Wildflowers of the United States

Reference List for Louisiana Wildflower Identification
Site	Description
Louisiana Native Plant Society	The Louisiana Native Plant Society was founded in 1983 as a state-wide, non-profit organization. Its purposes are: To preserve and study native plants and their habitats. To educate people on the value of native plants and the need to preserve and protect rare and endangered species. To promote the propagation and use of native plants in the landscape. To educate people on the relationship between our native flora and wildlife. The LNPS organizes field trips and service projects, and publishes a quarterly newsletter for members.
Zydeco Louisiana Iris Garden - The Species of Louisiana Iris	Zydeco Louisiana Iris Garden is the outgrowth of Patrick O'Connor's thirty year hobby growing and hybridizing Louisiana irises. In Patrick's own words "The site has extensive information on the five recognized Louisiana iris species, I. hexagona, I. fulva, I. giganticaerulea, I. brevicaulis, and I. nelsonii. Today, it is no longer thought that I. hexagona occurs in Louisiana (it is an East Coast and Florida species), but the other four are native to the state as well as elsewhere." Definitely worth a visit to help identify / understand Irises of Louisiana.
2bnTheWild.com	Daniel Reed's excellent 2bnthewild Site has photographs, identification information, and other interesting information about wildflowers (and other wildlife subjects) from the Southeastern United States. Since "Southeastern United States" isn't defined I've chosen my own list of states from the perspective that Daniel appears to be located near Memphis.
Southeastern Flora	Some very nice esthetically-pleasing identification photographs of a large number of wildflowers. Search criteria includes flower color, plant form (tree/shrub/herb/vine), leaf type, leaf arrangement, and species/common/family name. Note: If you don't know the entire name, use "%" at the end as a wild-card in the search. From the site: "...Currently there are over 1020 species listed on this site and over 14,400 pictures to help you identify what you're looking for..." This is an increase of 90 species in the 2 months between 8/15/09 and 10/15/09.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin	Perhaps the most comprehensive native wildflower information site in the United States. "Discover more than 10,050 plants native to North America."
USDA Plants Database	Great resource for native plants! Their own description: "The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories." Provides these important (to me) pieces of info: 1) Listing by state and county within a state where specific species have been identified. 2) Scientific name synonyms are listed. 3) Scientific names are matched to a widely-used common name. 4) Photographs of many species. 5) State by state list of all the species identified in that state. Official Citation: USDA, NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 22 June 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Flicker Wildflower Field Guide, North America	Over 9,000 Flickr member photos tagged with wfgna. The WFGNA group has good tagging requirements for their excellent photos, so you'll find, in addtion to the photo, the state in which the photo was taken, and at least a common name and the scientific name as identified by the contributor. After you get to the linked page you should add search criteria, including the state name, the color of the plant, or scientific name, to reduce the number of photos. Several states have several hundred photos(California has over 1,500!) so you'll probably want to add color to the search criteria.
WildflowerSearch.com	Steven K. Sullivan has done a tremendous job of putting together a database and search engine to help in identifying wild plants. Not only can you search by plant scientific and common names, you can narrow the results using location (currently lower 48 states and parts of Canada and Mexico), flower shape, color, size, habitat, and observation time. His database currently includes over 7,000 plants. Definitely worth checking out.
Item at Amazon: East Gulf Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Commission to USWildflowers.com if purchased)	"This guide to the common wildflowers found in the Gulf Coastal region of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Alabama features 300 beautiful color photographs. Detailed plant descriptions and line art aid in plant identification for botanists and novice enthusiasts alike. Each species description is accompanied by a 'Comments' section giving lore about the plant, its uses, or its name. "
Wildflower Information.org	From the site: "WildflowerInformation.org is a resource for wildflower enthusiasts and gardeners. With a growing interest in the environment and natural gardening, our objective is to offer comprehensive information that is easy to use, and accessible for those from the casually interested to the expert." While this information doesn't appear to be on the website itself, WildflowerInformation.org seems to be owned by American Meadows, the "recommended wildflowers seed supplier" of WildflowerInformation.org.
Item at Amazon: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers--E: Eastern Region - Revised Edition (Commission to USWildflowers.com if purchased)	"...gives full descriptions of more than 650 species found east of the Rocky Mountains, along with notes on several hundred more. The eminently sensible organization relies on first-impression visible characteristics..." I use this guide frequently, and unless I have a good idea what family a flower is in, this is usually still my first stop. In my opinion, a must-have for beginning wildflower enthusiasts; augments more locale-specific wildflower references.

Looking for Wildflowers for a specific state? Check here: Number of References for Louisiana: 11