Common Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis

Every living organism, plant or animal belongs to a family. The family name is probably the hardest part to memorize. The second part of a scientific name is the individual species. This part is descriptive. It usually describes a color, trait, location or something of that nature.

In Picea rubens for example Picea is the family name for Spruce and rubens is the Latin word for the color red, hence the common name, Red Spruce.  A species may also be named in honor or recognition of a person.  Mimulus lewisii is a species of monkeyflower named after the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Many species names will lead you toward the more common name, niger (black), spinosa (spiny), grandifolia (large foliage), canadensis (of Canada), quadrangulata (four sided) and linearis (linear). Those are just several of the hundreds to thousands of scientific names that are in use.

So does it mean your a geek if you know your scientific names? Not at all, in fact it’s quite rewarding to to be able to hear or read some of the terminology and understand what their talking about. Latin isn’t the only language used either. In fact, one of my favorite scientific names of all times has a Japanese origin, Tsuga canadensis.  Go ahead, say it to yourself…… “Tsuga canadensis” ……sounds awesome doesn’t it?  In short you just said Canadian Hemlock.

New England Aster, Aster novae-angliae. Aster is the Family, novae is Latin for new and angliae means english or England

Bottom line is, there’s no need to roll your eyes. Scientific names don’t have to be complex and boring to learn. It’s my guess you’ll actually enjoy using them. So get outside and find me some Solidago, er, ummm    ………..   Goldenrod.   Is that another cool name or what? Solidago, ya gotta luv it!!

Enjoy the Outdoors

MyNature Tree App, it’s good for what ails ya!!

 My wife Laura accompanied me on most of those trips. Now as much as we both love the outdoors and trees are a big passion we spiced things up just as tad on our photo shoots to keep our spirits up on those long days and countless miles of walking. It’s time we let you in on a little secret we’ve been keeping for a few years now. 

Behind just about every profile of a tree in the MyNature Tree app there is some part of Laura visible, a shoulder, head, butt, hand or a foot and if your really lucky you’ll find her face. In all honesty though, the pictures had to be cropped so small for the device that you’ll be lucky to ever get a good glimpse of her. She’s in there though and we had a great time doing those profiles shots. It was always a laugh. Next time your in the woods and open the MyNature Tree app look close at those tree profiles, Where’s Laura?………. she’s there somewhere!! 

This one didn't make the cut

• The one most important thing any outdoor or nature app should have is the ability to be self contained, that is, not rely on a wireless signal.  I don’t have a solid figure on how much of North American wilderness has cell coverage but if I were a betting man I would say less than 20%. I’ve hiked all over the Adirondacks, Yellowstone, the North Woods of Maine and parts of the Pacific Coast and cell service was pretty non existent in all those places. If any app your installing for outdoor use relies on wireless service then that app is totally useless, delete it now and save yourself future frustration.
• A good tree app should have a search feature that walks you through a series of questions or selections to narrow down the possible choices of what your trying to identify. Either the first or last selection in that search feature should be your physical location.  There’s no need in filtering through oak trees native to California if your in the state of Vermont.
• A trees leaf or needle structure should be the main focus of any search, for example; Are the leaves opposite or alternate? Are the needles in groups of 2, 3 0r 5?  Are the leaves compound, how long are they, are they lobed etc. ?
• In a really good tree app there should be a complete library of images of the following for each tree featured: leaf or needle, bark, profile, fruit or cone, fall leaf  and range map.

Those are the absolute basics a tree app should have to perform well. You may be thinking Image Recognition for trees, seen it, tested it and I’m here to tell you it’s a great idea if it worked but it just simply doesn’t. One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that an image recognition app is going to tell you the exact tree your trying to ID. It doesn’t. What it does is give you a list of possible matches and the user has to go through that list and find out which tree is a match.

So which app fits all the characteristics mentioned?  What’s a good tree app?  I’m a little biased on that but I can tell you it’s the MyNature Tree Guide.  It does all that’s mentioned above plus more!  Is it free? No, not free but it works and after all isn’t that what you want in an app.

Enjoy the Outdoors!

Were proud to add the National Park series of nature apps to our growing list of available apps for your iPhone.  Our flagship app MyNature Animal Tracks which recently underwent a major update and the MyNature Tree Guide is currently in the shop where were updating that popular guide with a new, sleeker UI and adding a few dozen new species of trees to the list.

What’s in store for future Nature Apps with us?  Well, we would like to expand our National Park series with 1 or 2 new parks in the coming year. Within the next few weeks our newest app on Fishing Knots should be in the app store. That app will feature 13 common fishing knots and is a preview of what to expect in the MyNature Fish Guide which were hoping to have out by the Spring of 2012, just in time for Trout season!

We here at MyNature Inc. would like to thank you for your support over the past two years and we know that with your continued support and positive feedback we can achieve future growth in the field of Nature Apps and bring you exceptional content to help you enjoy your days in the field.

Happy Hiking  !!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mynature-tree-guide/id377452068?mt=8