1
Amaryllis
Hippeastrum hybridum
A large South American bulb whose dramatic trumpet flowers on a leafless stem make it the standard winter houseplant of the Northern Hemisphere.
This is the full flowers index — 70 detailed flowers, each with its own profile. Click any name to open the full entry.
For flowers, every profile covers scientific name, family, native range, color, season, plant type, and uses.
All Flowers
2
Anemone
Anemone coronaria
A diverse genus of spring and autumn perennials whose silken-petaled flowers from the windflower to the Japanese anemone bridge multiple garden seasons.
3
Anthurium
Anthurium andraeanum
A glossy tropical aroid whose lacquered heart-shaped spathe and protruding spadix have made it a staple of modernist floral design.
4
Aster
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii
A late-season daisy of meadows and gardens whose violet starbursts feed migrating butterflies long after most flowers have faded.
5
Azalea
Rhododendron simsii
A spring-flowering subgroup of the rhododendron genus whose layered swarms of trumpet flowers blanket Japanese hillsides and southern American gardens.
6
Bird-of-Paradise
Strelitzia reginae
A southern African evergreen whose orange-and-blue crested flower famously resembles the head of a tropical bird in mid-flight.
7
Black-Eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
A golden-rayed prairie daisy with a dark chocolate centre, a symbol of late North American summer and the state flower of Maryland.
8
Bluebell
Hyacinthoides non-scripta
A nodding spring bulb that carpets ancient British woodlands in waves of violet-blue, an icon of intact deciduous forest.
9
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea glabra
A vigorous thorny South American climber whose papery, vividly coloured bracts cover walls and pergolas in every warm city of the world.
10
Buttercup
Ranunculus acris
A shining yellow meadow perennial whose petals reflect ultraviolet light to attract pollinators and whose stems carry a mildly toxic sap.
11
Calendula
Calendula officinalis
A hardy Mediterranean annual with edible bright orange petals long used as poor man's saffron and as a healing salve for the skin.
12
California Poppy
Eschscholzia californica
The state flower of California, a bright orange annual that carpets hillsides every spring with cup-shaped silken petals that close at night.
13
Camellia
Camellia japonica
A glossy-leaved evergreen shrub of East Asia whose formal winter blooms rival the rose and whose leaves, in one species, produce all the world's tea.
14
Carnation
Dianthus caryophyllus
A clove-scented Mediterranean perennial whose ruffled, long-stemmed flowers have served as a buttonhole, a political badge, and one of the world's top three cut flowers.
15
Champaca
Magnolia champaca
A tall South Asian tree of the magnolia family whose cream and orange flowers carry one of the most prized perfumes in Indian temple and bridal tradition.
16
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum × morifolium
An East Asian autumn flower of immense cultural weight in China and Japan and one of the world's top three cut-flower crops.
17
Clematis
Clematis hybrida
A versatile climbing genus whose large starry flowers in every shade scramble through trellises, trees, and old garden walls.
18
Climbing Hydrangea
Hydrangea petiolaris
A self-clinging deciduous climber from East Asia whose flat lacy white flower heads cover north-facing walls without need for support.
19
Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
A robust North American prairie perennial with raised central cones and drooping petals, popularised globally as both a garden plant and an immune-system herbal remedy.
20
Cornflower
Centaurea cyanus
A vivid azure-blue annual once so common in European wheat fields that its decline has become a symbol of vanishing arable wildlife.
21
Cosmos
Cosmos bipinnatus
A graceful Mexican annual with airy ferny foliage and single saucer-shaped flowers that bloom non-stop on tall, slender stems.
22
Cowslip
Primula veris
A nodding yellow spring wildflower of European meadows, prized for its honey-apricot scent and once gathered for cowslip wine.
23
Crocus
Crocus vernus
A tiny goblet-shaped corm that pushes through frost in late winter and, in one species, supplies the world's most expensive spice.
24
Daffodil
Narcissus pseudonarcissus
A cheerful trumpet-flowered bulb that opens the European spring, naturalising in woodland drifts and reappearing every year with almost no care.
