Plants & trees
What wildflower is this?
Colour is the worst filter available: half the flowers in a meadow are yellow. What a botanist uses is how many petals, how they are arranged, and what the leaves look like. Count the petals first — three, four, five, six or many — and the family often follows before you have looked at anything else.
Narrow it down
Showing all 30 wildflowers
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Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale
A single yellow head of many strap-shaped ray florets on a hollow leafless stem that bleeds white latex, over a rosette of deeply back-toothed leaves.
In the record 479,234 georeferenced records · half of them Mar–May · most distinctive in April · mostly from the Netherlands check on GBIF
Dandelion botany -
Ox-eye daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare
A classic white daisy with a flat yellow centre on a single tall stem, over spoon-shaped toothed leaves that clasp the stem.
In the record 871,936 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in June · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
Daisy species and names -
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Golden rays around a raised dome of chocolate-brown disc florets, on a bristly hairy stem with rough sandpapery leaves.
In the record 67,351 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Jul · most distinctive in July · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Drooping rose-pink rays around a spiky orange-brown cone that stands well proud of them. Coarse, rough-hairy leaves.
In the record 16,111 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Jul · most distinctive in July · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Goldenrod
Solidago species
Dense plumes or wands of hundreds of tiny yellow heads in late summer, on unbranched leafy stems. Blamed for hay fever it does not cause — its pollen is heavy and insect-carried.
In the record 1,344,809 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Aug · most distinctive in September · mostly from France check on GBIF
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Common yarrow
Achillea millefolium
A flat-topped cluster of tiny white daisy heads over very finely divided feathery leaves that smell strongly aromatic when crushed.
In the record 1,788,213 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in August · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Queen Anne's lace
Handle with careDaucus carota
A flat lacy umbrella of tiny white flowers, very often with a single dark purple floret at the exact centre, over a hairy stem and carrot-scented ferny leaves. Curls into a bird's nest as it seeds.
In the record 881,697 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Aug · most distinctive in October · mostly from France check on GBIF
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Common milkweed
Handle with careAsclepias syriaca
Spherical clusters of small dusty-pink crown-shaped flowers on a stout stem that bleeds white latex, with opposite oval leaves. Warty pods full of silk-tufted seeds follow.
In the record 142,383 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Jul · most distinctive in October · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
Milkweed toxicity -
Chicory
Cichorium intybus
Sky-blue daisy heads with square-tipped fringed rays, sitting almost stemless against a wiry, nearly leafless stalk. Flowers open at dawn and close by early afternoon.
In the record 373,208 georeferenced records · half of them Jul–Aug · most distinctive in September · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Common blue violet
Viola sororia
Five unequal petals — two up, two side, one lower with a spur behind — in violet-blue with a white throat, on a leafless stalk over heart-shaped leaves.
In the record 9,322 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–May · most distinctive in April · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Trillium
Handle with careTrillium species
Everything in threes: three petals, three sepals, three broad leaves in a whorl, one flower per plant. Unmistakable and slow — a trillium takes seven years to reach flowering size.
In the record 227,631 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–May · most distinctive in April · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Bloodroot
Handle with careSanguinaria canadensis
A single white flower with eight to twelve petals wrapped in one deeply lobed leaf, appearing before the trees leaf out. The root bleeds orange-red sap when broken.
In the record 84,107 georeferenced records · half of them Mar–Apr · most distinctive in April · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Bluebell
Hyacinthoides non-scripta
A one-sided arching spike of nodding narrow violet-blue bells with cream anthers and strongly rolled-back tips, over strap leaves. Carpets whole woodland floors.
In the record 364,734 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–May · most distinctive in April · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Wild lupine
Handle with careLupinus perennis
Upright spikes of blue pea flowers over palmate leaves whose leaflets radiate from one point like fingers. The sole larval host of the endangered Karner blue butterfly.
In the record 10,272 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–May · most distinctive in May · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Fireweed
Chamerion angustifolium
A tall magenta spike that opens from the bottom upwards, four petals per flower, over narrow willow-like leaves. Colonises fire sites and bomb craters, which is how it got both its names.
In the record 40,228 georeferenced records · half of them Jul–Aug · most distinctive in January · mostly from the Netherlands check on GBIF
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Common evening primrose
Oenothera biennis
Four broad lemon-yellow petals with a cross-shaped stigma in the centre, opening at dusk in a few minutes — fast enough to watch — and fading by the next afternoon.
