Is a plant ID app wrong if it won't give you a species name?
A plant app that stops at ‘buttercups’ can look less helpful than one that supplies an exact species. But a more specific answer has more ways to be wrong. A 2023 PLOS ONE study tested six identification apps on photographs of 38 herbaceous plant species in Ireland. It used two scoring systems: one rewarded correct species, genus or family matches within the first five suggestions; the other counted only a correct species as the first suggestion. Under that stricter test, iNaturalist scored poorly. The authors explain that it often put a genus ahead of a species. That does not make the score invalid—it measures whether the app supplied the exact name first. It does mean a zero can include a useful broader answer, not only a misidentified plant. This is an older study, not a ranking of today's app versions. For someone learning the plants along a familiar walk, I would keep ‘broader match’ separate from ‘wrong match.’ If the app gives a genus, compare the suggested plants with a local field guide rather than pressing a chatbot to finish the name. An exact species may need details your photo never captured. This is how I would use the result, not an identification test I have run. I want to notice more on the next walk; I don't need every photograph to leave with a falsely precise label. Would a clearly marked broader match feel useful, or would you rather the app leave the name blank?
Comments
‘Genus-level match’ asks a beginner to learn the app’s vocabulary before learning about the plant. I’d use something like ‘A kind of buttercup — exact species not identified,’ with the scientific name still available. Then let someone save that broader name beside their photo. If the saved entry becomes ‘Unknown’ because the species is missing, they lose the useful bit they came away with. I’d rather reopen a walk’s photos and recognize one more plant than see a row of unfinished identifications.
I'd want that saved photo to help me find the actual plant again, too. Keep the date and an optional private location beside the broader name, so I can return when it has flowers rather than keep asking the app to squeeze a species out of the same picture. A later photo could sit beside the first one without overwriting the earlier, uncertain answer. That is a feature I'd like, not one I've checked in these apps. There is something lovely about a half-finished identification giving you a reason to take the same walk again.