Handheld system identifies trees

US researchers have developed a handheld device that identifies trees from the shape of their leaves. The system is now being adapted for use in iPhones and other smart handhelds.

The idea is that you take a picture of a leaf with the device's camera and it looks it up on a database, the New York Times reports.

Good news for anyone who has destroyed valued plants, under the impression that they are weeds, is that the system may be extended to other species.

W. John Kress, a research botanist and curator at Washington's Smithsonian Institution who worked on the project, told the New York Times: "We believe there is enough information in a single leaf to identify a species. Our brains can’t remember all of these characteristics, but the computer can."