How Can I Use U.S. Wildflowers to Identify Wildflowers by State or Family?
U.S. Wildflowers is a free reference site with 2,387 photographs covering 649 wildflower species, plus additional photos in journal entries and photo albums. You can browse by family through the Family Index, scan the full thumbnail list, or narrow results to a single state using the State Reference List. The site's owner states plainly that he is a hobbyist, not a professional botanist, and that some identifications are likely incorrect — so treat every result as a starting point to verify elsewhere.
Start With the State Reference List
If you already know where you saw the flower, this is the fastest way to cut the list down. The site's state pages are labeled "Wildflower ID References" and cover states including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, and California, with more listed in the same dropdown.
The workflow:
- Select your state from the state list.
- Browse only the species recorded for that state.
- Open a species detail page to compare your photo against the site's images and description.
This matters because the full 649-species list is national. A flower that is common in one region may not appear at all in another, so filtering by state removes most of the wrong candidates before you start comparing.
Browse by Family or by Thumbnail
Two indexes serve different purposes:
| Index | Best for | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Family Index | You know or suspect the plant family | Species grouped by botanical family |
| Thumbnail list | You have no idea where to start | 649 species as thumbnails without descriptions |
The thumbnail list is described on the site as easier to scan for a particular flower, which matches how visual identification usually works — you recognize a shape or color before you can name a family. The Family Index is more efficient once you've narrowed things down, for example after noticing a flower has the distinctive pea-like structure of the Fabaceae.
A third option is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park page, which collects thumbnails of over 360 species found in that park. If your sighting was in GSMNP, this is a tighter list than the national one.
Read the Detail Pages Carefully
Each species has a detail page with photographs and information. When comparing your own photo, check more than petal color:
- Leaf shape and arrangement along the stem
- Number of petals and how they are joined
- Flower size relative to surrounding vegetation
- Habitat and bloom timing noted on the page
The site also keeps separate records for subspecies in some cases, and each subspecies counts as its own entry in the species total. If two entries look nearly identical, that is often why — check whether the difference is a subspecies distinction rather than an error on your part.
Non-flowering plants of interest, such as Ground Cedar, are also included, so don't assume every entry is a blooming flower.
Use the Journal, Albums, and Location Pages for Context
Beyond the species database, the site offers:
- Wildflower Journal — the owner's photography and identification notes, useful for seeing how identifications were reasoned out in the field.
- Photo Albums — photos grouped by specific locations, plus other subjects seen while photographing wildflowers.
- The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain — a Georgia site page with bloom status updates and printable identification photo lists for the spring season. If you plan a visit, the printable lists are the practical takeaway.
These sections add bloom timing and location context that a species page alone won't give you.
Verify Before You Rely on an Identification
The site's own welcome note says the identifications should not be considered authoritative and that a high likelihood exists that some are incorrect. Practical steps:
- Cross-check any identification against a second source, such as a state native plant society or a university extension guide.
- Photograph multiple angles in the field — flower, leaf, whole plant, and habitat — so you can resolve disagreements later.
- Record the date and location; bloom timing is often what separates two similar species.
Used this way, U.S. Wildflowers works well as a fast visual shortlist generator, with final confirmation coming from a more authoritative reference.