25
Dahlia
Dahlia pinnata
A frost-tender Mexican tuber that produces some of the largest, most architecturally varied flowers in the late summer garden.
26
Daisy
Bellis perennis
A small white-and-yellow lawn perennial whose simple flower is the popular archetype for what a flower looks like.
27
Damask Rose
Rosa damascena
The ancient perfume rose of the Middle East, distilled into rose otto and rose water for over a thousand years and still the gold standard for fragrance.
28
Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale
A ubiquitous yellow lawn perennial whose every part is edible and whose seed clocks are the universal childhood symbol of wishes carried on the wind.
29
Forget-Me-Not
Myosotis sylvatica
A small clear-blue wildflower of streamsides and woodland margins whose name and tiny yellow eye have made it the universal emblem of remembrance.
30
Forsythia
Forsythia × intermedia
A vigorous deciduous shrub whose bare branches erupt into bright yellow bell-shaped flowers in early spring, signalling the start of the gardening year.
31
Foxglove
Digitalis purpurea
A tall biennial spike of speckled tubular flowers that lines hedgerows and gives medicine its most important heart drug, digitalis.
32
Gerbera
Gerbera jamesonii
A South African daisy whose pure saturated colours and clean flower form make it one of the world's five most-traded cut flowers.
33
Gladiolus
Gladiolus grandiflorus
A tall corm-grown summer flower with sword-shaped leaves and a one-sided spike of trumpet flowers in nearly every saturated colour.
34
Heather
Calluna vulgaris
A wiry low evergreen of the moor that paints northern uplands purple in late summer and feeds an entire ecosystem of bees, grouse, and sheep.
35
Heliconia
Heliconia rostrata
A clump-forming tropical perennial whose long pendant or upright bracts in lobster-claw shapes are the showpiece flowers of Central American rainforests.
36
Hibiscus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
A tropical shrub of huge five-petaled flowers, emblematic of Hawaii and Polynesia and source of a tart ruby-red infusion drunk worldwide.
37
Honeysuckle
Lonicera periclymenum
A twining hedgerow climber whose tubular cream-and-yellow flowers release the iconic perfume of warm summer evenings in temperate gardens.
38
Hyacinth
Hyacinthus orientalis
A short, intensely fragrant spring bulb whose densely packed flower spikes scent any room they are brought into.
39
Iris
Iris germanica
A worldwide genus of rhizomatous and bulbous perennials whose elegant three-part flowers gave their name to a goddess and a heraldic emblem of France.
40
Jasmine
Jasminum officinale
A genus of intensely fragrant climbing and shrubby plants whose small white flowers perfume warm-climate gardens and underpin classic perfumery.
41
Lavender
Lavandula angustifolia
An aromatic Mediterranean shrub with silver-grey foliage and dense purple flower spikes prized for scent, oil, and pollinators.
42
Lilac
Syringa vulgaris
A deciduous shrub of the Balkans whose pyramidal trusses of small fragrant purple flowers define the scent of late spring in temperate gardens.
43
Lily-of-the-Valley
Convallaria majalis
A shade-loving woodland perennial whose tiny bell-shaped flowers carry one of the most coveted perfumes in nature.
44
Lotus
Nelumbo nucifera
An ancient aquatic flower of Asia whose pristine pink blooms rise on long stems above muddy ponds and have anchored religious symbolism for millennia.
45
Lupin
Lupinus polyphyllus
A spire of pea-shaped flowers in vivid bands of colour, born from a tough nitrogen-fixing perennial that thrives on poor soils.
46
Magnolia
Magnolia × soulangeana
An ancient genus of flowering trees whose huge waxy goblet flowers predate bees and were pollinated by the earliest beetles a hundred million years ago.
47
Marigold
Tagetes erecta
A vivid orange or yellow Mexican annual whose pungent foliage and abundant blooms make it a fixture of summer borders, vegetable companion plantings, and Hindu festivals.
