Choose one of the categories above for a list of plant-related websites. Selected websites are all non-commercial, without advertisements, and free-access sites. The links provided have all been checked as of March 1, 2018; however, websites are occasionally moved or deleted without notice by the authors or sponsoring agency. If you do encounter a link that no longer works or a website that has changed location, please report the problematic link to the NOPD so that we can update the link.

Vascular Plant Families

Angiosperm Phylogeny Website

A website that summarizes the current phylogenetic classification of angiosperm orders and families, compiled by Peter Stevens, University of Missouri-St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden. This website includes phylogenetic trees, order and family descriptions, a list of genera in each family, some images, and a glossary with chemical compounds and their diagrams. This is the higher classification followed by the Northern Ontario Plant Database. Botany students should become very familiar with this website.

Botanical Spice Index – Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages

This link provides access to descriptions, organized according to plant family, of species used as culinary herbs or spices. A fabulous website in English and German, by Gernot Katzer, with information and excellent photos on every spice you can imagine. A must-know site for botany and ethnobotany students, and of much interest to cooking enthusiasts.

Botany Photo of the Day

Subscribe to this free website from the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research to receive a new botanical image to your computer screen each day or so. A great way to start the day! This site also provides access to numerous excellent images of previous Botany Photos of the Day.

Diversity of Flowering Plants

This excellent resource provides a summary of Angiosperm (flowering plant) traits and provides links to detailed descriptions of many families.

Flora of North America

A definitive work on North American vascular plants and bryophytes, published in 30 volumes. See this link to a list of families with published treatments; click on a family name to see the online descriptions and keys to the species. Illustrations of many species are included, as well as distribution maps of each species. The Northern Ontario Plant Database follows the nomenclature used in FNA volumes as they are published, but new research often necessitates updates in nomenclature not presented in these printed references.

Flowering Vascular Plant Families

This website on the vascular plants of Hawaii, by Dr. Gerald D. Carr, Univ. of Hawaii, provides links to excellent photographs of the Hawaiian flora. Families are organized according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) Classification, with families listed alphabetically under the appropriate Order. If you are unfamiliar with the APG classification, search for the family name using your browser "Find" feature.

Identification of Major Fruit Types

A very useful site with basic descriptions and images of the types of simple, aggregate, and multiple fruit categories.

International Plant Science Center – The C.V. Starr Virtual Herbarium

A searchable database from the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), offering scanned images from the 750,000 herbarium sheets housed at NYBG.

Phyto Images

A comprehensive website from Southern Illinois University that presents numerous scanned, digital, and microscopic images of plants. Select by Order, listed along the left margin, or click on the left column button "Image by Family" to access the list of angiosperms, gymnosperm, and pteridophyte families.

Plant Image Collection

An excellent website from which you can access information on 1.7 million collection records, 113,000 type specimens, and a library of over 21,000 photographic images or botanical illustrations housed at the Smithsonian Institute. Images are intended for non-commercial, public and professional use.

PlantSystematics.org

An extremely useful collection of plant images, including habit shots, close-ups, scanned herbarium specimens, botanical illustrations, cladograms, and keys, compiled by biologists at Cornell University.

Seeds and Seedpods

A website from the U.K. with images of seeds, seedpods (fruit), and seedlings of over 1000 species of garden plants. A very useful site, especially for gardeners who like to propagate their plants from seed.

Plants of the World

This new online taxonomic database from the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, replaces The Plant List, which is no longer being maintained. This database is currently being populated, but will soon present a complete list of world plant species. An excellent resource for botanists.

Vascular Plant Image Gallery – Digital Flora of Texas

A comprehensive collection of vascular plant images, mainly from the Southwest, arranged alphabetically by family. Compiled by the Bioinformatics Group, Texas A & M University, from many online sources.