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.

Other Countries

Some bilingual websites are noted, but most sites are written in the language of that country. This should not deter you, however, from accessing the plant photos through the list of plant names.

World Floras at eFloras.org

A companion to the Flora of North America website; this site links to all the online floras published by the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Harvard University botanical databases.

Australia

FloraBase – the Western Australian Flora

FloraBase, a comprehensive website on the flora of Western Australia, is a project of the Western Australian Herbarium, Science and Conservation, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. For an introduction to the flora of Australia, see the Plant of the Month webpage, which regularly provides a beautiful image and description of a native Australian species.

Western Australian Wildflowers

A beautiful collection of flowering plant images unknown to most Canadians. Provides a taste of Australian floral diversity.

Wild Flowers of Australia and Tasmania

A website specifically on the unique and fascinating flora of south west Australia and Tasmania, compiled by Dr. P.J. Llewellyn, and a companion to his Wildflowers of the British Isles website. Access the A-Z Thumbnail Index of Australian Plants to view the species pages, which include wonderful, clear photographs and interesting descriptive information on each species.

Wildflowers of the South West

A fascinating website that provides an overview of the habitats in southwestern Australia, including some stunning images of the native flora.

Austria

Botanik im Bild – Wildplants of Austria

One of the finest image collections on the internet. This website presents plants in alphabetical order (See the Family List) and includes detailed close-up images of flowers and fruits. Although the text is in German, the images are well worth many return visits even if you don’t understand the language.

Belgium

The Ecology of Commanster, Belgium

A truly wonderful website by Jim Lindsey, Conservateur de la Reserve naturelle de Commanster, a small village in the Belgian High Ardennes. This site includes well-illustrated webpages on Belgian plants and animals. Each habitat link (forest, hedgerow, grassland, heath, bog, streams, ponds) brings you to a page with an image of the habitat, plus many thumbnails of the principle plants, as well as links to the vertebrates, invertebrates, and mushrooms of that area. Each species page includes features such as habitat, leaf, flower, fruit, and when known, pollinators, nesters, seed dispersal methods, parasites, herbivores, frugivores, and granivores! Plants are organized according to scientific name, but common names are provided in English, French, Dutch, and German. A great site for ecologists, entomologists, and ornithologists too. Choose the Herbaceous Flowering Plants link to access species photos and descriptions, including information on associated insect pollinator and predators.

Fungi of Commanster, Belgium

A very comprehensive website of images of European macrofungi, complete with a list of fungivores. Part of the Ecology of Commanster website by Jim Lindsey. Plants are organized according to scientific name, but common names are also provided in English, French, Dutch, and German.

Graminoids of Commanster, Belgium

Two websites with excellent images of Belgian grasses, sedges, and rushes, part of the Ecology of Commanster website by Jim Lindsey. Plants are organized according to scientific name, but common names are provided in English, French, Dutch, and German.

• Grasses of Commanster, Belgium
• Rushes, Sedges, and Reeds of Commanster, Belgium

Lichens of Commanster, Belgium

Webpages of many European lichen species, some of which occur in northern Ontario. Definitely worth a look. Part of the Ecology of Commanster website by Jim Lindsey. Plants are organized by scientific name.

Pteridophytes of Commanster, Belgium

A website with excellent habitat and closeup images of Belgian ferns and fern allies, part of the Ecology of Commanster website by Jim Lindsey. Plants are organized according to scientific name, but common names are provided in English, French, Dutch, and German.

Trees and Bushes of Commanster, Belgium

A website with excellent habitat and closeup images of Belgian conifers and deciduous trees and shrubs, part of the Ecology of Commanster website by Jim Lindsey. Plants are organized according to scientific name, but common names are provided in English, French, Dutch, and German.

Wildflowers of Commanster, Belgium

A website with excellent habit and closeup images of Belgian wildflowers (mainly eudicots), part of the Ecology of Commanster website by Jim Lindsey. Images of the plants, leaves, flowers, and fruits are provided. Plants are organized according to scientific name, but common names are provided in English, French, Dutch, and German.