In the record 92,511 georeferenced records · half of them Jul–Aug · most distinctive in September · mostly from France check on GBIF
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Butterfly weed
Asclepias tuberosa
Flat-topped clusters of vivid orange crown-shaped flowers on a hairy stem with alternate narrow leaves — and, unusually for a milkweed, no white latex.
In the record 58,231 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Jul · most distinctive in June · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Wild bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
A ragged pompom of tubular lavender-pink two-lipped flowers on a square stem with opposite leaves smelling strongly of oregano. Square stem plus opposite leaves plus scent means the mint family.
In the record 56,267 georeferenced records · half of them Jul–Jul · most distinctive in July · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Selfheal
Prunella vulgaris
A short blunt head of hooded violet-blue flowers among purplish bracts, on a square stem, low enough to survive mowing. One of the commonest lawn wildflowers.
In the record 1,216,166 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Jul · most distinctive in July · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Foxglove
Can injure youDigitalis purpurea
A tall one-sided spire of thimble-shaped purple flowers, spotted inside the lower lip, over a rosette of soft grey-green downy leaves.
In the record 557,582 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in February · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
Foxglove toxicity -
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Handle with careArisaema triphyllum
A green or purple-striped hood arching over an upright club, with the leaves in threes on a separate stalk. Becomes a tight cluster of scarlet berries in late summer.
In the record 73,262 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–May · most distinctive in May · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Common milkwort and lobelia
Lobelia species
A spike of two-lipped tubular flowers, split so the upper lip has two lobes and the lower three. Cardinal flower is the same shape in brilliant scarlet and is hummingbird-pollinated.
In the record 329,293 georeferenced records · half of them Jul–Sep · most distinctive in December · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Marsh marigold
Handle with careCaltha palustris
Glossy waxy golden-yellow cups over rounded kidney-shaped leaves, in standing water or saturated ground in early spring. The petals are actually sepals.
In the record 821,926 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–Jun · most distinctive in April · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Buttercup
Handle with careRanunculus species
Five glossy petals with a lacquered shine caused by a mirror-like layer of cells beneath the surface — the reason a buttercup reflects yellow under the chin.
In the record 5,971,221 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in May · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Red clover
Trifolium pratense
A dense round head of small magenta pea flowers, over leaves of three leaflets each marked with a pale V. Fixes nitrogen, which is why it improves the ground it grows in.
In the record 1,602,820 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in May · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Common vetch and pea family
Vicia and Lathyrus species
Pea-shaped flowers — a big upper banner, two side wings and a fused keel below — on scrambling plants with compound leaves ending in curling tendrils.
In the record 3,525,224 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–Jun · most distinctive in May · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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St John's wort
Hypericum perforatum
Five yellow petals with black dots along the margins and a burst of long stamens. Hold a leaf to the light and it is peppered with translucent oil glands that look like pinholes.
In the record 908,616 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in November · mostly from France check on GBIF
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Common mullein
Verbascum thapsus
A tall unbranched candle of yellow flowers over a rosette of enormous felted grey-green leaves as soft as flannel. Biennial — the rosette one year, the spike the next.
In the record 342,759 georeferenced records · half of them Jun–Aug · most distinctive in November · mostly from the United States check on GBIF
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Wild geranium and cranesbill
Geranium species
Five rounded pink or lilac petals with darker veins, over deeply palmately lobed leaves, followed by a long beaked seed capsule that gives the plant its name.
In the record 4,252,055 georeferenced records · half of them Apr–Jun · most distinctive in May · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
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Ragwort
Handle with careJacobaea vulgaris
A flat-topped mass of small yellow daisy heads, each with about 13 rays, over deeply cut ragged leaves. Host to the black-and-orange cinnabar moth caterpillar.
In the record 794,871 georeferenced records · half of them May–Jul · most distinctive in February · mostly from the United Kingdom check on GBIF
Nothing in this key matches every filter at once. That usually means one observation is off — a colour read in shade, or a size guessed rather than measured. Clear the filter you are least sure about and look again.
