Fighting With Google

Apparently I ask the impossible. AI almost  helps, last resort, but it's a delusion.

Back up a bit. Yesterday's post had an odd little plant in it, very ordinary looking for a roadside weed, except it was totally white, so white that in the right angle of light seemed to flash silver. I sent a copy of the photo to Crex, letting them know where it is to be found, in case they were interested in seeing it for themselves, asking for identification, as well as letting them know it looked about to bloom, just in case it was invasive and should be pulled.

I actually hope not, or not yet, because I'd love to go back there and shoot the flowers. I want to see them! They have to be very tiny, so there'll be some camera work, but I. Just. Want. To. See. What. They. Look. Like!

I haven't heard back from them yet, but they have their own priorities. I also sent a query off to my sister-in-law, with a degree and profession in those kinds of things, and my usual go-to when I wish to be absolutely correct in an identification. I'm waiting to see what she can come up with as well.

Because Google is a total failure! I type in descriptive terms, the most telling of which ought to be that it is all white. Google seems to "think" I'm shopping, sending me all kinds of pictures of plants I know very well, both from my own plant-keeping as well as having worked in a garden center. The results have white flowers. Yes, I actually do recognize strawberry blossoms! Did you notice the green on the rest of the plant, Google? Or Google picks plants with white spots on their leaves, apparently common in some stores these days as varieties. I know those better as "variegated".  I've grown lots of those, like the '70's favorite fad plant, the spider plant.  Maybe Google can't identify "all" or "completely" when paired with "plant"? But look, if it weren't rare, I wouldn't be online asking what it was, right? I do understand the misdirection of shopping, sources and prices listed with photos, since I have done a fair bit of that online lately, working on variety for my several gardens. GOOGLE DOES REMEMBER YOU, FOLKS!

I finally took off the restriction against letting AI into the hunt. It actually found a couple of WRONG answers for me, though kudos for working on the "all white" part. One is a succulent, and yes, I'm growing one of those and it's not actually white, but more covered with white fuzzy skin. Green underneath though, very plainly.  The other wrong answer was "ghost plant", which actually is white but also more fungus in character than having normal plant structure. It can't do photosynthesis so it gets nutrition from the dirt. Much as I'd get some fun out of shooting one of those, it's not the plant in the photo, repeated here for those who missed yesterday's post and don't want to bother going back for it:

As you can see, typical weedy plant structure, not "shroomy" in nature, and no green anywhere else. I don't do camera editing tricks, as regular followers know, aside from cropping and color changes which affect the entire photo, like adding a bit of red when I had one camera that malfunctioned on it in every single shot. For example the red rocks of the desert southwest were all turned a greyish tan. A quick fix, that I can do. But it's for the entire picture, like brightening or darkening exposure. Can you imaging the hours it would take -if I even knew how - to outline every bit of these plants to perfectly make them white and nothing else?

I can manage to severely crop to show details better. Like the fact that there is no green in this plant, but plenty in the grasses behind it. What is interesting is what now shows up at nearly every leaf 's join to the stem. Seeds? Unopened flowers? I may just have to go back in a couple days to see what changes. So what if it's over 40 miles each way in these gas prices? (Gulp)

Maybe if I could just send a picture to Google and get it to identify what it is. I believe that it takes an actual, well-educated on the topic, human... with a more thorough vocabulary for search terms than I have to tease out the answers.  

Good thing I know one of those. 

And she reads this.