What Is Wildflower Search?
Wildflower Search (wildflowersearch.org) is a free web-based wildflower identification tool. You enter what you observed about a plant—where you found it, when, its flower color, petal count, size, leaf arrangement, and habitat—and the site narrows the candidates to help you identify the species. It is built for people who have a flower in front of them or a photo and want a shortlist of likely matches, rather than a general plant encyclopedia.
How the search works
The site works as a filter, not a photo-recognition engine. You set as many or as few criteria as you can reliably observe, and each one removes plants that don't fit. The more accurate criteria you supply, the shorter and more useful the result list.
Location and coordinates
You can set a location by name or enter coordinates directly. The site accepts most coordinate formats, including:
- Decimal:
39.044, -77.487 - Degrees/minutes/seconds:
36° 3′ 22.77″ N, 112° 4′ 49.66″ W - Spaced numbers:
36 3 22.77, 112 4 49.66
If you don't know the exact spot, a nearby town or a set of coordinates from your phone's map app is enough to anchor the search to your region.
Elevation
Elevation is optional. Enter the elevation of where the flower was found, within about 500 feet, and press Submit. You can enter it in feet or meters. If you don't know it, press any value to ignore elevation entirely—useful when you're unsure but don't want to exclude valid matches.
Observation time
You can set the observation date by clicking a calendar, choosing a month and a week within that month (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Last), or simply use the current week. "Any Time" turns the time filter off. Because flowering periods are seasonal, setting the right time is one of the most effective ways to cut down the list.
What you can filter by
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Plant category | Wildflowers, shrubs, broadleaf, conifer, woody vines, cactus, grass-like, fern-like, moss-like, lichen, seaweed |
| Petals | No petals, many, one, two, three, four, five, six, pea flower, irregular |
| Flower color | Yellow, white, pink, violet, blue, red, orange, brown, green |
| Flower size | Very small, about 1/4 inch up to over 4 inches |
| Leaf attachment | Alternate, opposite, basal, whorled |
| Habitat | Alpine, aquatic, brush, cliff, desert, disturbed, epiphyte, forest, grassland, and more |
A note on flower size
Size is one of the harder criteria to judge. The site itself notes that flower size often varies and that botanical descriptions sometimes omit it, so some size data may be inaccurate. A practical tip from the site: if you don't carry a ruler, a U.S. quarter is about one inch in diameter and works as a rough reference. For plants with clusters of small flowers, measure a single flower rather than the whole cluster. Plants with inconspicuous flowers are grouped under "Very Small."
When to use it
Wildflower Search fits best when you:
- Have a flower in bloom and can note its color, petal count, and rough size
- Know roughly where and when you saw it
- Want a manageable list of candidates to check against a field guide or photo
It is less suited to identifying plants from a single photo alone, since it has no image upload—you translate what you see into the filter criteria yourself. If you only know the color and nothing else, expect a long list; adding location, time, and habitat is what makes the results practical.
Getting started
- Set your location or enter coordinates.
- Add elevation if you know it, or skip it.
- Set the observation time to the week you saw the flower.
- Choose the plant category, petal count, color, and size you observed.
- Add leaf attachment and habitat if you're confident about them.
- Review the resulting list and compare against descriptions or photos.
The site also provides an Instructions page linked from the main search screen if you want a walkthrough of each field.