Identify indoor plants: identify flowering and green plants

Did you fall madly in love with a magnificent houseplant at first sight? Then you should be familiar with the name in order to welcome the floral beauty at home and care for it in an exemplary manner. Various methods of plant identification will guide you to a well-founded result. Simple, but contestable, can be achieved with images. Resilient results are provided by identification books with successive decision-making processes that require a firm gardening knowledge. This guide explains the best tried and tested approaches. How to successfully identify flowering and green plants for living spaces.

Methods for beginners

If you are still in the starting blocks as a house gardener, optical identifiers of the plant in question offer a good starting point. Photos, pictures and drawings make a verbal description of flower and leaf shapes superfluous. Furthermore, you are not forced to differentiate between woody or herbaceous growth and similar botanical characteristics. Three approaches that work with and without electronic support have proven to be effective for beginners in carpentry.

Plant recognition via app

Carpenters without a green thumb but in possession of a smartphone recognize plants using an app. The practical mini-programs can be installed quickly and are usually free of charge. The image section with flowers, leaves or fruits is selected directly from the application. Press the shutter release and send the image to the server. The answer will be shown promptly on the screen, often together with an informative short text or Wikipedia article, as with the free app "iPlant" The only disadvantage is that you don't get the search result can check.
The also free plant recognition app "Pl @ ntNet"offers further options. Here you can select in advance whether you want to identify the houseplant you are looking for by flower, leaf or fruit. The app was developed by a team from several French research institutions and is also available in German.
The majority of German-language plant recognition apps are still under construction. Some providers have integrated a community function. You can use this to upload photos that cannot be assigned. Perhaps another user is already cultivating the plant in his home and can reveal the name.

Determine online

Plant recognition via app is still in its infancy. Those who want reliable results should look to online portals for identifying indoor plants using images or properties that are already known. We have put popular providers through their paces in order to present you the following selection in more detail:

plantopedia.de/plants determination

Plantopedia is on the advance among the portals for plant identification with an uncomplicated search tool. A total of 9 criteria with more than 50 sub-items lead you to the coveted plant name. In addition to classic aspects such as flower color or flowering time, you can choose according to location, soil type, pH value and lime tolerance. Behind the page is a young, innovative garden magazine that leaves no questions about plants and care unanswered. It is worth keeping an eye on Plantopedia's plant identification, because almost 400 species have already been recorded.

• Advantage: broad search criteria
• Disadvantage: So far no distinction between bedding and indoor plants

plant determination.info/roomplants
A simple and clear page design invites you to search and rummage. You can choose from five flower colors, multi-colored flowers or all colors. You can also select the number of petals. For example, are you looking for the name of a houseplant with red or pink, six-petalled flowers, large photos appear with the matching species from A, like amaryllis, to Z, like Zephyr flower. The portal has set up its own categories for orchid lovers and cacti friends. If you cannot provide any details about flowers, you are still not at a loss. On the "Leaf determination" sub-page, it is possible to identify perennials and woody plants according to their foliage, optionally also when they are young or in autumn.

• Advantage: numerous pictures in the best quality
• Disadvantage: botanical plant names without German translation

plant friends.com/roomplants
If the carpenter already knows some criteria, he will find what he is looking for on this page when determining the plants. A lexicon presents a large number of domestic and tropical houseplants in alphabetical order. Each lexicon entry is provided with a picture, provides information on the level of difficulty in maintenance, possible uses and location conditions. In addition, the portal offers the selection of indoor palms, orchids, succulents, cacti, bulb plants, Gesneria, flowering and easy-care indoor plants.

• Advantage: every houseplant with a picture, botanical and German name
• Disadvantage: very time-consuming without knowledge of certain properties

flora determination.de
The great portal of botany takes third place in this selection because a specific search for indoor plants is not possible. The site compensates for this shortcoming with differentiated criteria. You have a choice to search for traits, images, or vegetative characteristics with no flowering. The last option in particular provides valuable assistance in clearly identifying a non-flowering plant. When the portal reaches its limits, like-minded people are ready to offer advice and action in the integrated forum.

• Advantage: intuitive search with the ability to skip certain categories
• Disadvantage: few houseplants so far

Pflanzenendetektiv.de
A recommendable tool comes from the specialist publisher Ulmer if you want to define a houseplant. A total of 5 categories are offered: plant type, flower color, flowering time, flower height and growth height. All hits are presented with a picture, German and botanical name. If you click on a result, further information about the beauty of the room opens. Origin and growth characteristics are supplemented with useful information on location, use, reproduction and care. Recommended varieties round off the meaningful result.

