This index sorts the plants according to the main colour of their flowers. This is by far more easy for many amateur people to find the particular plant, rather form using the other main indexes which classifies plants by their botanical family or Scientific name.
Simply click on the link with the name of colour from the table below and then choose the plant from the images available for the particular colour you have chosen. If a flower plant can be found with 2 different flower colours (for example the pimpernel which can be blue or red), this is often placed in both colours. Similarly, other plants that have 2 main colours in their flowers (for example the Honeywort which has cream and brown colours) this is usually found both in the cream and the brown indexes. From Sep 2007, the flowers in every colour index are further sorted by plant family, and then by A-Z of the species name. Good luck!
Guidelines how to use the colour index of this website:
NB: If you find broken Links, kindly email me to fix them - info@maltawildplants.com. Thank you
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RED
May also include flowers with rose or maroon colours. |
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PINK / LILAC
May also include flowers with darker hues of violet or purple. |
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ORANGE
May also include flowers with vivid yellow or reddish-orange colours. |
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YELLOW |
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CREAM / PALE YELLOW |
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GREEN
May also include grasses. |
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FLOWERLESS or INCONSPICUOUS
May also include tiny-flowering trees, pondweeds, sedges and rushes. |
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BLUE
May also include flowers with hues of violet, dark blue or pale blue. |
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PURPLE / VIOLET
May also include flowers with hues of reddish-purple, bluish violet or lighter hues. |
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BROWN / MAROON
May also include sedges and rushes. |
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DARK COLOURED
May also include Orchids and dark flowers of any colour |
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WHITE
May also include flowers with very light colours. |
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- Please understand that in several cases it is very difficult to cut a line of what exact colour a flower is, and sometimes this is subjective from one person to another. This mostly applies in the Red(/pink)->Purple->Magenta(/lilac)->Violet->Blue hue range. Hence one may find an 'almost violet' flower in the wild, but listed here in the blue index, simply becasue according to they author, the colour is more blue than violet. In such cases, check both corresponding colour indexes.
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Some species produce flowers in different intensities of the same colour, or else the intensity of the colour is subjective. For example is a flower purple or pink (eg: Silene colorata), yellow or cream (eg: Iris pseudopumila), blue or pale blue (eg: Cichorium intybus). To simplify this problem, the corresponding intensities of the same colour is given in the same colour index page, and so if you are in doubt check both sections. More problematic is to distinguish between lilac and pink, so again check both.
- Some species produce flowers in different colour forms. This is very true for ornamental plants, but fortunately wild plant suffer much less from this problem. Such an example is Anagallis arvensis which can be found with blue, orange(scarlet), or pink flowers. For such species, the colour index here tries to include all colour forms, but this might not be fully updated, and in such case the most common colour for the species is given in the index.
- Several species suffer from albinism, that is an abnormal condition were the plant fails to produce flower pigmentation and as a result it produces white flowers. The indexes does not include albinos and specimens should be searced in the normal flower colour of the corresponding species.
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Some trees, grasses, sedges and rushes tend to have inconspicuous, uncoloured florets. These can be found under green flowers or in a category purposely created for such plants called 'inconspicuous flowers'. Some rushes might be listed as brown flowering plants.
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Some species produces flowers with two or more different colours (i.e. on the same flower). Such species are not always given in both colour indexes and as a general guide, the most abundant colour of the flower should be considered. For example the flower of Bellis sylvestris, has a yellow central disk, encircled by large, white 'petals' that are often tinged or flushed purple at the edge or underside. In such example, the species is listed in the white colour index, because white is the main colour of the flower.
- On the same point as above, certain flowers have complex patterns namely those of Orchids (in particular Genus Ophrys). The general colour of the flower is brown or dark with contrasting patterns (the speculum). The former colour is considered dominant and such orchids can be found as brown-flowers or mainly in an own colour section created for such plants called "the dark coloured flowers". Exceptionally, Ophrys lutea s.l. which has yellow petal, subfused with brown and followed by a blusih-grey speculum is also found in the yellow colour index.
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Many blue-flowering species of the Borage family (eg: Echium psp.) have young flowers in the pink/purple hue which gradually develops to Blue in the mature flower. In such species, the mature flower is considered to have the right colour form.
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