Search, for instance, for a five-petalled yellow flower with round stems flowering in April by using the following search string:

month?apr     flower?yellow     stem?round     petals?5

You can also search for smell, for example smell?cloves
(in any order) providing you adhere to the specific spellings and syntax, as shown by the keys below, (which in particular means putting the single-character wild-card '?' between the object and the search word without spaces), but you may truncate long words with the multi-character wildcard, *.

Search for either the Latin Family Names or English Family Names using 'family?name'.

Search for Genus Name using 'genus?name'

Search for all photographs submitted by any one contributor.

The site is automatically re-indexed only every fortnight, so brand new items may not yet be searchable.

Clicking on one of the table headings will invoke the HELP and KEY (on an extra page) for that selected heading.

No. PETALS			FLOWERING MONTH			STEM SHAPE
	petals?0			month?jan			stem?round
	petals?1			month?feb			stem?square
	petals?2			month?mar			stem?triangular
	petals?3			month?apr			stem?angular
	petals?4			month?may			stem?oval
	petals?5			month?jun			stem?winged
	petals?6			month?jul			stem?ribbed
	petals?7			month?aug			stem?fluted
	petals?8			month?sep
	petals?9			month?oct
	petals?10			month?nov
	petals?12			month?dec			stem?spines
	petals?many			month?allyear			stem?hollow
	petals?cleft						stem?milkysap

FLOWER COLOUR
FLOWER		INNER
	flower?white		inner?white
	flower?cream		inner?cream
	flower?yellow		inner?yellow
	flower?orange		inner?orange
	flower?red		inner?red
	flower?pink		inner?pink
	flower?azure		inner?azure
	flower?lilac		inner?lilac
	flower?purple		inner?purple
	flower?blue		inner?blue
	flower?indigo		inner?indigo
	flower?beetroot		inner?beetroot
	flower?green		inner?green
	flower?brown		inner?brown
	flower?grey		inner?grey
	flower?black		inner?black

FLOWER TYPE
TYPE
	type?clustered
	type?globed
	type?catkins
	type?umbel
	type?tieredwhorls
	type?spiked
	type?panicle
	type?trumpet
	type?bell
	type?fused
	type?fringed

FLORAL SYMMETRY
MORPHOLOGY
	morph?actino
	morph?zygo
	morph?hemizygo
	morph?asymmetric
	morph?peloric

TOXICITY
	toxicity?severe
	toxicity?high
	toxicity?medium
	toxicity?lowish

A simple single-parameter search can be performed simply by clicking in one of the above boxes. More complicated multi-parameter searches, such as the example below, need to be entered manually.

month?jul     flower?blue     type?tiered*     morph?zygo

N.B. Where applicable, flower refers to the colour of the outer petals (if present). In those cases where there are central florets present then inner refers to the colour of those but only if it is of a different colour to that of the outer petals. In cases where there are just petals and no central florets, the inner colour may refer to any change in colour that may occur towards the centre of the petals. Or it may refer to a minor colour present on the flower (stripes, marks, blobs, blotches, or to the stamens/anthers if they are of a prominent colour, etc, anything that may help you identify the flower).

Thus, if the flower you are trying to identify has more than one colour, then use flower for the major colour and inner for the minor colour, otherwise leave inner out of the search altogether. When the flower is of just one colour, the inner colour definition may be absent altogether and in these cases do not search for an inner of the same colour as flower; it wont find any - just leave inner off the search.

SMELL
smell?<odour>
Where <odour> can, at the moment, be any of the following: aromatic, herb(al), spaghetti bolognese, alcohol, stuffing, honey, (shoe) polish, (new) (mown) hay, resin(ous), roast(ed) peanuts, anise(ed), star anise, ricard, pernod, ouzo, aromatic, camphor, pleasant, fantastic, wonderful, perfume(y), fragrant, scent(ed), sweet, musk, vanilla, custard, ice cream, spice(y), apple(s), apple pie, dentist, gargle, pungent, mouse(y), putrid, pong(s), awful, vile, evil, stink(s), reek(s), nauseous, rosemary, sage, radish, fish, pine, orange(s), garlic, jasmine, apple, roses, curry, cloves, chives, thyme, marjoram, origano, hops.
example:   smell?custard

You can actually search the entire Wild Flower Website by using just ordinary searches, rather than the particular special keys mentioned above which are highly specific.

SEARCH HINTS +    include the word following the plus sign as mandatory. -    exclude the word following the minus sign. ?    wild-card for one letter *    wild-card for more than one letter [search-words must not start with a wild card: (? or *)] [phrase]    match to within a couple of words contained in the [ ] brackets. {phrase}    match to within several words contained in the { } brackets. AND    logical AND e.g. (a AND b) OR     logical OR e.g. (a OR b) NOT    logical NOT. e.g. NOT a. [EOR, NAND and NOR are not implemented and () brackets are not obeyed i.e. a bracketted construct such as red AND (yellow OR orange) is not exacted upon as a logical construct] An Advanced Search option can also be invoked. This merely enables logical OR to be used (by using the [and any of these words] input box). It seems to offer no additional functions that cannot be used within the normal search functions. It is also worth bearing in mind that search engines, much as we all would like, still do not understand English, so rather than entering search strings like 'creeping plant exactly like spreading jenny but with sky-blue pink flowers'. Try re-phrasing it thus instead: -flower?yellow flower?blue flower?pink +petals?5 creeping spreading. If you are still un-able to find your flower, try submitting a photograph Submit Your Photo Where the author will endeavour to identify it for you, if he can.

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