Iowa State University

New Weed Identification Tool Available
by Bob Hartzler

September 16, 2004 - new software program, the “Interactive Encyclopedia of North American Weeds” may be of interest to you.  It offers more than 2,400 photographs covering 447 of the most important weeds and crops in the United States and Canada. The illustrated glossary of 565 botanical terms is a program in itself!  A unique illustrated interactive identification key now covers all of the weeds in the program. The professionally narrated lessons provide nearly three hours of interactive instruction on the basics of plant taxonomy needed to identify plants.

After 12 years of development, the program provides a balanced and fully integrated teaching and reference resource for weed, crop, and plant identification. The DVD is an excellent resource for teaching plant taxonomy and weed identification courses, basic botany, agronomy, and horticulture courses, and high school biology and vocational agriculture courses. A presentation maker feature allows an instructor or presenter to create a custom path through the program. Professional agronomists, horticulturalists, grounds keepers, landscapers, turf managers, gardeners, herbalists, botanists, and all manner of plant enthusiasts will enjoy the extensive descriptions, distribution maps, habitat key, World of Weeds weed history articles, and the unique visual weed and crop identification key.

The best way to see if it might be of value to you is to view a demonstration weed home page and obtain more information on the DVD-ROM at the following link: http://www.thundersnow.com/weedid.htm.

The Interactive Encyclopedia of North American Weeds - Version 3 DVD-ROM can be ordered through the North Central Weed Science Society by clicking on the following link:    http://www.ncwss.org/info/weedncwss.pdf.  
 

Or you can call Bob Schmidt, North Central Weed Science Society, directly to place an order at: 217 352-4212.  The price is $59.95 each plus $5.00 shipping and handling. 
 

Prepared by Bob Hartzler, extension weed management specialist, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University