USDA App Helps ID Your Potpourri
Got a thing for dried botanicals?
(No, not THOSE … but the stuff of fragrant sachets, decorative wreaths and glass jars filled with heavenly scents?)
Before you discard your old potpourri or put some within reach of pets and children, you’ll want to take a look at this new app from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The Dried Botanicals Key app for iOS and Android was designed for professional botanists and plant-enthusiasts alike to quickly identify the variety of dried (scented, bleached or color-dyed) fungi, fruits, seeds and leaves you’re likely to find at your local craft shops and gift stores. Because these mixes can include poisonous, toxic, and invasive plant material capable of carrying plant diseases, it’s “key” that you know what you are using.
The app features close-up, full-color photos for each entry with descriptive language both scientists and amateurs will find helpful on-the-go.
For instance, select “Flowers buds” under the Flowers drop-down menu and “Radial” shape under the Symmetry menu, swipe to the left, and you’ll learn more about the finer aspects of eucalyptus buds than you ever dreamed.
Plus: Use the Dried Botanicals Key app with the customizable Web-based tool of the same name for mobile-to-desktop-and-back flexibility.
If you need to go further into the weeds about plant threats and pests, USDA APHIS and its development partner have developed a suite of mobile “ID” apps for use by specialists in the field including:
- Citrus Pests Key: Identifies insect pests that threaten both the citrus industry and backyard citrus trees;
- Citrus Diseases Key: Designed for U.S. quarantine officials responsible for inspecting imports;
- Terrestrial Mollusk Key: Identifies slugs and snails that can impact agriculture; and
- Federal Noxious Weeds Key: Identifies non-native species of weeds that could become invasive.
You can access the full menu of USDA ID apps on ID Tools by selecting for “app” under the drop down menu.
Get your investigative green thumb on: Download these (and more) great government mobile apps from the USA.gov Apps Gallery.