Czech Republic

PhotoGallery Wildlife Pictures – Plants

This gallery of wildflower photographs by Josef Hlasek offers superb images, usually many of each species. The galleries are arranged according to family name and plant type, which makes it easy to find species. Click on this link to see his other fine galleries.

China

Biodiversity of the Hengduan Mountains

An attractive website featuring the plants and fungi of south-central China, described as a biodiversity portal for the Sino-Himalayan region. Visitors can access information on past and current expedition, specimens in the Harvard University Herbaria, and images of the flora.

Flora of China

Another comprehensive and excellent flora published by the Missouri Botanical Garden. This is an ongoing work and volumes are added as they are published. The text is in English, but common names are in Chinese. Links to detailed botanical illustrations for many species are also included.

Moss Flora of China

The format of this online resource is similar to the Flora of China and the Flora of North America. One very useful feature of the online version of this flora is the inclusion of distribution maps of both China and North America for species that have distributions in both hemispheres. Links to the excellent illustrations from the Bryophyte Flora of North America have also been added.

Denmark

Flora Danica, the Book

A beautifully illustrated book on the flora of Denmark, begun in 1761 and finished in 1874. Search by Issue and Plate to view the over 3,200 detailed botanical illustrations included in this classic book.

My Favorit Fungi Images

A wonderful image collection of Scandinavian fungi from Denmark, featuring the images of Flemming V. Larsen.

England/Great Britain (see also Scotland)

APHOTOFLORA

A beautiful website of over 5,000 images by David Fenwick of the flora of southwest England, primarily around the Devon and Cornwall regions. Images are organized by scientific name, native plant group, or cultivated species. Scroll down to the Alien Plant Species and Garden Escape Gallery for a unique look at which North American species become invasive in Europe.

BioImages: The Virtual Field-Guide (UK)

An excellent collection of 53,000 images from Great Britain by Malcolm Storey. This website has been in existence since 1998 and includes habit and/or closeup images of each species. This shortcut provides a list of the various plant categories under which images are filed. An interesting feature of the website is the list of herbivores or detritivores, included under the heading 'Feeding and other inter-species relationships,' known to make use of each species.

British Wildflowers

This outstanding website, compiled by John Somerville, features excellent digital images from many photographers of over 1600 species found in Britain and Ireland. Images are arranged according to common name, but the scientific name appears with the images. This website also includes links to British Trees and Shrubs; Grasses, Sedges, Rushes, Ferns, and Brambles.

Bryophyte of the Month

A webpage of stunning images of British bryophytes from the British Bryological Society.

FloralImages of the UK and Northern Europe

This comprehensive websites on native wildflowers and garden plants of the British Isles and northwest Europe by John Crellin, features some of the very best photographs on the net. You can access the images from this attractive multi-page Index of thumbnails, organized by scientific name, or choose any number of galleries from the home page. So much to explore!

Wildflowers of the British Isles

An excellent collection of images from the British Isles, compiled by Dr. P.J. Llewellyn. Access the A-Z Thumbnail Index for a shortcut to the species pages, which provide interesting descriptive information. Abbreviations at the top of each page note the species' relative abundance (very common to extremely rare) and whether it is introduced or native. These abbreviations are explained in the Symbols page.

Europe (general)

The Euro+Med PlantBase – the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity

A searchable database of plant species found in Europe, combining information from Flora Europaea, Med-Checklist, the Flora of Macaronesia, and other European floras and checklists; compiled by the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin, Germany. Note that the accepted names in this website do not always agree with those in North American databases, so for introduced species of European origin, we suggest you check this database for recent nomenclatural research.

FloralImages of the UK and Northern Europe

This comprehensive websites on native wildflowers and garden plants of the British Isles and northwest Europe by John Crellin, features some of the very best photographs on the net. You can access the images from this attractive multi-page Index of thumbnails, organized by scientific name, or choose any number of galleries from the home page. So much to explore!

