TreeBook: FREE, iPhone
If you actually need to identify an unknown tree in the field, nothing beats a dichotomous key. If you’ve ever used the one from Virginia Tech’s Department of Forestry, you know it is a simple but accurate key for figuring out the tree in question. The TreeBook iPhone app is pretty much the mobile version of that key. It opens right up to an ‘identify’ tab and has you choose a leaf type to get started. You can also browse trees by common names or families and the search function also looks for all the different common names, making it a fairly good reference.
This app lacks the depth of photos found in other guides and relies solely on leaves to start the key so it has limitations. Like many of the tree ID apps I’ve looked at it has a definite East Coast bias for the species included, but since it’s free it’s worth checking out.
Content provided courtesy of Brandon M. Gallagher Watson who is the director of communications for Rainbow Treecare Scientific Advancements. He is also a certified arborist, non-certified home brewer, and certifiable mobile technology geek.