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Reference List for Alabama Wildflower Identification

Site Description
Alabama Wildflower Society
"Alabama's Native Plant Society"
We need to be aware of the importance of native plants in the environment. This "top spot" in the reference list will be a native plant organization in each state.
Alabama Plant Atlas"The Alabama Plant Atlas is a joint effort by the Alabama Herbarium Consortium (AHC) and The University of West Alabama to provide users with a comprehensive searchable database of plants that occur in the state of Alabama. Alabama, with nearly 4,000 species of native or naturalized pteridophytes and seed plants, is the fifth most floristically diverse state in the United States. The Alabama Plant Atlas provides a source of information for each species including the distribution within the state using historical and recent data."
Alabama Plants"Photographs and information for the plants of Alabama..." This is another site by Dan Tenaglia, the now-deceased creator of the excellent and widely-used MissouriPlants.com website. It has over 300 wildflowers included in the approximately 350 plants presented on the site. The excellent thumbnail photos of the flowers are presented by color/leaf arrangement for easier identification. If you've used Missouri Plants, you know the excellent identification information Dan included for each species.
Caroline Dean Wildflower Collection: Wildflowers of Alabama"Caroline Dean Wildflower Collection: The Caroline Dean Wildflower Collection features images of wildflowers native to the Southeastern United States that are identified by both common and scientific names and are accompanied by a description. The majority of the images in this collection were photographed in the wild lands and along roadsides throughout Alabama." Hosted at Auburn University, this site has a powerful text search engine, or you browse 432 thumbnails in alphabetical common or scientific name order. Some good descriptive information is included.
Wildflowers of the EscambiaPhotographs and varying amounts of information about wildflowers blooming in the Escambia River basin in Alabama and Florida. Thumbnails organized by spring/summer/fall and by color. Published by Darryl Searcy.
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 FloraSome 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 AustinPerhaps the most comprehensive native wildflower information site in the United States. "Discover more than 10,050 plants native to North America."
USDA Plants DatabaseGreat 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 AmericaOver 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.comSteven 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: Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians: 2nd Edition
(Commission to USWildflowers.com if purchased)
A product of the Tennessee Native Plant Society, this excellent and comprehensive field guide covers over 1250 species using 800 photographs and valuable descriptive text. While the focus is Tennessee, it's area of coverage includes the entire states of Kentucky and West Virginia, as well as large parts of 13 other states. In addition to the description of the plants it has an interesting look at botany from a historical perspective of the region. While the main part of the book is organized by plant family, there is a color-keyed section of thumbnails that allows a quick scan for identification, and there are illustrated keys for 12 of the families.

This is my favorite wildflower identification book that I have, and I consider it a "must have" for wildflower enthusiasts in the region.
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.orgFrom 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 Alabama: 15

USWildflowers.com Database

Family Index for 494 Wildflowers of Alabama
Thumbnails of 494 Wildflowers of Alabama
Gaura filipes
White Wildflowers of Alabama (224)
Hieracium venosum
Yellow Wildflowers of Alabama (146)
Rhododendron calendulaceum
Red Wildflowers of Alabama (166)
Salvia urticifolia
Blue Wildflowers of Alabama (72)
Osmunda cinnamomea
Green Wildflowers of Alabama (42)
Cyperus strigosus
Other Color Wildflowers of Alabama (10)







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Page updated 02/09/2021