A Visual Guide to Identifying Wildflowers

The wildflowers below are grouped together in colour galleries, to make it easier for you to locate the plant you may have seen. At the moment, there are 10 pink and purple wildflowers, 10 yellow wildflowers and 10 white wildflowers to view.

Each photograph expands when you click on it and is accompanied by a box, which states its Latin name and at least one fast fact. This gallery is a new feature on my website and will develop over time. And in case you were wondering, my reference sources are listed at the end of the page.

Pink and Purple Wildflowers

Hedge Woundwort

The Latin name is Stachys silvatica.

This plant was previously used to dress wounds and staunch bleeding.

Common Vetch

The Latin name is Vicia sativa.

This plant secretes a sugar-like substance that attracts ants, who can then help to protect it from other insects.

You can learn more about this plant in my blog dated 28th July 2024.

Foxglove

The Latin name is Digitalis purpurea.

Although this plant has medicinal uses, it has to be treated with care because every part of it is poisonous.

Common Comfrey

The Latin name is Symphytum officinale.

The leaves of this plant apparently make a great manure when left to decompose!

Herb Robert

The Latin name is Geranium robertianum.

The leaves are said to resemble little trees and have quite a pong when they are crushed, which has led some to alternatively call the plant 'Stinking Bob'.

Soapwort

The Latin name is Saponaria officinalis.

This plant is pollinated by a number of moths, including the Hawk-moth.

Black Horehound

The Latin name is Ballota nigra.

The crushed leaves of this plant smell rather unpleasant!

Field Scabious

The Latin name is Knautia arvensis.

Parts of this plant were used to treat skin disorders in the past.

Goat's-rue

The Latin name is Galega officinalis.

This plant is a member of the pea family and previously been used to help with fevers.

Common Mallow

The Latin name is Malva sylvestris.

Dark lines on the petals act as little signposts to visiting insects, and once the flowering has ended, the resulting seed pods are said to look like pork pies.

Yellow Wildflowers

Creeping Buttercup

The Latin name is Ranunculus repens.

One way of distinguishing this plant from its similar looking relatives is by its leaves. These are triangular-ish and partitioned into three lobes. The middle one usually has a small stalk.

Fennel

The Latin name is Foeniculum vulgare.

The leaves of this plant are fine and thread-like and smell like aniseed.

You can learn more about this plant in my blog dated 11th August 2024.

Common Bird's-foot Trefoil

The Latin name is Lotus comiculatus.

You can distinguish this plant from another kind of Bird's-foot Trefoil by looking at the sepals underneath the petals. In this species, the angles between them are more than 90 degrees.

Marsh Ragwort

The Latin name is Jacobaea aquatica.

The leaves of this plant are deeply lobed and the bottom lobes of each are much wider than those at the top.

You can learn more about this plant in my blog dated 4th August 2024.

Imperforate St John's-wort

The Latin name is Hypericum maculatum.

A helpful way of identifying this plant from other similar species is by looking at its leaves and underneath the petals. You will see black dots and black lines.

Mouse-ear Hawkweed

The Latin name is Pilosella officinarum.

This is a very distinctive plant, recognisable by the red stripes underneath its petals and its leaves, which are hairy, green on top and white below.

Charlock

The Latin name is Sinapsis arvensis.

This plant can be seen all year round and grows to roughly 100cm. Its leaves are green and vary in shape and texture, oval to lobed, smooth to hairy.

Trifid Bur-Marigold

The Latin name is Bidens tripartita.

This plant tends to grow by standing or slow-moving fresh water and prefers acidic soils.

Agrimony

The Latin name is Agrimonia eupatoria.

This plant is a member of the rose family and develops bristly fruit, which may be snagged by a passing animal.

Herb Bennet

The Latin name is Geum urbanum and originates from a name meaning 'blessed herb'.

This plant is a member of the rose family and produces burr-like fruit that can get stuck on animal fur, as the animal passes by.

White Flowers

Hedge Bindweed

The Latin name is Calystegia sepium.

Although this can be a tricky plant to distinguish from its relatives, one important feature relates to the bracts covering the base of its trumpet-shaped flower-head. For this species, you should be able to see the lime-green sepals poking up between the bracts, in the middle. If you can't see them, it is likely to be another species.

Hogweed

The Latin name is Heracleum sphondylium.

This plant can grow more than 2m tall but is not as tall or as nasty as its big bad brother Giant Hogweed (which can grow to more than 5m and whose leaves are blisteringly dangerous to touch).

Wood Dock

The Latin name is Rumex sanguineas.

This plant only has leaves towards the bottom and the tepals only contain one white orb of fruit (which you can see in the photo).

Common Mouse-ear

The Latin name is Cerastium fontanum.

The leaves are very hairy and shaped like a mouse's ear. When the fruits develop, they are said to look a bit like a half-peeled banana!

White Dead-nettle

The Latin name is Lamium album.

Cows apparently do not like the smell of the leaves but the leaves can be used in salads and the nectar is sweet to taste.*

* Please remember to check all trusted sources and know what you are doing whenever foraging.

Cow Parsley

The Latin name is Anthriscus sylvestris.

This is a member of the carrot family and starts to flower around April time.

I am always careful when exploring plants from the carrot plant as some of them are deadly poisonous!

Yarrow

The Latin name is Achillea millefolium.

This plant features in the blog dated 4th August 2024. So all I will say here is that its leaves smell gorgeous!

Wild Strawberry

The Latin name is Fragaria vesta.

The fruits of this species are smaller than those you see in the shops, but still very tasty!

Heather

The Latin name is Calluna vulgaris.

The white form of Heather is meant to bring luck. Heather was formerly used to make brushes, ropes and baskets - a feature that resounds in its genus name ('Calluna'). Taken from a Greek derivative, this word means 'to brush'.

Meadowsweet

The Latin name is Filipendula ulmaria.

Apart from smelling rather lovely, the sap in the leaves contain a chemical associated with aspirin. This is perhaps why people in the Middle Ages used the plant to treat pain and fevers.

Information Sources

Neil Fletcher (2010) Pocket Nature. Wild Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Limited; London

Rachel Hamilton, Chris Gibson and Robert Still (2024) British and Irish Wildflowers and Plants. A Pocket Guide. Princetown University Press; Oxford

Sarah Raven (2011) Wild Flowers. Bloomsbury Publishing; Great Britain

Wild Petals and Sepals

A Visual Guide to Identifying Wildflowers

Pink and Purple Wildflowers

Yellow Wildflowers

White Flowers