• Advantage: simple operation of the search mask, lots of helpful information
• Disadvantage: very low number of houseplants

iowe.de
The Institute for Economic Ecology has set itself the task of supporting beginners and advanced learners in identifying plants. The simple search starts with the flower color and enables the option unknown. If you are familiar with the height, you can continue with this information in the second step. Finally, you have the option of narrowing down the results according to the flowering period. If you can provide information on all categories, you will receive a clear hit list.

• Advantages: uncomplicated search, sometimes over 1,000 hits
• Disadvantage: not all plants with photo, no distinction between outdoor and indoor plants

Tip: Are you only interested in the information whether an unknown houseplant is a flowering or green plant? Then the shape of the bud provides more information. Leaf and shoot buds can usually be recognized by their narrow, pointed shape. Flower buds, on the other hand, reveal themselves by their round to spherical shape. Furthermore, flower buds are usually much larger than buds that transform into leaves or shoots.

Identify in print media

There is a good reason why historical reference works and recognized knowledge portals on the Internet, such as Wikipedia, make use of both photos and drawings in articles describing plants. In contrast to photos, important details can be shown or highlighted in manually produced images. If the determination process via app or online photos still leaves doubts about the actual type of houseplant, an illustration sheds light on the darkness. No botanical skills are required for identification, just a good eye. We looked around the book market and filtered out the following richly illustrated titles for identifying indoor plants:

1200 garden and indoor plants
One of the most meaningful standard works comes from the pen of the experienced garden and landscape architect, plant collector and author Martin Haberer. A total of 1200 plant portraits give a quick overview of traditional and modern plants for living rooms, winter gardens, beds and balconies. Important botanical identifiers, detailed drawings and 1220 color photos pave the way for the plant name you are looking for. Valuable information on location requirements and maintenance round off the popular reference work for home gardeners.

• ISBN 978-3-8001-0363-8
• Price for the hardcover book: from 19.90 euros

Picture atlas of potted plants for rooms and balconies
Numerous profiles and tables on 361 pages will help you to find the unknown plant name. In the 4th In the revised edition, 696 color photos and 23 drawings are also available to facilitate the process of identification.

• Authors: Moritz Bürki, Marianne Fuchs
• ISBN 978-3-8001
• Price for the hardcover book: from 39.90 euros

What is it? The 120 most important houseplants
This little picture atlas is perfect for getting started with the identification of indoor plants. Even inexperienced hobby gardeners can quickly identify the most popular plants for windowsills and conservatories on 120 maps. Meaningful profiles with clear illustrations and understandable texts also enable indoor plants to be better cared for.

• Authors: Kaspar Heißel, Martin Haberer
• ISBN 978-3-8186-0348-9
• Price for a book and 120 cards in a folding box: from 12 euros

Identification key - advanced method

Anyone who has acquired a solid basic knowledge as a carpenter uses a scientific method to search for the name of a houseplant. An identification book with an integrated identification key accompanies you step by step through the decision-making process. Primary prerequisites are botanical knowledge of plant shape and flower structure as well as the horticultural competence to name decisive differentiating criteria. It begins with general differentiation criteria, such as growth with herbaceous or woody shoots. In the style of a yes / no decision, all questions branch out as long as at least two possible answers are available. The so-called dichotomous bowl ends where there is no longer any choice and the result is certain. In simple terms, this branching structure is a decision tree with a robust result.
The following example illustrates (incompletely) how you can reliably identify flowering and green plants using an identification key:

1. Tree or shrub? (continue at 2)

- 'Herbaceous growth? (continue at 3)

2. Opposite leaves? (continue at 4)

-, alternate leaves? (continue at 5)

3. Aquatic plant? (continue at 7)

-, land plant? (continue at 8)

4. Parasites on trees? (continue with belt flowers)

-, not a parasite? (continue at 6)

The initially simple questions are steadily deepening into botanical details, which require well-founded specialist knowledge to answer. For example, one of the last questions before identifying daisies is: Does the pappus of at least the central flower consist of a wreath of hair?
The standard work for plant identification is the legendary Schmeil-Fitschen, which is now in the 93. The first edition was published under the title "The flora of Germany and the neighboring countries". In January 2018, Quelle & Meyer Verlag published the three great classics "Brohmer (Fauna in Germany) - Fitschen (woody flora) - Schmeil-Fitschen" in a slipcase.

Everything failed - what now?

If none of the above (or any other) are producing the results you want, try to approach the problem more simply. A google search with "houseplant" followed by the most striking feature can sometimes help. The image search is suitable for comparisons with the real plant and is therefore quite helpful. If that doesn't produce any results either, look for a garden / houseplants forum you trust and ask Pictures of your plant inside - write down the most important characteristics and hope that someone will help you can.
Our forum will help you here: What is the name of this plant?