A while back, we enlightened you with two other amazing technologies. One that 'sends you a tweet every time your plants need to be watered-Botanicalls'. And the other one is a USB Device that helps you 'learn everything about your garden, be it sunlight measurement or temperature- Easy Bloom'. 

Three cheers to Technology!

Technology has broken all its barriers with this wonderful invention called 'Leafsnap'. It can be simply defined as 'an app for iPhone(available for iPad and Android soon) that identifies the species of trees from photographs of their leaves'. Isn't it amazing? Well, all you people with a green thumb out there, buck up and get ready to turn to citizen botanists. ;)

Leafsnap app contains splendid images of flowers, fruits, petiole, seeds and bark. While just walking around outside, if you become curious to know about a particular leaf, just break it off and capture it in your iPhone. Although, you will be needing a white background to capture the leaf as the app identifies a leaf when it is placed against a white background. After identifying, the app automatically shares the images, species particulars and the tree's location with a group of scientists. The scientists then use the info to map and monitor the population trend and trees count.

Leafsnap is an outcome of the collaborative works of Columbia University, the University Of Maryland and the Smithsonian Institution. The free Leafsnap is claimed to be 'the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed to demonstrate this new technology'. Currently, it identifies the 191 species of trees of New York and Washington, D.C. And is expected to cover other areas of U.S pretty soon.  The app also does geo tagging of the captured leaves for your reference.

This app certainly gives the users a better understanding of species of leaves and makes it all the more fun! Rush to the iTunes store and download it now. Don't forget to share your feedback in the comment section below.