Chris Nelson’s Bay Area Wildflower Guide

Use the search bar to look up any flower, or start at the top:

• flowers
• plant galls
• all life

Use it Offline

The Guide is getting its files from the internet. Save a local copy of the files to be able to view the guide without internet access.

The Guide is now using its local offline copy. Check back occasionally for updates.

The Guide is now using its local offline copy. An update is available whenever you are ready.

Some files have gone missing from your local offline copy. Update your local files.

The Guide works great on a smartphone. To save the entire Guide on your phone so that it works even when you’re out of range of the internet, click the shiny green button below. This URL will then work without internet access, or you can pin the guide to your home page. Check my browser notes for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.

Usage Guide

The Bay Area Wildflower Guide (BAWG) is a collection of my own photos and notes. It is designed to be my own reference as well as something I can point people to when I make identifications. Warning: I am not a botanist, just an interested amateur. All identifications should be taken as my opinion and not authoritative.

The BAWG is primarily for me, secondarily for you. You can use it as a reference if you like, but I hope you don’t use it as your sole reference.

Only wildflowers are covered, not cultivated flowers. I’ve also started including taxons other than flowering plants here, but in much smaller numbers and lesser detail.

The BAWG covers the San Francisco Bay Area, from the Pacific coast to corners including Mt. Tamalpais, Mt. Diablo, San Luis Reservoir, and Santa Cruz. A few other areas nearby are also covered if I visit them frequently enough. The gravitational center for my observations is probably somewhere around Cupertino.

If you find anything confusing, I have help pages.

Other Resources

Primary references include iNaturalist, CalFlora, CalPhotos, and Jepson eFlora. If you find yourself checking Jepson eFlora often, you may also want to browse the Jepson eFlora User’s Guide. When I’m identifying flowers from a hike, I often use PlantID.net to get a list of flowers known to grow in the park.

Monterey County Wildflowers covers an adjacent region, so it is often useful for bay area species as well. It has a similar organization as this guide with both photos and notes for how to distinguish species.