Count the petals before you look at the colour
Petal count is the first branch of every serious plant key, because it reflects deep evolutionary structure rather than surface appearance. Colour changes with soil, light and cultivar; the number of floral parts does not.
| Count | Usually means | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 3, or parts in multiples of 3 | A monocot | Trillium, iris, lily, orchid, spiderwort |
| 4 | Mustard or willowherb family | Wild mustard, garlic mustard, fireweed, evening primrose |
| 5 | The largest group by far | Buttercup, geranium, milkweed, St John's wort, mullein |
| 6 | A monocot with parts in twos and threes | Bluebell, lily, tulip, daffodil, star of Bethlehem |
| Many, in a flat head | Daisy family — each "petal" is a whole flower | Dandelion, daisy, goldenrod, coneflower, thistle |
| Irregular, two-lipped or hooded | Mint, pea, snapdragon or orchid family | Bergamot, lupine, foxglove, violet, lobelia |
The daisy family deserves a warning, because it looks like a single flower and is not. A dandelion head is a hundred or more separate complete flowers packed together, and each yellow strap is one of them. That is why a daisy family plant does not have a petal count in the ordinary sense, and why the filter above gives it its own category.
The characters that settle it after the petals
Once the petal count has narrowed the family, four more observations usually reach the species.
Leaf arrangement. Opposite, alternate or whorled, checked on the stem. It is fixed within a species and it is the second question in every key.
Stem cross-section. Roll the stem between finger and thumb. Square means the mint family, almost without exception, and combined with opposite leaves and an aromatic smell it is close to diagnostic.
How the flowers are grouped. A single flower per stem, a tall spike, a flat umbrella, a dense head or whorls up the stem — the arrangement is a family character rather than an individual quirk.
Habitat and season. Botanists lean on these far more than beginners expect. A yellow five-petalled flower in standing water in March is a very short list; the same flower in dry sand in August is a different short list.
Smell is worth adding. Crushing a leaf identifies the mint family, the carrot family and several others instantly, and it costs nothing.
The look-alikes that matter
Queen Anne's lace and poison hemlock. The most consequential confusion in this key. Both are flat white umbels in the carrot family. Wild carrot has a hairy green stem, a carrot smell when crushed, and usually a single dark floret at the exact centre of the umbel. Poison hemlock has a smooth hairless stem blotched purple, a musty unpleasant smell, and no central floret. Hemlock is lethal, and people have died from mistaking the root for parsnip.
Native and Spanish bluebell. Native bluebells nod on a one-sided arching stem with cream anthers, strongly rolled-back tips and a strong scent. Spanish bluebells stand upright with flowers all round the stem, blue anthers and little scent. The hybrid is displacing the native across Britain.
Goldenrod and ragweed. Goldenrod is blamed for autumn hay fever it cannot cause: its pollen is heavy, sticky and carried by insects. Ragweed flowers at the same time with inconspicuous green spikes and is wind-pollinated, and it is the actual cause.
Dandelion and its relatives. Cat's ear, hawkbit and hawksbeard all produce a yellow head on a stalk. A true dandelion has a hollow, unbranched, hairless stem and one head. Anything branched or hairy is something else.
Picking, and why mostly not
Wildflower picking is regulated in more places than people realise, and the ecological case against it is stronger than the legal one in most cases.
Legally: in the United States, collecting plants in National Parks is prohibited, most state parks restrict it, and many states protect specific species — trillium and several orchids among them. On federal land other than parks, limited collection of common species is often allowed. In the United Kingdom, the Wildlife and Countryside Act makes it an offence to uproot any wild plant without the landowner's permission, and picking above-ground parts of unprotected species on land you have access to is generally permitted.
Ecologically: some species cannot survive picking at all. A trillium takes seven years to reach flowering size and its three leaves come off with the flower, so picking one commonly kills the plant. Orchids depend on soil fungi and never transplant successfully — digging one up destroys it and achieves nothing.
The conventional guidance is the one-in-twenty rule for common species in unprotected places, taking no more than one plant in twenty and never the last few. For anything uncommon, photograph it and record it instead. A record in iNaturalist is worth more than a flower in a jar, and it lasts longer.
Photographing a wildflower so it can be identified
Four photographs cover almost everything a botanist would ask to see, and taking them is quicker than describing the plant afterwards.
- The flower face-on and close, showing the petal count and the centre.
- The whole plant from a metre back, showing height, branching and how the flowers are arranged on the stem.
- The leaves, including where they join the stem — arrangement is a key character and it is the shot most often missed.
- The stem and the base, showing whether it is square or round, hairy or smooth, and what the basal rosette looks like.