Moose (Moss)

A partially trilingual website (German, English, and French) from Michael Becker on mosses and leafy liverworts of Germany and Central Europe. In the list of species, those name in bold text are written in English and French, while the remaining species, designated by the abbreviation (de) after the name, are written in German. Regardless of your language skills, the images are useful for species that are common to Germany and Ontario.

The Plant Kaleidoscope

A database of "rare and unusual" cultivated plant species in Europe, by Rainer Oberle, but very useful and interesting to Canadian gardeners.

Wild Flowers of Europe

A beautiful collection of excellent wildflower images from southern Europe, compiled by Dr. P.J. Llewellyn and a companion to his Wildflowers of the British Isles and Wildflowers of Australia and Tasmania websites. Access the A-Z Thumbnail Index of European Plants to view the species pages.

Finland

NatureGate – Flowers of Finland

One of my favourite websites! While the native flora of Finland is quite different from that of Ontario, there are a number of European weedy wildflower species, introduced to Ontario, that can be found in this excellent website. Several excellent images and clear descriptions are available for each species.

NatureGate – Trees and Shrubs of Finland

Part of the larger NatureGate website, which also features Birds, Butterflies, and Fish. While the native flora of Finland is quite different from that of Ontario, there are a number of European woody species, introduced to Ontario, that can be found in this excellent website. Several excellent images and clear descriptions are available for each species.

Plants

A very useful website from Markku Savela on the plants of Finland. Information provided includes English and Finnish common names, and original images.

France

Arbres

A website, en Français, with descriptions, synonymy, and images of the various species of fir, spruce, pine, maple, and oak. Pour chacun des genres ci-dessous (sapin, epicéa, pin, erable, et chêne), vous trouverez une fiche descriptive de chaque espèce, ainsi qu'un album photographique et des généralités botaniques.

Belle Fleurs de France

A website of the beautiful flowers of the Pyrennes, by Erick Dronnet, accessible through alphabetical lists of the plants by scientific names or French common names. Descriptions and classification are provided below the flowers images.

Faune, Flore, Paysages et Villages de Tarentaise-Vanoise

This website contains attractive images and short descriptions in French of wildflowers found in Vanoise National Park in the French Alps. The link above brings you to the page titled "Fleurs de montagne – Tarentaise-Vanoise", but you can select other pages from the "Catégories" link at the bottom right of the main heading.

Flore Virtuelle d'Orsay & du Bassin Parisien

A collaborative website on the flora of the campus d'Orsay-Bures and environs, by a group of 7 botanists. Check out the links on the homepage to explore various aspects of this website. To reach a list of species for each family, click on the button at the top of page labelled Interrogation, then enter a name or select a Family (Famille) to see the list of species; don't forget to hit the "chercher" button. Each species page has clear, scanned images of live specimens and descriptions in French. An excellent resource for high school teachers and university professors.

FloreAlpes.com

Canada (In General)

Arctic Flora of Canada and Alaska

For those who want to know more about the Arctic Flora of North America, everything you'd hope to find is right here. The project, led by Lynn Gillespie and Jeff Saarela, is ongoing, so this website will grow with time.

Astereae Lab

This extremely useful website by John C. Semple, Waterloo University, includes links to the asters, goldenrods, and goldenasters of North America. In these webpages, Dr. Semple clearly details the new generic divisions of the former Aster and Solidago genera, which are presented in the 3 Asteraceae volumes (19-21) of the Flora of North America. Ontario botanists will want to purchase his two indispensable references, Cultivated and native asters of Ontario and The Goldenrods of Ontario from the University of Waterloo Biology Series.

Canada's Arboreal Emblems (Provincial Trees)

This webpage is part of the larger TreeCanada website, providing brief descriptions of each Provincial Tree. Unfortunately, other webpages with lists of trees are not linked to descriptions or images.

Canada's Plant Hardiness Site

A map of Canada's Plant Hardiness Zones, developed at Great Lakes Forestry Centre (McKenney et al. 2001), is accessible on this site. Information on cultivated and native North American species is also presented and gardeners with a good knowledge of their plants are encouraged to enter data on which species survive in their area. Data on specific plants in your area can be submitted through this webpage.

