Telling pine from spruce is probably easy, but telling hornbeam from beech? This may turn out somewhat more difficult. We created the application called “What is that leaf?” for beginner environmentalists curious of the natural world. The app was designed particularly for users who only begin their adventure with botany, but would like to experience the surrounding nature with more awareness.

It is an electronic key-guide to the identification of selected tree and bush species the most commonly encountered in Polish forests. Be aware, that it is you who answer the questions and recognize the species supported by the questions from the key, not the application itself.

The app focusses on typical forest trees and shrubs, mainly those native to Poland. For this reason we have left out species that are common in the countryside and in gardens and city parks, although we have made an exception for the common horse chestnut, which is one of Poland’s most beautiful and best-loved trees.

The application has three primary functions:
• practical key – for the identification of 26 selected species, allowing for the step-by-step identification of a given bush or tree.
• mini atlas – providing a short characteristic of the species, trivia, the most important features, and, most importantly – their photographs.
• “e-herbarium” – a catalogue of photographs of trees and bushes encountered and identified on forest trails.

We focused on features based on which it is the easiest and highly credible to identify a given species. Do not worry when leaves fall off in winter and cease to be the most important identifying feature of the species. The trees can be still identified by their fruit, structure (shape), and particularly – bark.

Accessibility declaration: https://www.ckps.lasy.gov.pl/deklaracja-dostepnosci