XID founder Richard Old gave a sneak preview of the upcoming release of the 1,200 Weeds DVD to the Weeds Across Borders Conference in Banff, Alberta Canada.

Weeds Across Borders is an international conference covering the interests of professionals and organizations involved in weed management and regulation.  It is an affiliation of organizations from various jurisdictions across North America with a common interest in sharing information and promoting cooperative weed management. Despite the disparate politics of the nations involved in the conference, all agreed that early detection is critical to program success and that identification is the crucial stumbling block in early detection.  The XID Identification System can expedite the identification process and jump-start successful eradication programs.

Flora of the Northeast, Magee and Ahles, University of Massachusetts Press, has been released with an XID key to all the genera of the northeastern United States inserted in the rear cover.  This book is a major botanical work for the region consisting of over 1,200 pages. The inclusion of an XID CD allowed the use of color photos at a much cheaper price than conventional printing and also allows the user random access to the information rather than complete reliance on traditional dichotomous keys.

Forest Nursery Notes, Summer 2007.  Altland, J. Oregon Association of Nurseries monthly publication Digger 51 (3):32

The most straightforward and simple approach to weed identification is the use of a program by XID Services Inc. (www.xidservices.com/).  Along with Dr. Richard Old,  XID Services developed a computer program that allows the user to identify weeds and other plants by simply inputting one or more plant characteristics.  The program is a user-friendly database that contains thorough details of 600 to 3,000 weed species (depending on the version you purchase).

The XID software allows the user to input any number of plant physical characteristics, which in turn narrows the list of possible plant matches.  For example, telling the computer that the weed in question has pink flowers narrows the list of possibilities from 512 to just 127 species.  Further adding that the flowers of the weed in question contain two sepals, narrows the list to just seven species.  Photos and descriptions of the remaining seven possibilities are provided.  A quick survey of the possibilities reveals the name of the weed in question.

A vast array of plant characteristics pertaining to its flowers, stems, leaves, and roots can be entered into the computer to narrow the possible list of weeds into a manageable list.  I input only those characteristics of which I am certain.  Counting the number of petals or sepals, describing flower color or describing the pubescence on the foliage are very discrete plant characteristics that allow me to narrow a list of potential species from several hundred to just 10 or less.  From that list the software provides digital images of the species to that a potential match can be made.  Using Internet searches for additional photos, I further verify the identity of the weed in question.  I used this approach to identify many weed species in the Willamette Valley.

It’s best to avoid using variable or objective plant characteristics.  For example, plant size is a poor characteristic to use, considering that the weed in question may have been mowed, grazed or otherwise adversely affected by the environment. Characteristics such as leaf size and even leaf shape can vary, depending on climate and growing conditions.  These are often variable, and ultimately less useful, characteristics and should be avoided when identifying plants.

This software can be purchased containing a number of different plant databases.  One database contains  1,000 weeds throughout America.  Identical software can be purchased containing a database of the flora of Oregon or the Pacific Northwest (3,076) species).  I prefer to use the database of Northwest weeds that describes 600 species in our region of the U.S.  The www.Flora-ID-Northwest.com  website offers databases for many different states and regions of the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Richard Old of XID presented the 1,000 Weeds of North America program at the annual training session of the Association of Alberta Agricultural Fieldmen in Edmonton.  Following the presentation all the audience members received a copy of the CD for use “once the snow goes off”.

A major milestone has been reached with the completion of the Graphical User Interface portion of the XID software.  In the current version a user can view the various states of any characteristic (for example, leaf shapes) and can then make their selection by clicking on the appropriate term in the menu.  In the new Graphical User Interface version, the user can actually click on the attribute image to make their selection.  The conversion to this version has included the addition of hundreds of new terminology illustrations.  These new illustrations have caused the 1,000 Weeds database to become too large for CD ROM, so all future releases will be on interactive DVD.

Dr. Richard Old is to be presented with the Washington State “Weed Warrior” award at the Washington State Weed Association’s 55th annual meeting in Yakima, Washington. Dr. Old was made an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Association in 1990 and will now receive the Association’s highest award in recognition of 30 years service in performing the weed identification for Washington State Cooperative Extension Service, and the development of innovative tools to make plant identification more accessible to the general public.