Recently, I came across an attractive shrub growing on the edge of Forest Park and realized that I didn’t have a clue as to what it was. I took a picture of the plant and tried without success to find it in my plant books at home or on the internet. Finally, I decided to try one of the plant identification applications that have been available for a few years. I installed the app on my phone, uploaded the picture, and in a flash the program identified it as Himalayan Honeysuckle. After looking at more images of Himalayan Honeysuckle on the web, I decided it was correct.
I tested the app on some other plants that I thought might be difficult to tell apart since they were just fall rosettes, but it correctly identified Fringecup, Youth-on-Age, Large-leaved Avens, and Bittercress. Over the following days, I used it to confirm the first-ever Forest Park colonists I have seen of two invasive plants, Purple Loosestrife and Lady’s Thumb (Persicaria maculosa).
If artificial intelligence can master the game of Go, I guess it can learn to identify plants. Part of me wants to resist this easy path to plant identification, but I have to admit I learned a lot of plants by having a friend tell me what they were. Other than the loss of human interaction, how is a plant identification program on my phone any different?
And what about the Himalayan Honeysuckle? I learned that it is an aggressive non-native that can become naturalized in the Pacific Northwest, but neither Washington State nor King County list it as invasive. I exchanged emails with a Park Supervisor who confirmed that it had been planted on purpose. He said he would tell his staff to keep it in check. I’ll be keeping an eye on it too, to make sure it doesn’t spread into the adjacent forest.