Montana Grasses 4+

Can't say enough good things about this app

I'm a professional botanist / plant ecologist in Wyoming and have used a couple of the other high country apps like wildflowers of Yellowstone etc. I love the interface, the different ways to sort plants and the plant maps and descriptions. I was so happy to see the addition of a grasses app to the series. I think that the level of detail is just right for determining how to identify the most common grasses and I love that the distinguishing characteristics are stated up front. I love the addition of the 'favorites' option to find frequently referred to grasses and the photos are helpful. I've used this app extensively to teach our wildlife crew the difference between western wheatgrass and slender wheatgrass, something that is not easy to do but was made easier by the helpful photos in this app

A lot of potential.

Nice pictures, but not all of them could be magnified.
The favorite button does not work.

I have a small ranch 180 ac. [cattle and horses] and need to eradicate undesired grasses from hay.

I need some info about germination temperatures for weed grasses i.e. Foxtails.

I do not want to use chemicals but, appropriate cover crops that effectively compete with them and grazing.

This application could be much better if it had more practical information for organic farmers, to be attractive.

So much potential in it.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your comments. We plan to update this app next Fall. I will pass your comments on to our partners at MSU. I'm wondering which version of iOS you're using -- we do not see this favorite button problem, but could replicate it if we knew the version you have. As for the images, we keep their files sizes fairly small so that we can supply a large number of images and species into one downloadable package that works offline.

Fix the synonyms

I need to be able to sort grass choices with few characteristics to go by, and this app is good for that. I am, however, disappointed with High Country Apps choice to perpetuate outdated names. For example, Oryzopsis hasnt been used for over a decade, and both plants.gov and Bonap use achnatherum, and both are cited within this app, so why is the old name listed first and the accepted name called a synonym?

Developer Response ,

Genus Oryzopsis is included in the app to include the species Oryzopsis aspiflora, which is still the accepted name, even in 2020. The only other use of Oryzopsis is within synonyms. Content for this app is provided by Montana State University Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department and the Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology Department.