February 1, 2017 (Vol. 37, No. 3)
Rating:
Strong Points: Large collection of plants, easy to use
Weak Points: Not much information contained within individual entries
Platform:
iPad/iPhone
Cost:
Free
Summary:
The Plant-O-Matic app is (almost) as magical as its name implies, allowing users to quickly generate a list of plant species in their proximity (well OK…to within at least 100 square kilometers), based on their GPS coordinates or a given location. To initialize this process, users simply press the “Botanize!” button. The list of species is generated from a database of just over 3.5 million plant observations and geographic range models, and over 88,000 plant species are represented. Once presented with the (quite sizable) list, users can restrict the list via filters that include plant form (for example, aquatic, bryophyte, or fern), flower color, taxonomic family, or specific criteria (such as whether or not an image of the plant is available). Individual plant entries are comprised of (in many cases) an image of the plant and a brief description from Wikipedia, as well as a link to the Wikipedia page itself.
