What Search Criteria Can I Use on Wildflower Search?
Wildflower Search lets you narrow a plant identification by combining three groups of criteria: where you found the flower, when you found it, and what it looks like. You can set a location, an observation time, and any number of plant characteristics, then submit them together to get a filtered list of candidate species. The more criteria you add, the shorter the list — but each one you add also risks excluding the correct plant if you guess it wrong.
Location criteria
The site accepts location in several forms, and you can set a new location or clear all criteria at any time.
- Place name — type a location such as a town or area and use it as the search center.
- Coordinates — enter the coordinates of where the flower was found. Most formats are accepted, including decimal degrees (for example
36.056316, -112.08046) and degrees/minutes/seconds (for example36° 3′ 22.77″ N, 112° 4′ 49.66″ W). - Plant elevation — enter the elevation of where the flower was found, within 500 feet. You can submit the value in feet or in meters. Pressing any value ignores elevation, so you can skip it if you don't know it.
Elevation is optional but useful in mountainous terrain, where the same species may only appear within a certain band.
Time criteria
Observation time is set with a calendar and can be as broad or as narrow as you need:
- A specific month, week, or day
- The current week
- Any time (filter off)
If you don't remember the exact date, a month or a season is usually enough, because flowering periods are what the filter is really checking.
Plant characteristics
This is the largest group of criteria. Each one is a set of checkboxes or options you select to describe the plant you saw.
| Criterion | Options |
|---|---|
| Plant category | All wildflowers, wildflowers, shrubs, broadleaf, conifer, woody vines, cactus, grass-like, fern-like, moss-like, lichen, seaweed |
| Flower petals | No petals, many, one, two, three, four, five, six petals, pea flower, irregular flower |
| Flower color | Yellow, white, pink, violet, blue, red, orange, brown, green |
| Flower size | Very small, about 1/4 inch, about 1/2 inch, about 3/4 inch, about 1 inch, around 1.5 inches, around 2 inches, around 3 inches, over 4 inches |
| Leaf attachment | Alternate, opposite, basal, whorled |
| Habitat | Alpine, aquatic, brush, cliff, desert, disturbed, epiphyte, forest, grassland, and others |
Two practical notes from the site itself:
- Sizing without a ruler — a U.S. quarter is about one inch in diameter, so you can hold it next to the flower to judge the size category.
- Size is approximate — flower size often varies, and botanical descriptions frequently omit it, so some size information on the site may be wrong. For plants with clusters of small flowers, measure a single flower even if it is tiny. Plants whose flowers are not obvious are placed in the "Very Small" category.
How to combine criteria
Start with the criteria you are most confident about — usually location and color — and add more only if the result list is still too long. For example, if you found a blue, five-petaled flower in a desert area in April, set the location, the month, the color, the petal count, and the desert habitat together. If the correct plant doesn't appear, remove the criterion you were least sure about (often size or petal count) and search again.
A login is available on the site, and there is a separate instructions page if you want the site's own walkthrough before you start.