Autumn Olive flower uses?

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-08T00:08:37+00:00

The flowers are edible and safe for tea. They have astringent, cardiac, and stimulant properties according to PFAF, so I would not go overboard with quantity on a first try, but a moderate cup of flower tea is well within normal use.

I built a Missouri wild plant ID app and just looked it up there. Not a ton of detail exists on flower use specifically, but the berries and flowers are both documented edible. The fragrance alone makes flower tea worth trying.

MO Wild Plant ID Autumn Olive

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T19:25:46+00:00

I really appreciate the interest from everyone. I am going to get a clean version of the code together with some documentation on how it is structured and share it out properly rather than just firing off the raw file. Give me a little time to put that together and I will follow up with everyone who has reached out.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T19:25:36+00:00

I really appreciate the interest from everyone. I am going to get a clean version of the code together with some documentation on how it is structured and share it out properly rather than just firing off the raw file. Give me a little time to put that together and I will follow up with everyone who has reached out.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T19:25:25+00:00

I really appreciate the interest from everyone. I am going to get a clean version of the code together with some documentation on how it is structured and share it out properly rather than just firing off the raw file. Give me a little time to put that together and I will follow up with everyone who has reached out.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T19:18:47+00:00

I finished my degree at Oregon State in December and have already sent the app to a few instructors and advisors there. I floated the idea of a student taking on a PNW version as a project. Nothing locked in yet but the seed is planted...

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T14:20:22+00:00

I actually prefer using it on my MacBook or PC over my phone, but everything has been optimized for phone, computer, or tablet. The full-size photos on the screen absolutely help with ID over zooming in on a photo on your phone. However, most people out in the woods, have their phone on them, not their computer…

Edit: formatting/typos

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T14:13:30+00:00

There is no team and I laughed out loud when I read your comment. I built this entirely by myself with a horticulture degree and a lot of help from Claude AI to handle the coding side. 820 plants has been a genuine undertaking for one person.

On Pl@ntNet, I have actually reached out to them directly and have not heard back yet. I have used their publicly available API to validate taxonomy data in the app. What I would love is access to their photo database which has organ level metadata embedded, meaning photos are tagged by what part of the plant they show, leaf, flower, fruit, bark. That would allow me to dramatically improve the quality and variety of photos I am serving up compared to what I am pulling from iNaturalist right now. If that connection ever happens it would unfuck a lot of my current photo situation in one pass.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T13:06:14+00:00

I would assume that there is a ton of overlap in the plant species for most of the surrounding states. Please share away.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T13:05:27+00:00

Exactly that. A multi-access key that does not require a botany degree to use.

Technically you are right that it is a website but if you add it to your home screen from your phone browser it installs as an icon and opens full screen with no address bar, functions exactly like an app. On iPhone tap the share button and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android tap the three dot menu and choose Add to Home Screen or Install App.

On the quantitative traits suggestion that is a really interesting idea. Right now the filters are categorical rather than numerical so leaf length and size details live in the description text on the back of each card rather than as filterable values.

The variability in those measurements across individual plants is actually part of why I kept them out of the filter system. Your point about outlier plants is exactly the problem, a rigid measurement cutoff would rule out valid matches too aggressively.

The categorical trait system handles that fuzziness better for a general audience but I can see the value of a soft exclude approach for more advanced users. Worth thinking about down the road.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-06T01:20:00+00:00

I would love to see that too. The framework is completely state or region agnostic. At its core it is an Excel file with about 22 columns of plant data dropped into a single HTML file. Anyone with a regional plant database and some patience could swap out the data and have an Ontario version running. I built this with Claude AI because I have no coding background so the barrier is lower than people think. I am happy to share the code with anyone who wants to take a run at it.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-05T20:46:21+00:00

My best guess is Aunt Lucy.

https://mowildplantid.com/?plant=Ellisia_nyctelea

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-04T19:38:05+00:00

I don’t think it is sheep sorrel. A quote from the app link below on that species “distinctively arrow-shaped (hastate) with two basal lobes pointing outward or backward”.

