Oregon Wildflowers 12.04

OregonFlora at Oregon State University offers the Oregon Wildflowers plant identification app for smart phones and tablets. This app features over 1280 common wildflowers, shrubs, and vines found in Oregon, as well as parts of California, Washington, and Idaho. It provides users with high-quality photographs, distribution maps, bloom periods, and detailed descriptions carefully curated by botanists, ensuring accurate plant identification across the state.

Designed for novice enthusiasts and seasoned botanists alike, Oregon Wildflowers caters to individuals keen on learning about plant names and natural history. Serving as an educational resource for all age groups, the app promotes understanding of botany, plant ecosystems, and ecology using regional flora. Each of the 1289 plant profiles includes multiple images, range maps, and comprehensive descriptions, encompassing both native species and common introduced plants in the area. The app assists plant enthusiasts in identifying species spanning all ten diverse ecoregions of Oregon.

Users can navigate through a captivating collection of plant photos organized by common or scientific names or families to access relevant information. Primarily, users will utilize the identification key embedded within the app to recognize unfamiliar plants of interest.

The user-friendly interface of the identification key offers twelve illustrated categories for plant classification, including geographic region, plant type (e.g., wildflower, vine, shrub), flower characteristics (color, number of petals, inflorescence shape, flowering month), leaf features (arrangement on plant, type, shape, margin), plant size, and habitat. These character descriptions are based on specifications from the Flora of Oregon guide by OregonFlora at OSU.

Once downloaded, the app operates offline without requiring an internet connection, making it practical for use in remote locations.

OregonFlora is dedicated to promoting awareness and understanding of Oregon's plant life through the dissemination of scientifically accurate and accessible botanical knowledge to diverse audiences. Established in 1994, OregonFlora has been instrumental in creating a comprehensive state flora available in both print and digital mediums. The first two volumes of the Flora of Oregon were released in 2015 and 2020 respectively. The organization's website (www.oregonflora.org) offers interactive tools, maps, and images tailored for general users and scientists alike. Detailed information on Oregon's approximate 4,700 vascular plants can be accessed on the OregonFlora website.

A part of the proceeds generated from the app contributes to expanding the floristic database necessary for developing high-quality tools aimed at educating the public about Oregon's diverse plant species.