Canadian Museum of Nature

The homepage of Canada's Museum of Nature in Ottawa, which offers various ways to explore different aspects of our natural environment.

Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System

A fairly comprehensive website on poisonous plants of Canada, compiled by Derek B. Munro. Some plants known to be poisonous, such as Actaea rubra (baneberry), are missing, possibly since reports of poisoning do not occur in the recent literature. However, other sites listed below do include information on Actaea rubra. Contains links to more databases on poisonous or toxic plants.

GardenBreizh.org - Jardins et plantes exotiques pour tout climat

An extensive website from France that contains thousands of images of cultivated plants, as well as articles on various plant groups or genera and links to botanical gardens worldwide. Click on this link, Les fiches de plantes exotiques, to access the descriptive pages for each species, including a list of cultivars. A great site for Canadian gardeners to brush up on their French. But note that the images may take a while to load.

Herbier photo 66 - Pyrénées Orientales

A beautiful website, in French, by Josette Argaud, featuring images of wildflower from the western Pyrenees of France. Click on Recherches to access the species webpages, each of which includes a brief description with field and/or scanned images of each species.

Quelques Bryophytes des Pyrenees Orientales. (Some Bryophytes of the Western Pyrenees)

An extremely useful website for moss and liverwort enthusiasts compiled by Josette Argaud; part of her larger website, Herbier photo 66. Click on the "Bryophytes" link in the left-hand column, then choose "Diaporama des scans" for thumbnails of the featured moss species. The name of each species is revealed when your mouse passes over the thumbnails.

Tela Botanica – Le réseau de la botanique francophone

Entre a scientific name in the dialogue box labelled "Cherchez une plante de", then click on the magnifying glass symbol to view detailed taxonomic information, images, and distributions maps for plant species found in France. A very useful site when researching introduced weed species that are native to Europe.

Germany

Bilder von Wildblumen

A website of great images of wildflowers and garden plant from Germany by Robert Flogaus- Faust. Images are organized according to family name.

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.

Moose (Moss)

A partially trilingual website (German, English, and French) from Michael Becker on mosses and leafy liverworts of Germany and Central Europe. In the list of species, those name in bold text are written in English and French, while the remaining species, designated by the abbreviation (de) after the name, are written in German. Regardless of your language skills, the images are useful for species that are common to Germany and Ontario.

Iceland

Flora of Iceland

This website, by Dick Vuijk, is part of the larger Natural History of Iceland site, with sections on birds, mammals, and panoramic Iceland landscapes. Great interactive photos and descriptions of the plants. Scroll down the page to access lists of other plant groups. Be sure to check out the Icelandic landscape images too!

India

Flowers of India

A very comprehensive website of stunning wildflower images, with numerous browsing options. Choose from topics such as the Flora of Valley of Flowers, Flowers in Ancient Literature, Himalayan Flowers, or simply browse by plant category. You could spend an entire day (if not more) enjoying this website.

Ireland

Burrenbeo

An attractive website on the world famous Burren of Ireland, a fascinating limestone landscape home to 70 percent of Ireland's native flora. Access images of wildflowers in this Floral Gallery (may take a while to load, but worth the wait!).

Flora of Northern Ireland

A website on the Irish flora by the Environment and Heritage Service and the Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland. Click on the "Species List" link at the top of the homepage to access all the plants included in this website. Clickable thumbnail images and digital maps showing plant distributions within 10 x 10 km grids.

Irish Wildflowers

A beautifully designed and easy-to-navigate website of excellent wildflower images by Jenny Seawright. Each thumbnail species link brings you to a webpage with several larger images, simple descriptions, and common English and Irish names.

Greenland

Flora Groenlandica online

This great website by Finn Johannessen will provide the viewer with an excellent introduction to the natural beauty of Greenland!

