Looking for Weed Identification Tool

Hi all!

I have been looking for an online resource for weed identification. Garden weeds, roadside weeds, etc. Perhaps even their edible status, medicinal status would be super, too. A book is great, but I have yet to find a book that has even 90% of the weeds out there.

So, a website and maybe even a book that has the plant/weed, basic info, medicinal use, edible use and any other extras would be great. I live in Florida so maybe something regional?

Thanks much for all the ideas!

You can post pictures of mystery plants (weeds or desirable garden plants) on the Plant ID forum. Once you know the names there may be some people who know about the edible/medicinal uses, or at the very least once you know the correct name of the weed there you should be able to search the internet and find info on it.

Have you tried Google and "weed Identification"?????

Seems like an endless source if information....Go for it!

Of course--there is nothing like experience to be able to ID any and all sprouting plants.....including weeds. THAT comes with time!!!!

Gita

This is a very useful site for me. If you click on your general area on the map, it will show you the weeds that are likely in your area. If you click on the weed pic, it will give you a bigger picture and description. I still have trouble identifying some weeds and have been known to pamper an interesting plant only to find out later that it is an invasive weed.
http://www.weedalert.com/
Hope this helps.

velnita,

Thanks for this site! I bookmarked it!
Great resource.....
Gita

You're welcome. It really has been useful for me. I am absolutely horrible at identifying weeds and knowing whether they're perennial or annual weeds. Even with the site's help, I still am unsure. Sometimes I'll just yank them out and come in here and click on the site to identify them with the weed in hand. (chuckle) If my memory was better, I would only have to do that once.

velnita----

After YEARS of gardening---You will learn what is a weed--and what is not.....What to yank--and what not to yank.....All it takes is time and experience......and no one can give it to you--we can just provide you with all the information we have accumulated and hope that it helps you.

Gardening know-how is NOT really anyone can teach you in an e-mail---in a D-mail-- ina a couple of Posts, in a month--or in a year......
You have to accumulate the knowledge from your own experiences......successes and failures. You have to be willing to fail--in order to learn.
This may take months and months---or years and years.....

When you have reached the stage of "enlightenment".....(????)....then you can pass it on to others....confidently....and still be wiling to accept other's experiences with whatever you are trying to do and be graceous enough to admit that you may have "failed'...

It is, almost, like parenting children....No one can tell you HOW!---Until you have your own.

Gita

Thanks all for the information.
Gita, you are correct - learning what is a weed and what is not is a feat not easily learned. I have indeed figured out what belongs and what doesn't but I just want to put a name to what doesn't. LOL Also, sometimes, that weed can be a medicinal or edible plant.

Velnita, thanks for weedalert.com. I have used it before with varying success. It does not list all of my "goodies" and I got very frustrated with their pictures. Sometimes they only show the flowering part and nearly all of them are so reduced in resolution to improve load times but they are more or less a blob of color with minor definition. For those it works for, go for it! Any resource you find useful is perfect for you. :)

Gita, I can Google the living daylights out of anything. Except finding a resource or two to give me wide database, good pictures, good descriptions, alternate uses - all in one site. And that is what I was hoping to see if anyone here knew of such a site. I have found some databases are are vast in their contents, even some alternate uses, but alas, no pictures. And these came from universities. I've been looking for years, and it looks like I will keep looking.

Again, thank you all for your valuable insight. Everything is one step closer to my prize!

God Bless,
Ana