Include the habitat and the date. "Wet meadow, southern Wisconsin, early June" narrows a candidate list more than any close-up does, and it is the information an identification service asks for first.
30 entries here cover the wildflowers people most often photograph in North America and northwest Europe. There are over 20,000 native vascular plant species in North America alone, so anything unusual will not be here. iNaturalist and regional native plant societies identify submissions free, and a good set of four photographs usually gets an answer within a day.
What the observation record shows
Every entry in this key that carries a scientific name is matched against GBIF, the international register of biodiversity records, and against iNaturalist. That puts a hard number behind 30 of the 30wildflowers here: 11,653,807 georeferenced records across the 24 entries that resolve to a single species, spanning 17 families, the oldest of them collected in 1956. The snapshot was taken on 2026-09-04.
That evidence is not spread evenly, and it is worth knowing before you trust a narrow result. The five best-recorded wildflowers in this key hold 55% of all the records between them: Common yarrow alone accounts for 1,788,213, while Common blue violet has 9,322. A common thing is common in the data too, so when a filter narrows to one frequent entry and one rare one, the frequent one is usually the answer — and the record count is the quickest way to see which is which. The same skew applies geographically: 23% of these records come from the United Kingdom, so the key describes what is reported there far better than it describes anywhere else.
When these are actually reported
Half of every record for this group falls in May–July. A raw month count measures two things at once — when the organism is about, and when people are outdoors with a camera — and the second effect is large enough to give almost anything a summer peak. The line on the figure divides each month by the baseline for every species in every Orvik key, which answers a different question: relative to when people record anything at all, when are these wildflowers recorded? Values above 1.0 are the months that belong to this group rather than to the season. On that measure 7 of the 24wildflowers here peak outside the warm half of the year — St John's wort, Queen Anne's lace, Ragwort among them. Those are the ones a seasonal rule of thumb gets wrong.
Records behind each entry
Sorted by how much evidence exists, not by how likely you are to meet one. The peak month is the effort-adjusted figure, and it is left blank wherever the sample is too thin for the month-to-month wobble to mean anything.
| Entry | Accepted name | Rank | GBIF records | Research-grade | Half fall in | Peak, adjusted | Most reported from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common yarrow | Achillea millefolium L. | species | 1,788,213 | 368,490 | May–Jul | August | the United Kingdom |
| Red clover | Trifolium pratense L. | species | 1,602,820 | 242,096 | May–Jul | May | the United Kingdom |
| Selfheal | Prunella vulgaris L. | species | 1,216,166 | 208,475 | Jun–Jul | July | the United Kingdom |
| St John's wort | Hypericum perforatum L. | species | 908,616 | 162,557 | May–Jul | November | France |
| Queen Anne's lace | Daucus carota L. | species | 881,697 | 216,237 | Jun–Aug | October | France |
| Ox-eye daisy | Leucanthemum vulgare Lam. | species | 871,936 | 176,928 | May–Jul | June | the United Kingdom |
| Marsh marigold | Caltha palustris L. | species | 821,926 | 95,096 | Apr–Jun | April | the United Kingdom |
| Ragwort | Jacobaea vulgaris Gaertn. | species | 794,871 | 91,213 | May–Jul | February | the United Kingdom |
| Foxglove | Digitalis purpurea L. | species | 557,582 | 109,968 | May–Jul | February | the United Kingdom |
| Dandelion | Taraxacum officinale Weber ex F.H.Wigg. | species | 479,234 | 302,157 | Mar–May | April | the Netherlands |
| Chicory | Cichorium intybus L. | species | 373,208 | 183,229 | Jul–Aug | September | the United States |
| Bluebell | Hyacinthoides non-scripta (L.) Chouard ex Rothm. | species | 364,734 | 28,706 | Apr–May | April | the United Kingdom |
| Common mullein | Verbascum thapsus L. | species | 342,759 | 189,703 | Jun–Aug | November | the United States |
| Common milkweed | Asclepias syriaca L. | species | 142,383 | 192,937 | Jun–Jul | October | the United States |
| Common evening primrose | Oenothera biennis L. | species | 92,511 | 76,638 | Jul–Aug | September | France |
| Bloodroot | Sanguinaria canadensis L. | species | 84,107 | 105,247 | Mar–Apr | April | the United States |
| Jack-in-the-pulpit | Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Schott | species | 73,262 | 126,312 | Apr–May | May | the United States |
