Colorado wildflowers  
 

 

Welcome to my wildflower site. I am in the process of compiling my pictures from 2010 - I got just a bit behind in maintaining the site! But I hiked and took pictures in 2009 and 2010, and this site has not been abandoned.

Thanks to all of you who have helped me to identify the flowers on this site. I also enjoyed hearing from those of you who had flowers you wanted to identify, whether or not I was able to help.

I would like to stress that I am not an authority in flower identification, just a hobbyist who knows how to build websites. That the major search engines index the site and rank it highly has more to do with my expertise in search engine optimization than my skills in botany. I have listed my favorite references below the form.

I have not been able to hike much this year because of a sore foot. My foot is feeling well enough to walk now, but not for a full hike, so I decided to see how many wildflowers I could fine around my home in Aurora. I was surprised at the how many I found in just one field. I found one bush covered with white flowers that I cannot identify. Any ideas?


View all the flowers of a color

or, if you are looking for a particular flower:

*common name: *latin name:
* You can provide a partial name here. Only one name can be searched at a time.

I have identified these Colorado wildflowers with the help of many books and a few friends. My most frequently used books are:

  • Guide to Colorado Wildflowers, Volume 1, Plains and Foothills by G.K. Guennel
  • Guide to Colorado Wildflowers, Volume 2, Mountains by G.K. Guennel
  • The Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Western Region by Richard Spellenberg
  • Rocky Mountain Flora by James Ells

I have also made use of the searchable database at Colorado State University Herbarium
and there are some truly lovely photos at http://www.paulwcarlson.com/LoryWildflowers/

Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Ferns, and Trees also provides an extensive searchable list of flowers, usable throughout the state.

Eastern Colorado Wildflowers lists the flowers by Latin name, common name, and family. This site also has some tips on telling look alike flowers apart.

When my sources disagree about the latin name or family of a wildflower, I go with the folks at http://plants.usda.gov/. This database is very complete, for the entire United States, but not searchable by the appearance of the flower.

If you really want to know about Colorado wildflowers, I suggest you buy one of these, or a similar guide. These folk actually know what they are talking about, and provide a lot more information than I do.