Flower Pictures and Names Side by Side: A Quick Way to Identify Common Flowers

Pictures paired with names are the most direct way to get to know flowers. Putting the image and the name side by side lets even a complete beginner quickly tell apart the common plants growing around them. Many flowers look alike, and a verbal description alone can be hard to follow; with pictures and text together, it becomes much easier to look up care methods and learn what a flower symbolizes.

Common flowers can be roughly divided into several groups by the part grown for display. Flower-type plants such as carnations, Chinese iris and German stonecrop have showy, colorful blooms; foliage plants such as the Dutch iron plant have upright, sculptural leaves that suit indoor placement; among the ornamental bromeliads, the Guzmania has a vivid inflorescence and is often displayed as a holiday flower. There are also distinctive plants like the Aralia elata, whose tender shoots can be eaten, each with a different use.

When identifying a flower from a picture, focus on the shape and color of the bloom, the way the leaves are arranged, and the overall growth form of the plant. Note that many flowers have alternate names, and the same flower may be called something different from region to region; when checking a name, it is best to compare both the scientific name and the common alternate names to avoid mixing up two different plants.

Once you remember a flower's name, you have a starting point for growing and caring for it. If you want to know how to water and fertilize, or you run into problems such as wilting leaves or a plant that will not bloom, you can search for the relevant care experience by name. For anyone who grows flowers, a picture-and-text reference is useful both when buying plants and for checking details during everyday care.