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This is an identification program for wildflowers in the northeastern and north-central parts of United States and adjacent Canada (if you live on the West Coast, try Reny's Wildflowers). Fill out the form as best as you can and you'll find which wildflowers match. If you find no flowers that match, use the "Back" button and try unchecking a box or two. If you want to see all the flowers in the database, simply hit "Identify" without checking any boxes.
To understand more about the various flower terms used, see Fred's Flower Finder (after reading the page click on the link at the bottom). There are a number of sites dedicated to wildflower identification, including My Wildflowers, Gallery of Connecticut Wildflowers, Reny's Wildflowers (for West Coast flowers), Kansas Wildflowers, Wildflowers in Bloom, and many others.
The database used here is derived from the "Quick-Key Guide to Wildflowers," by David Archbald, Rosemary V. Fleming, and Virginia M. Kline, Doubleday Press, 1968 (long out of print, unfortunately). A large number of corrections and additions have been made to the original data. Lee Dunbar has written a free standalone version of this wildflower program. A Wildflower Quiz Program is also available, which lets you test and improve your knowledge. There are also identification programs for trees and birds.
Some books which can help include:
Note: This wildflower database is not all-encompassing; it contains only about 550 of the estimated 5000 species of wildflowers native to the northeastern quarter of the continent. If you find any errors or want to add more flowers, write me. The database and perl program that runs here is free to download, and is fairly simple to figure out where and how to add wildflowers.
Wildflower Leaf Characteristics: see this image (from Wikipedia) for a useful description of the leaf terminology used below. Also see Fred's Flower Finder for a little more help.
