Internet Resources for Checking Plant Names
By Marc S. Frank, Extension Botanist with the UF/IFAS Plant Identification and Information Service
Extension agents and Master Gardener volunteers often ask me what is the best website for checking plant names. Sometimes, you just need to check the correct spelling of a plant scientific name or find out what family it is in. Other times, you see multiple scientific names used for a certain plant, and you need to find out which is currently accepted, or you’re trying to determine the native distribution for a specific plant. There’s a lot of misinformation out there on the internet, so you need to know which resources are most reliable. Unfortunately, there is no single website that is good for checking all plant names. I have several different websites bookmarked at the top of my web browser, so I can quickly compare them and check for consensus.
For plants that are native or established (escaped from cultivation and reproducing in the wild) in Florida, our best resource is the Florida Plant Atlas, which is maintained by the Institute of Systematic Botany at the University of South Florida. You can search for a plant by typing in either the scientific name, the common name, or the plant family. You can also search for all the plant species that have been documented from a particular Florida county. For each of the 4300+ native/established plant species in Florida, the Atlas has a webpage that provides the scientific and common names, synonyms, a map of the vouchered distribution in Florida (the counties from which herbarium specimens have been made), links to specimen images in the USF Herbarium, and, in many cases, photos. The Florida Plant Atlas does not include most of the cultivated plants that are in Florida if they are not known to be escaped and established in the wild. It is relatively conservative in adopting taxonomic changes that you might see on iNaturalist, the Flora of the Southeastern United States, and elsewhere online.
The USDA GRIN (Germplasm Resource Information Network) website is a great resource that includes scientific and common names, synonyms, and distributional ranges. Many species profiles also include economic uses and references to relevant articles. Unfortunately, USDA GRIN somehow seems to miss a number of Florida endemics (species restricted only to Florida) and often doesn’t include some of the more exotic plant species that are cultivated in Florida. It does not include any plant photos or illustrations or distribution maps.
Plants of the World Online, hosted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a working list of all known plant species. It incorporates data from a number of collaborators into a user-friendly web format. You can search by family, genus or species, but not by common name. Each species profile indicates whether the name is currently accepted, its synonyms, a list of authoritative publications that accept the name, and a distribution map showing the native and introduced range. In many cases, this is supplemented by photos of the plant, herbarium specimen images, and descriptions from published floras.
Not all plant families have been treated in the Flora of North America yet, but for those that are included, we generally regard them as authoritative because they are based on examination of herbarium specimens from all over the country and extensive review of the existing literature. You can search on a plant genus, species, or family, but you cannot search on common names. The Flora of North America includes keys to genera and species within the treated families, and provides detailed descriptions of plant species and their distribution within North America. There are sometimes links to distribution maps or illustrations, but no photos are provided. This is probably the most challenging website for non-botanists to use, but it is packed with really useful information.
It takes a little time to familiarize yourself with these websites and their features. I recommend that you visit each one and type in the name of a plant that you’re interested in, so you can see for yourself what these websites have to offer. If you can’t seem to find the answer to a question about plant names, first check with your county Master Gardener coordinator. If you still can’t find the answer, contact me by email and I’ll do my best to help.
Plant Name Resources Online
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This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of The Neighborhood Gardener newsletter from the Florida Master Gardener Volunteer Program. Links have been updated.