Despite AI advancements I don’t think plant identification is solved.

Take the above plant, a weed that started growing near my house.

  • The iPhone photo built-in identification says this is Jesuit’s tea
  • ChatGPT says “That plant looks like epazote (Dysphania ambrosioides), a pungent herb commonly used in Mexican and Central American cooking” (this is aka Jesuit’s tea)
  • Seek by iNaturalist says Pennsylvania pellitory

Based on more research I’m inclined to say Seek was right, that this random weed is Pennsylvania pellitory.

Aside from referencing other photos and examining the stem and leaves closely, I found this helpful website describing Pennsylvania pellitory:

It is called Glaskruid in Dutch and Cucumber weed in parts of the USA. Both helpful common names as it kind of looks glassy when held to the light (translucent) and it has a mild cucumer taste.

The weed on my property did have these properties (I smelled it before tasting it).

ChatGPT doubles down on its incorrect answer:

I wonder how Seek got it right while the other two didn’t. Aside from it probably using a better model fine-tuned on lots of plant photos, I believe it incorporates time of year and location info as well.