Resources

There are a lot of great resources for learning more about wildflowers in Washington State. Here are some of the best local resources for learning more.

Reference List for Washington Wildflower Identification
Site	Description
WNPS - Washington Native Plant Society	The Washington Native Plant Society is a forum for individuals who share a common interest in Washington’s unique and diverse plant life. For more than 30 years WNPS has been a great source for native plant information and action.
Field Guide to Selected Rare Plants of Washington	This site from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources contains PDF files with excellent descriptive information, photographs, and illustrations of 370 rare vascular plants of Washington. This is an excellent source for confirmation of the identification of a species once you think you have the species name.
Flowers of Rainier	Amateur photographer and hiker Donovan Tracy has created a wonderful website describing and showing with beautiful photographs many of the wildflowers that can be found on Mt. Rainier in Washington State. This is a must-see site for those that want to identify wildflowers they may see while hiking on this mountain in the Pacific Northwest. The site has been updated from the 2011 season with additional species, bring the total to 230 as of April, 2012.
WTU Image Collection: Plants of Washington	"The WTU Image Collection contains the most comprehensive online collection of photographs and information for the plants and lichens of Washington. Developed and maintained by the University of Washington Herbarium (WTU), this site brings together the photographs from numerous photographers and botanists from around the state. Photographs are accompanied by distribution maps, descriptions, synonymy, and additional resources. Use this site to learn about the plants and lichens found across Washington State's diverse array of landscapes including lush coastal rainforests, dry sagebrush plains, high alpine meadows and much more in between. By our estimate, Washington contains nearly 3,200 species of vascular plants and over 900 species of lichens."
Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program - University of Washington Botanic Gardens	"The Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program is dedicated to conserving Washington's native rare plants through methods including ex situ conservation, rare plant monitoring, research, reintroduction, and education." This website outlines their admirable program which is focused solely on the conservation of rare and endangered plants of Washington state, but it also includes a listing and photographs of some of the 320 plants included in the scope of their program. According to Steve Baldwin of Spokane, Washington, the most endangered native wildflower of WA State is Castilleja levisecta - Golden Paintbrush, which is one of the plants that is under the watchcare of Washington Rare Plant Care.
Turner Photographics Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest	Over 7,000 excellent photographs from Washington and Oregon and northern California, by one of the co-authors of 'Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest' (see below.) These are indexed by Latin and Common name, by blossom color, and by blossom characteristic. Good information about each species, and the detail page includes a county-level map of distribution.
Wildflowers West	Mark Lee Dixon's & Darice Susan Dixon's wildflower website, with wildflowers organized by blossom color. They usually include multiple photographs of a plant, with at least one of the blossom and another of the whole plant or the leaf infrastructure to help with identification. Additional informative text is included, including common and scientific names. Very nice photographs.
Flora of the Inland Pacific Northwest by Thayne Tuason	Over 300 plants of Central Washington, and more from Idaho. Organized by scientific name, grouped alphabetically.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin	Premier native wildflower information site in the United States. "Native Plant Database - Search 7,024 native plant records by traits or names. Image Gallery - Browse through our collection of 23,770 native plant images. Ask Mr. Smarty Plants - Have a question? Mr. Smarty Plants has 3,584 answers. How To Articles - Don't know where to start, try one of our articles."
USDA Plants Database	Great resource! Their own description: "The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories." Provides these important (to me) pieces of info: 1) Listing by state and county within a state where specific species have been identified. 2) Scientific name synonyms are listed. 3) Scientific names are matched to a widely-used common name. 4) Photographs of many species. 5) State by state list of all the species identified in that state. Official Citation: USDA, NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 22 June 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Flicker Wildflower Field Guide, North America	Over 9,000 Flickr member photos tagged with wfgna. The WFGNA group has good tagging requirements for their excellent photos, so you'll find, in addtion to the photo, the state in which the photo was taken, and at least a common name and the scientific name as identified by the contributor. After you get to the linked page you should add search criteria, including the state name, the color of the plant, or scientific name, to reduce the number of photos. Several states have several hundred photos(California has over 1,500!) so you'll probably want to add color to the search criteria.
Book at Amazon:	"Featuring more than 1240 stunning color photographs, this comprehensive field guide will remain a trusted, authoritative trailside reference for years to come. It describes and illustrates 1220 commonly encountered species" - This book appears to be the regional guide one needs for wildflower identification in the Pacific Northwest. It has received excellent reviews on Amazon.
Wildflower Information.org	From the site: "WildflowerInformation.org is a resource for wildflower enthusiasts and gardeners. With a growing interest in the environment and natural gardening, our objective is to offer comprehensive information that is easy to use, and accessible for those from the casually interested to the expert." While this information doesn't appear to be on the website itself, WildflowerInformation.org seems to be owned by American Meadows, the "recommended wildflowers seed supplier" of WildflowerInformation.org.
Book at Amazon:National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region	Covering the region from Alaska to California and east to the Great Plains, this well-produced, compact guidebook contains more than 940 photos of over 650 species of wildflowers of western North America. The color images are grouped by flower color to suit the needs of inexperienced enthusiasts. I think anyone interested in wildflowers in the western United States should have a copy of this guide. Situated in the Eastern U.S., I use the Eastern Region guide extensively.