus]

Originally Posted by Deb London

I believe Leafsnap might be worth a try if you have a iPhone/iPad. It's free.

http://foresttalk.com/index.php/2011...r-iphone-ipad/

This is an American app. specific for trees in North America: and I doubt it works for things like the Hawthorns (Crataegus) species of that continent. It also appears to require the leaf to be photographed (or scanned) against a plain white background.

Plus it seems to have at least one species wrong: European Hawthorn Crataegus laevigata looks like Hawthorn C. monogyna to me.

[Deb London]

Is it? I didn't know it was specific. Still, if I had an iphone, I'd give it a go. Looks like fun.

Actually, I quite liked the scanning/photography idea. After that it does the hard work for you.

[galanthophile]

Thanks, I trawled through images on the web and finally found what I was looking for.