48
Morning Glory
Ipomoea purpurea
A fast-growing tropical climber whose sky-blue trumpet flowers open at dawn and close by noon, twining through any support in their reach.
49
Orchid
Orchidaceae
The largest family of flowering plants on Earth, comprising over twenty-five thousand species whose intricate co-evolved blooms occupy nearly every habitat.
50
Oxeye Daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare
The tall white-and-yellow meadow daisy of European grasslands, a classic ingredient of wildflower seed mixes and the lookalike of garden Shasta daisies.
51
Pansy
Viola × wittrockiana
A short-lived hybrid garden flower whose expressive "face" of five overlapping petals has made it the cool-season bedding plant of the modern world.
52
Passion Flower
Passiflora caerulea
A spectacular tropical climber whose elaborate ten-part flower was read by Spanish missionaries as a botanical sermon on the crucifixion.
53
Peony
Paeonia lactiflora
A long-lived perennial whose massive, fragrant late-spring flowers are the national flower of China and a fixture of cottage gardens.
54
Plumeria
Plumeria rubra
A small tropical tree with sculpted five-petaled flowers and an intoxicating evening fragrance, the signature lei flower of Hawaii.
55
Poppy
Papaver rhoeas
A crinkled silken-petaled annual of disturbed soils, whose blood-red bloom became Europe's central memorial flower after the First World War.
56
Primrose
Primula vulgaris
One of the first flowers of European spring, a pale yellow rosette that brightens woodland edges and shady banks from March onwards.
57
Rhododendron
Rhododendron ponticum
A vast genus of acid-loving evergreen shrubs and trees, dominating Himalayan slopes and providing the showiest spring blooms of British woodland gardens.
58
Rose
Rosa hybrida
The classic woody flowering shrub of gardens worldwide, celebrated for layered blooms in nearly every color and a perfume that has shaped trade, poetry, and perfumery.
59
Snapdragon
Antirrhinum majus
A short-lived Mediterranean perennial whose hinged tubular flowers snap open when squeezed, beloved of bumblebees strong enough to force entry.
60
Snowdrop
Galanthus nivalis
A small, nodding white bulb that flowers through frozen ground in late winter, the earliest sign of returning spring in much of Europe.
61
Sunflower
Helianthus annuus
A towering North American annual whose enormous heliotropic flower heads track the morning sun and yield one of the world's most important oilseeds.
62
Sweet Pea
Lathyrus odoratus
A graceful annual climber whose ruffled, intensely fragrant flowers in pastel colours are the classic English cottage-garden cut flower.
63
Tea Rose
Rosa odorata
An elegant repeat-flowering Chinese rose whose introduction to Europe revolutionised garden roses and produced the modern hybrid teas.
64
Tulip
Tulipa gesneriana
A spring-flowering bulb of the central Asian steppes whose introduction to seventeenth-century Holland triggered the first speculative bubble in modern finance.
65
Violet
Viola odorata
A small, low-growing woodland perennial whose intensely fragrant purple flowers gave their colour, their name, and their perfume to multiple languages.
66
Water Lily
Nymphaea alba
A floating-leaved pond perennial whose star-shaped blooms close at night and inspired one of the most famous painting series in Western art.
67
Wild Rose
Rosa canina
A simple five-petaled hedgerow rose of the Northern Hemisphere, parent to many garden hybrids and producer of vitamin-rich autumn hips.
68
Wisteria
Wisteria sinensis
A vigorous East Asian climber whose drooping racemes of fragrant lilac or white pea-flowers turn pergolas and old walls into late-spring spectacle.
69
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
A tough, ferny-leaved Eurasian perennial whose flat-topped corymbs of small white flowers hold soldiers' wounds and pollinator gardens together.
70
Zinnia
Zinnia elegans
A bold, heat-loving Mexican annual that flowers from seed in eight weeks and offers some of the most saturated colour in the summer garden.
About this flowers index
That's our current full list of flowers. We add new entries every week — if there's a flower you'd like us to cover, let us know and we'll write it up.
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