A new website has been launched to help members of the public to identify UK wild flowers and plants and encourage greater appreciation of plants and their essential role in our world. The website can identify over 2000 wildflower, plant and tree species found in the UK and is aimed at giving the public a better insight into the country’s rich and diverse plant life.Beyond encouraging a greater appreciation of plants, spending time in nature is also beneficial for people of all ages as it boosts physical and mental health and enhances creativity, experts say.But a phenomenon known as ‘plant blindness’ means that many people fail to notice the plants in their everyday life and underappreciate their vital role as the foundation of life on earth. Plants under threat Plants in the UK and beyond are facing increasing threats from habitat degradation, nearly 40% of species are threatened with extinction, creating an urgent need to better understand, value and protect plants.But expansion of urban areas and agriculture, coupled with a loss of botany knowledge amongst the public is creating a growing disconnect from nature and the country’s unique plant life.The UK’s rich flora, ranging from towering Scots pines to delicate English roses, has emerged as a result of the temperate climate and adaptation to unique habitats, from woodlands to wetlands. Identifying Plants Although many books exist on UK’s wide variety of plant life, which includes over 3000 species, most people don’t have access to them and the biggest challenge is knowing where to start.To tackle this Richard Milne a Senior Lecturer in Plant Evolutionary Biology at the School of Biological Sciences developed a website to help people easily identify plants and flowers they may encounter.Plants that are evolutionary related, with a similar appearance and characteristics are grouped in plant families, and learning to recognise these can greatly help with plant identification.The website ‘Name that Plant’ uses a series of standard questions, such as the numbers of petals, to help people quickly narrow their search, showing them only plant families that match their answers. Finding the Plants The plants and flowers – including 1,692 native and over 1500 non-native species - found in Great Britain and Ireland are amongst the best studied in the world, with centuries of study by botanists.Most of the non-native plants growing wild in the UK are garden escapes, and contrary to popular belief most are rare, with invasive species like Japanese Knotweed giving the rest a bad name.In the last four years Richard has travelled the length and breadth of the UK from remote parts of the north coast of Scotland to the tip of Cornwall photographing an astonishing 2675 plant species.This sometimes involved going between England and Scotland multiple times per month to catch key species in flower.Finding rarer species often required visits to Botanic and private gardens as well as trips to Estonia, Corfu and Norway, as certain species are easier to find at the centre of their geographic range. Website and teaching To organise this vast catalogue on his website Richard grouped photos of related species into a single image known as a plate. The website was then built by Ayaan Decosta, a second-year biology student recruited by Richard for the task.Richard has spent 15 years delivering plant identification courses, educating both the public and students, leading many to gain a new appreciation for plants.His engaging, enthusiastic and fun teaching style is extremely popular with undergraduates and he was won four teaching awards, voted for by students at the University. Orchid species grouped into a single image plate During the pandemic an early version of his plant identification website proved vital for educating students from the University’s Field Ecology course, who could only be taught remotely.In the future Richard and Ayaan plan to add more plant species to the website and provide further guidance for beginners, as well as developing a version that is suitable for children. I've always wanted to help get more people into identifying plants, and the key to this was to help them learn to recognise plant families. So, I worked out a way to do this, but to support it I realised I would need plates full of species images, that could be freely shared online. The only way I could see to do this was to photograph the entire UK flora myself, and four years later, that's what I've (nearly) done! Dr Richard Milne Senior Lecturer in Plant Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences Working on the website was at times challenging but ultimately a rewarding task. I look forward to it being used by beginners. Ayaan Decosta Undergraduate student, School of Biological Sciences Get started To start identifying your plant, visit the 'name that plant' website: 'Name that Plant' website Related Links Dr Richard Milne Publication date 28 May, 2025
