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Reference List for Colorado Wildflower Identification

Site Description
Colorado Native Plant SocietyThe purpose of the Colorado native Plant Society is to encourage the appreciation and conservation of Colorado native plants and their habitats. CONPS has 7 regional chapters. They conduct field trips and conservation activites.

The CONPS site hosts several plant keys and lists for Colorado wildflowers, which can be very useful in identification.
Southwest Colorado WildflowersA very well-done site with excellent information on wildflowers and other plants, with photographs of over 700 plants from the Southwest Colorado area. Browse by flower color, or search by scientific or common name. Published by Al Schneider, since Feb 2001.
Wildflowers of ColoradoColorado wildflower photography by Dr. Mary L. Dubler, DVM, Fort Collins, Colorado. Beautiful photographs of around 600 wildflowers of Colorado, arranged by color.
Eastern Colorado WildflowersFrom the website: 'Eastern Colorado Wildflowers contains photographs and information for over 525 plant species growing east of the Continental Divide in Colorado. Species listed in Weber and Wittmann's Colorado Flora: Eastern Slope, 3rd Edition are included.'

This site has excellent photographs and information on when and generally where you might find the plant in bloom. Species coverage is excellent, with over 525 species included as of June, 2010. The plants are organized by family, scientific name, and common name.
Wildflowers of the Southern Rocky MountainsThis website provides beautiful photographs of over 1,000 species of plants (including grasses, sedges, and trees) found in the southern Rocky Mountains of the United States. The plants' primary presentation is by color and inflorescence shape, making it relatively easy for the beginner to find a flower, but other search options are also available.

An excellent resource for those seeking to identify wildflowers of the southern Rockies.
University of Wyoming Rocky Mountain Herbarium"Founded in 1893 by Aven Nelson, the Rocky Mountain Herbarium (RM) contains the largest collection of Rocky Mountain plants and fungi in existence with additional representation of the floras of other parts of the Northern Hemisphere."
Reny's WildflowersReny Parker's wildflower galleries, with "over 1,820 images identified to 79 plant families." Includes family and species common and scientific names, photo location. Searchable by color, shape, location, and name. Very nice photographs.
Wildflowers WestMark Lee Dixon's & Darice Susan Dixon's wildflower website, with wildflowers organized by blossom color. They usually include multiple photographs of a plant, with at least one of the blossom and another of the whole plant or the leaf infrastructure to help with identification. Additional informative text is included, including common and scientific names. Very nice photographs.
Wildflower Field Guide - DesertUSAOver 50 species of wildflowers found in USA deserts, organized by flower color. Common name, scientific name, and desert regions in which they are found - Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Great Basin. These deserts touch 7 states in the western US.

This site also has good information about parks and destinations within these deserts, including, as an example, updates on wildflower status within the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Check on the "Destinations" drop-down menu at the top of the pages.
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.
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: Western Region
(Commission to USWildflowers.com if purchased)
Covering the region from Alaska to California and east to the Great Plains, this well-produced, compact guidebook contains more than 940 photos of over 650 species of wildflowers of western North America. The color images are grouped by flower color to suit the needs of inexperienced enthusiasts. I think anyone interested in wildflowers in the western United States should have a copy of this guide. Situated in the Eastern U.S., I use the Eastern Region guide extensively.
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 Colorado: 16

USWildflowers.com Database

Family Index for 194 Wildflowers of Colorado
Thumbnails of 194 Wildflowers of Colorado
Anaphalis margaritacea
White Wildflowers of Colorado (87)
Rudbeckia laciniata
Yellow Wildflowers of Colorado (73)
Datura wrightii
Red Wildflowers of Colorado (69)
Collinsia parviflora
Blue Wildflowers of Colorado (23)
Anemone virginiana
Green Wildflowers of Colorado (8)
Collomia grandiflora
Other Color Wildflowers of Colorado (5)







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Page updated 02/09/2021