Japan

Maples and Japanese Culture

An excellent website dedicated to sharing information on world maple species, by Hajime Hayashida, which provides scientific and Japanese common names, foliage autumn colour, and distribution, as well as a page of images for each species (click on the number at the end of each line). Comparison pages of leaves, flowers, fruit, and twigs for each species are very useful for identification. Access this species list for North American maples, or choose other species from the home page.

Jordan

Jordan Flora

An English-language website by Ammar Khammash on the flora of various ecosystems and habitats of Jordan. It also features very interesting stories, such as the Tracing the Origin of Tulip.

Netherlands

Plantago – PlantIndex

Gardeners will appreciate learning about this interesting website, which is an index of cultivated plants available at nurseries throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. Links to images, from various sources, are provided for most species and can be accessed by botanical name or Dutch, English, German, or French common name.

Norway

Kronbladet.no

A beautifully designed website with gorgeous images of Norwegian plants by Narve Brattenborg. Click on the appropriate flag in upper right corner to view the text in Norwegian or English.

Norda Flora

An excellent website by Ivar Heggelund of flowering plant images from northern Norway, with brief descriptions in Norwegian.

Panarctic Flora

The Panarctic Flora website includes links to an annotated checklist of circumpolar plants and important taxonomic case studies on various arctic species. An extremely useful resource for students of the Arctic flora.

The Lichen Photo Gallery

This gallery of excellent lichen images, the best online resource for lichen images, is from the Lichen Herbarium, Botanical Museum, University of Oslo, Norway. With your mouse, hoover over each image to find the genus name for that lichen, click on the image, then hoover over the next images to select the species.

The Flora of Svalbard

A very informative website with stunning images of the flora of the Svalbard Archipelago, a group of islands off the northeastern coast of Norway. Provided are full descriptions, a distribution map, and several images of each species. This website is a collaboration of Bjørn E. Sandbakk and 3 Norwegian botanists, I.G. Alsos, G. Arnesen, and R. Elven.

Scotland

Virtual Hebrides – Images from the Western Isles

A beautiful, easy-to-navigate website with great photos and, in addition to the descriptions, lots of interesting information on each featured species. Select species from location or habitat options placed just below the homepage heading.

West Highland Flora

A wonderful website on the flora of the Isle of Skye from Carl Farmer, recently expanded to include the West Highlands of Scotland. Beautiful photographs, including many European species that are now weedy in North America. Also check out Carl's Nature Notes from Argyll; you'll definitely want to visit this region!

South Africa

The African Garden

A terrific website by David Fenwick of Devon, England, on South African species, mainly bulbs, grown as ornamentals in Great Britain.

Spain

Arboles Ornamentales

An excellent Spanish website of cultivated plants by José Manuel Sánchez de Lorenzo-Cáceres with keys to the cultivars and a glossary of botanical terms in Spanish. Access the Family Index or ornamental trees or cultivated plants, including many cycads.

Herbari Virtual del Mediterrani Occidental

A magnificent collection of scanned flowering plants from the Universitat de les Illes Balears. You can select your preferred language (upper right of homepage): Català (Catalan) Castellano (Castilian Spanish) or English. In the English version, click on the link "Search by Family" to access a list of families from which you can choose a genus, then species. Click on each image to see a detailed enlargement.

Sweden

Den virtuella floran

A website on the Scandinavian flora, only in Swedish, with excellent images and Eric Hultén's distribution maps of circumboreal species. These can be accessed from any species page by clicking on the button labelled "Norra halvklotet." The link above brings you to the Eudicot Families (Tvåhjärtbladiga blomväxter); links to the Monocots (Enhjärtbladiga blomväxter), Gymnosperms (Barrväxter), and Pteridophytes (Kärlkryptogamer) are also provided.

Switzerland

Park Naziunal Svizzer

Curious to see what Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum), the national flower of Switzerland, looks like? Visit this beautiful website with wonderful image of common wildflower of the Swiss Alps. Brief descriptions are in English; you can search for information on, among other topics, the animals, geology, or habitats of Switzerland.