Wildflower Resources
Publications
Wildflowers and Grasses of Virginia’s Coastal Plain
Superb guide to local wildflowers, put out by the Virginia Native Plant Society. One of the texts I turn to first whenever trying to identify a new flower find.
http://vnps.org/new-book-wildflowers-grasses-virginias-coastal-plain/
Flora of Virginia
This massive tome is the definitive compendium of plant life in Virginia. A richly illustrated text with loads of supplementary information.
Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide
Popular illustrated field guide with a useful key for plant identification. A favourite of the Richmond Wildflower Meetup group.
https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/lawrence-newcomb/newcombs-wildflower-guide/9780316604420/
Wildflowers in the Field and Forest
A photographic guide arranged by flower colour and family, nicely handy for field identification work.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/wildflowers-in-the-field-and-forest-9780195150056
Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers
This photographic, colour-keyed guide to wildflowers is an unusual one, in that it contains a number of flowers missed out by other guides. It also uses rather idiosyncratic common names for many of the plants, which will likely be unfamiliar to local users. But it is great for finding those difficult-to-identify plants other guides omit.
Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont
This photographic guide separates wildflowers out by geographic communities. There is some wonderful supplementary information as well, and it is a guide that rewards patient exploration over quick consultation.
National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers – Eastern Edition
With all the nice photos, colour keys, and portability you expect from the Audubon field guide series, this is an easy one to take along on your wildflower walks. Covers a larger region, so it requires more work narrowing down the plant you are seeking.
Weeds of North America
One person’s weed is another’s wildflower, and you will find many of our flowering friends in this magnificent and massive book. As with any large-scope guide, you’ll have to make sure the plant in question actually occurs here, but overall this is a very useful and encompassing work.
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo17312322.html
Websites
Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
Focused and informative, this should be one of your first online stops for identification. Includes information about plant distribution by county, and a nice way to browse plant genera by taxonomic details.
USDA Plants Database
Extremely useful resource for wildflower identification and information. Contains taxonomic information, status, distribution maps, and often many reference images and drawings. You can restrict your searches by state as well.
Richmond Wildflowers
Local wildflower guide by experienced botanist Ernest Wilson, who also heads the Richmond Wildflowers Meetup group.
Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide
Many of our wildflowers are included in this handy alphabetical guide.
NameThatPlant.net
While ostensibly focusing on our immediate Southern neighbours, this site includes many of our plants as well in an easy-to-browse format.
Go Botany
This identification site centers on New England, but is another which also includes a lot of our flowering plants too. Has a useful key structure to finding your plant, and uses a display system not dissimilar to our own (a case of convergent evolution, as I designed this site before discovering theirs).
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
This guide goes further afield, but once again contains many of the flowers that you find here in Virginia.
Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Another guide centered elsewhere, but which will contain some of our flowers. Excellent plant searching mechanism.
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/plantfindersearch.aspx