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Comment by childofhedgehog | Hacker News Reader

I mostly use iNaturalist for foraging mushrooms, and have found it’s somewhat unreliable unless I already have an idea of what I’m looking for. How is this app set up for mushroom IDs? Sounds really fun and I love the concept but given some mushrooms are quite dangerous correct IDs are vital. I assume this also applies to plants?

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Mushrooms, mosses, invertebrates and even some plants seem to rely on specific small features that aren't always captured in photos of the thing to identify accurately down to the species level.

I'm using a national app, probably tuned on national data, so your mileage may vary, but my experience has been good: the app sees different and more nebulous features than what I have been trained to see by the mushroom experts at our foraging association. I never eat anything based on the app only obviously, but I often get more specific IDs, which usually seems right when I look up the mushroom it suggests.

Russulas, for instance: in my country, there are no poisonous ones, but there are at least 90 varieties and experts will often need DNA analysis to place them confidently. The procedure for determining edibility recommended by the foraging association is, once you're certain it's a Russula, to taste a small piece and spit it out. If it has a burning sharp taste, it's not food.

The app has been very good at predicting whether I'll experience that burning sensation, and all from signs that are invisible to systematic description (I won't rule out that an expert can also spot subtle differences between a sharp green russula and an edible green russula, but they probably wouldn't be able to describe it).

> I mostly use iNaturalist for foraging mushrooms, and have found it’s somewhat unreliable

iNaturalist or Seek by iNaturalist? I didn't think iNaturalist had an identification method other than "wait for an expert to come along and tag your photo".

Seek, on the other hand, is happy to make up identifications itself.

It makes suggestions as based on other photos and the location, this is what I was referring to. No idea if anyone ever confirms IDs for the pictures.

I have not tried Seek, but also just know to double check any iNat recommendations when I get home if I’m not 100%.

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