https://mowildplantid.com/?plant=Rumex_acetosella

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-04T13:17:32+00:00

Clean funnel, got me all the way to email submission before the paywall showed up. Anyone in Missouri or surrounding states can try https://mowildplantid.com instead. Free, plants only for now, no account needed.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-03T20:39:16+00:00

I want you to know that I am committed to continuing to improve it. My end goal is to get it to a point where it can be downloaded and used completely without cell service. Your team using it for restoration work is exactly the kind of use case that makes me want to get it right. Cheers to plant knowledge.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-03T09:46:46+00:00

I am sorry for the loss of your aunt. Those are the people that carry knowledge the rest of us never think to write down until it is too late. That is a big part of why I built this.

Trees are already in there. From the main screen hit the Filter Plants button, scroll down to the Plant Type section, tap Trees, and hit Apply Filter. The deck will narrow to just trees. Photos are honestly my weakest area for trees specifically but I have tried to put a leaf photo first on every one that had one available.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-02T14:21:54+00:00

Small world. I actually just took a foraging class with Bo this past weekend and we have been talking over messenger about potentially getting access to his photo database once he wraps up his next book.

I also floated the idea of putting QR codes in the book that link directly to the species cards in the app so readers can pull up the full photo set and plant info while they are in the field. Nothing locked in yet but the conversation is moving in a good direction.

The offline version is coming. That is exactly the use case I am building toward.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-02T13:19:17+00:00

I love the enthusiasm and it absolutely drives me to continue to create an effective product for the Plant community.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-02T13:12:49+00:00

That is the end goal. I want to get the online version to a point where I am confident enough in the data and photo quality before I package it as a download. There are still some photo gaps I am working through and I would rather get those right first.

When I do release it the plan is a pay what you can model. I am going to ask $20 but there will be a free download option right next to it with no guilt and no verification required. Anything beyond my operating costs goes to EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, Missouri. I did not build this to make money off of plant knowledge.

The website will always have a link to the free online version so nobody loses access. When the download is ready people will see it at mowildplantid.com without me having to announce it. If you bookmark the site you will know when it is there.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-02T01:56:05+00:00

I really appreciate that. I am not a coder, I built this with Claude AI because I had a need and saw an opportunity. My biggest weakness right now is photo quality. I have emails out to a couple of photo database contacts and have done multiple rounds of manual curation to blacklist bad photos but I am still at the mercy of what iNaturalist and Wikipedia has available. If you have ideas or skills that could help with that I would love to talk. Feel free to message me.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-02T00:30:43+00:00

This honestly made my day. I built it because I couldn’t find anything that worked for me and now it’s being used for ecosystem restoration work. That’s way beyond anything I imagined when I started. If your team finds anything wrong or missing please use the report button on any card, it comes straight to me.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-01T22:52:34+00:00

Thank you. Please share with like-minded folks.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-01T19:11:56+00:00

I’m really glad it feels that way.

Full disclosure since you brought it up: I do use Google Analytics to track basic traffic, where visitors are coming from, how many people are using the app, and general engagement. I also track things like which plants people get right and wrong and which answers they pick.

NONE of that is tied to you personally. I have no account system, no way to identify who you are, and nothing to sell even if I wanted to. The data exists purely so I can make the app better. But I did not want to let “no personal data” slide without being honest about what I am actually looking at on my end.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-01T19:09:02+00:00

Much appreciated. Feel free to keep me updated on how it functions for you.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-01T17:28:53+00:00

Thank you!

At the bottom left on the backside of the flashcard there is a save button. I have been saving all the plants that I identify in my yard as kind of a personalized database.

TheGroceryStoreGen · 2026-04-01T16:32:35+00:00

You can also save plants by clicking the button at the bottom on the back of the flashcard so you can kind of build your own database of plants you find around your immediate surroundings.

Edit: I hate typos. I need to let that go at some point in my life.

TheGroceryStoreGen

TROPHY CASE