A to Z of Wildflowers

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Z
Scientific Name Primary Image Common Name Description
Acaena anserinifolia Bronze Pirri-pirri-bur
Aceras anthropophorum Man Orchid
Achillea filipendulina Fern-leaf Yarrow
Achillea millefolium Yarrow
Achillea ptarmica Sneezewort
Aconitum napellus Monk's-hood
Aconitum x cammarum Hybrid Monk's-hood
Acorus calamus Sweet-flag
Adonis annua Pheasant's-eye
Adoxa moschatellina Moschatel
Aegopodium podagraria Ground-elder
Aethusa cynapium Fool's Parsley
Agrimonia eupatoria Agrimony

Spikes of yellow flowers, the leaves being pinnate, smaller leaflets - 3-6 pairs, between the larger leaflets.

Agrostemma githago Corn-cockle
Ajuga chamaepitys Ground-pine
Ajuga reptans Bugle

A common herb often found growing in large clumps. The leaves are dark green with dark purplish to brown markings. The flowers, which are a deep purplish blue, rarely pink or white are borne on a tapering stalk and are in bloom from April to July. It spreads by seed but more commonly by creeping runners.

Alchemilla glabra Smooth Lady's-mantle
Alchemilla vulgaris Lady's-mantle
Alisma lanceolatum Narrow-leaved Water-plantain
Alisma plantago-aquatica Water-plantain
Alliaria petiolata Garlic Mustard
Allium ampeloprasum var. babingtonii Babington's Leek

Grows from a bulb and flowers from July - August and prefers a sunny location as it cannot tolerate full shade.

Allium carinatum Keeled Garlic
Allium neapolitanum Neapolitan Garlic
Allium paradoxum Few-flowered Garlic
Allium roseum Rosy Garlic
Allium schoenoprasum Chives

 Bulbous perennial plant forming clump of strongly onion-scented, hollow, rush-like leaves. The flowers are pink and in tight clusters.

Allium scorodoprasum Sand Leek
Allium subhirsutum Hairy Garlic
Allium triquetrum Three-cornered Leek
Allium ursinum Ramsons
Allium vineale Wild Onion

Crow Garlic is a perennial plant with that grows from a bulb approximately 102cm in diameter. The leaves and stem of this plant are tubular, hollow and have a waxy texture and the leaves have a groove  along the side facing the stem. The flower is a reddish head of small bulbils and when young is enclosed in a papery membrane that has a long tapering point. Usually, by the time the flower is in bloom the leaves have withered ,and the flower and stem are the only part of the plant to be seen.

Alopecurus pratensis Meadow Foxtail
Althaea officinalis Marsh-mallow
Amaranthus retroflexus Common Amaranth
Ammi majus Bullwort

This plant is an annual with fine, feathery divided foliage that has heads of tiny whitish flowers in Summer on branched very slender stems.

Amsinckia micrantha Common Fiddleneck
Anacamptis pyramidalis Pyramidal Orchid
Anagallis arvensis Scarlet Pimpernel
Anagallis tenella Bog Pimpernel

This plant is a creeping perennial. The flowers, which are in bloom from August - September are pinkish, upturned and bell-shaped with five petals with darker veins running through them.. The leaves are borne on very short stalks and the flowers emerge from the leaf axils.

Anchusa arvensis Bugloss

Bulgloss is an annual with erect hairy stems and green hairy leaves that are crinkled at the margins. The flowers are small, blue and funnel shaped and are borne on clusters at the tip of the stem from April - September. The fruit is a nutlet, with four nutlets per flower.

Andromeda polifolia Bog Rosemary

Bog Rosemary is a low growing shrub with a woody stem, leathery leaves that are dark green on  the upperside and paler beneath. The flowers are pinkish, bell-shaped and are borne on long thin pale green stems.

Anemone apennina Blue Anemone

This plant is a deciduous perennial that grows from a rhizome and spreads fairly rapidly. It has fern-like, dark green foliage similar to Cranesbill, the flowers are produced in Spring and are dark blue and star shaped.

Anemone nemorosa Wood Anemone
Angelica sylvestris Wild Angelica
Antennaria dioica Mountain Everlasting
Anthemis arvensis Corn Chamomile
Anthemis cotula Stinking Chamomile
Anthriscus caucalis Bur Chervil

Bur Chervil is an annual plant of the carrot family and is very similar in appearance to Common Cow Parsley. This plant has tall hollow stems with light green triangular shaped bracken like leaves. The miniscule hard fruits have tiny hooked spines.

Anthriscus sylvestris Cow Parsley
Anthyllis vulneraria Kidney Vetch
Aquilegia vulgaris Columbine

This is a tall upright perennial plant with cultivated bonnet shaped flowers of numerous shades, though the original wild flower was either blue, purple, white or pink. The flowers have five petals with hooked spurs. This plant is easily propagated from seed and many cultivated specimens have "escaped" into the wild.

Arabidopsis thaliana Thale Cress
Arabis petraea Northern Rock-cress
Arctium lappa Greater Burdock

The leaves of the Burdock are large, heart shaped and pale green on the upperside, greyish on the underside and covered in fine hairs, the leaves becoming smaller further up the plant. They are joined to the stem by a fairly thick stem with a groove on the upperside. The flower heads are purple and thistle-like, the blooms being enclosed in a sac with scales that have hooks at the tip. These scales are sometimes interwoven with cotton like material.

Arctium minus Lesser Burdock
Arenaria serpyllifolia subsp. lloydii Lloyd's Thyme-leaved Sandwort
Aristolochia clematitis Birthwort
Armeria maritima Thrift
Artemisia absinthum Wormwood
Artemisia norvegica Norwegian Mugwort
Artemisia vulgaris Mugwort
Arum italicum ssp. italicum Italian Lords-and-ladies
Arum maculatum Lords-and-ladies

The glossy leaves of Cuckoo Pint, which are dagger shaped with purplish blotches emerge in early Spring followed by the flowers that are borne on a poker like organ called a spadix that is encased in a hood like leaf.  The small flowers, which are hidden at the base of the spadix in the form of a ring of female flowers at the base and another ring of male flowers above them. There is another ring of fine hairs above the male flowers that are used as an insect trap to pollinate the flowers, which have a rancid smell that attracts flies. In Autumn the lower ring of female flowers form bright orange/red berries that are extremely poisonous.

Asarum europaeum Asarabacca

A creeping hardy perennial with dark green, kidney shaped leaves and a single, purple drooping bell shaped flower in Summer.  It prefers shade or partially shady conditions.

Asperula cynanchica Squinancywort
Aster lanceolatus Narrow-leaved Michaelmas-daisy
Aster sp. Michaelmas-daisy
Aster tripolium Sea Aster
Aster x salignus Common Michaelmas-daisy
Astrantia major Astrantia
Atriplex portulacoides Sea Purslane
Atropa belladonna Deadly Nightshade

A small shrub like plant of the Nightshade family. This beautiful plant is highly toxic. The plant has small purple belll shaped flowers about an inch in length, as the year progresses the flower opens and a small green berry appears. As the berry grows it will steadily change colour untill fully ripe, when ripe it is a shiney black berry around the size of a cherry.

 

The leaves of the plant grow in pairs with one little and one large in the pairs.