| Black-eyed Susan | Rudbeckia hirta L. | species | 67,351 | 112,670 | Jun–Jul | July | the United States |
| Butterfly weed | Asclepias tuberosa L. | species | 58,231 | 78,604 | Jun–Jul | June | the United States |
| Wild bergamot | Monarda fistulosa L. | species | 56,267 | 86,500 | Jul–Jul | July | the United States |
| Fireweed | Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub | species | 40,228 | — | Jul–Aug | January | the Netherlands |
| Purple coneflower | Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench | species | 16,111 | 54,156 | Jun–Jul | July | the United States |
| Wild lupine | Lupinus perennis L. | species | 10,272 | 13,082 | Apr–May | May | the United States |
| Common blue violet | Viola sororia Willd. | species | 9,322 | 7,143 | Apr–May | April | the United States |
| Buttercup | Ranunculus L. | genus | 5,971,221 | — | May–Jul | May | the United Kingdom |
| Wild geranium and cranesbill | Geranium Tourn. ex L. | genus | 4,252,055 | — | Apr–Jun | May | the United Kingdom |
| Common vetch and pea family | Vicia L. | genus | 3,525,224 | 494,538 | Apr–Jun | May | the United Kingdom |
| Goldenrod | Solidago L. | genus | 1,344,809 | 769,516 | Jun–Aug | September | France |
| Common milkwort and lobelia | Lobelia Plum. ex L. | genus | 329,293 | — | Jul–Sep | December | the United States |
| Trillium | Trillium L. | genus | 227,631 | — | Apr–May | April | the United States |
This table is assembled from open data and is free to reuse with a link back to this page. The snapshot behind every Orvik key is published as one downloadable file on the open field data page, with each source's licence terms.
Questions people ask about this
How do I identify a wildflower?
Start with petal count, not colour. Three or six petals usually means a monocot such as a lily or trillium; four means the mustard or willowherb family; five is the largest group; many petals in a flat head means the daisy family, where each "petal" is a whole flower. Then check leaf arrangement, whether the stem is square or round, how the flowers are grouped, and the habitat and season.
Why is colour a bad way to identify flowers?
Because it varies within species with soil chemistry, light and cultivar, and because it is not evolutionarily informative — half the flowers in a summer meadow are yellow and they belong to a dozen unrelated families. Petal count, leaf arrangement and stem shape are fixed characters that reflect the plant's actual relationships, which is why every botanical key starts with them.
What is the difference between Queen Anne's lace and poison hemlock?
Wild carrot, or Queen Anne's lace, has a hairy green stem, smells of carrot when crushed, and usually carries a single dark purple floret at the centre of the umbel. Poison hemlock has a smooth hairless stem blotched with purple, smells musty and unpleasant, and has no central floret. Hemlock is lethal and the confusion has killed people, so never dig or eat a wild root on flower shape alone.
Is it illegal to pick wildflowers?
It depends on where and what. Collecting in US National Parks is prohibited and most state parks restrict it; several states protect specific species including trillium and orchids. In the UK it is an offence to uproot any wild plant without the landowner's permission, though picking above-ground parts of common species is generally allowed. The ecological case matters more: a trillium takes seven years to flower and picking one usually kills it.
Does goldenrod cause hay fever?
No. Goldenrod pollen is heavy and sticky and is carried by insects, not wind, so very little of it reaches anyone's nose. Ragweed flowers at the same time with inconspicuous green spikes, is wind-pollinated, and is the actual cause of most autumn hay fever in North America. Goldenrod gets blamed because it is the conspicuous yellow thing flowering when people start sneezing.
What has a square stem?
The mint family, almost without exception — bergamot, selfheal, catnip, dead-nettle, sage, thyme and hundreds more. Roll the stem between finger and thumb: if it is square and the leaves are in opposite pairs and something aromatic comes off on your fingers, you are in Lamiaceae. It is one of the fastest family identifications in botany.
Can I transplant a wildflower into my garden?
Usually you should not. Many woodland species depend on specific soil fungi and simply die when moved — orchids essentially always do. Digging plants from the wild also removes them from a population without adding to one. Buy nursery-propagated native plants or collect a small amount of seed with permission instead; both work better and neither damages the site.
Still not sure? Point a camera at it
A filter narrows wildflowers down to a shortlist. Orvik reads the photo itself and names the species, with the look-alikes ranked underneath so you can check the call yourself.