🇬🇧 The flowers of the United Kingdom
65 pages from the United Kingdom: its flowers, the things made with them and the places to see them, across 60 cities and regions.
Great Britain and Ireland host a rich mix of native and long-established non-native flowering plants, with over 1,390 native species recorded. Their flora is among the most thoroughly catalogued in the world. The region is known for its diversity of wildflowers, including many from the rose and daisy families.
- Over 1,390 native flowering plant species are recorded.
- More than 1,100 non-native species are well established.
- The flora includes many from the rose and daisy families.
- Extinct and introduced species are tracked in official lists.
The plant life of the United Kingdom
The plant life of Great Britain and Ireland is shaped by a temperate climate, which supports a wide range of vegetation. The islands are home to 1,390 native plant species, alongside more than 1,100 non-native species that have become well established. The flora includes ferns, conifers, and a vast array of flowering plants. This diversity is carefully documented, making the region's flora one of the best studied globally. The presence of both native and introduced species reflects centuries of natural and human influences.
From region to region in the United Kingdom
Floral diversity varies across the islands, with different groups of plants thriving in distinct habitats. Ferns and their relatives are common in damp, shaded areas, while conifers are found in woodlands. Flowering plants, including those from the rose and daisy families, are widespread and adapt to a range of environments, from meadows to coastal regions.
Flowers to know in the United Kingdom
The rose (family Rosaceae) and daisy (family Asteraceae) families are especially prominent among the flowering plants. The flora also includes many species of monocotyledons, such as orchids. Lists of species are maintained with English and scientific names, and extinct or introduced species are clearly marked in official records.
Threats and protection in the United Kingdom
Some species have become extinct, as noted in official catalogues. Conservation efforts include detailed record-keeping and monitoring by organizations like the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. The thorough documentation helps guide protection and study of rare or threatened plants.
Where this page comes from
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Flora of Great Britain and Ireland", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Phool rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
Flower experiences in the United Kingdom
🇬🇧 London · All yearColumbia Road flower market on a SundayOne short East End street, packed every Sunday with plant and cut flower stalls and the calls of the traders.
🇬🇧 London · All yearNew Covent Garden Flower Market before sunriseLondon's wholesale flower market at Nine Elms, where the city's florists buy in the dark hours and the public may walk in.
🇬🇧 London · All yearA day at the Royal Botanic Gardens, KewOne of the world's great botanic gardens, with Victorian glasshouses, a huge tree collection and flowers in every month.
🇬🇧 Woking · Mar to OctRHS Garden Wisley through the seasonsThe Royal Horticultural Society's main garden in Surrey, where plants are tested, compared and shown at their best.
🇬🇧 Rye · Apr to OctGreat Dixter's long border and meadowsThe East Sussex home of the gardener Christopher Lloyd, famous for bold colour, dense planting and flowering meadows.
🇬🇧 London · All yearA floristry class at a London flower schoolA half day or full day learning to build a hand-tied bouquet with seasonal stems at one of London's flower schools.Cities and regions of the United Kingdom
Cornwall 3Gloucestershire 3London 3Derbyshire 2Devon 2Essex 2Great Britain 2Hampshire 2Kent 2Kew 2North Yorkshire 2Peebles 2Ambleside 1Bakewell 1Barlow 1Bedfordshire 1Bethnal Green 1Boscobel House 1Brecknockshire 1Bristol 1Burton Agnes Hall 1Buxton 1Cairngorms 1Cambridge 1Carmarthenshire 1Castleton 1Chapel-en-le-Frith 1Cheddon Fitzpaine 1Chelmsford 1Cheshire 1Chesil Beach 1Cocklode Wood 1Conwy 1County Londonderry 1Darley Park 1Deptford 1Dorset 1Dunham Massey 1Edinburgh 1England 1Evercreech 1Eyam 1Felbrigg Hall 1Findern 1Glasgow 1Glastonbury 1Glossop 1Grasmere 1Great Torrington 1Harrogate 1Hastings 1Hatfield House 1Haywards Heath 1Helston 1Henderskelfe 1Hethel 1Ilfracombe 1Isle of Man 1Kew Gardens 1Lancashire 1
Narcissus
Spring-flowering bulbs with trumpet-shaped blooms in white, yellow, and orange
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 more · Wildflower
HawthornCrataegus
A thorny shrub or tree with white or pink spring flowers and small edible fruits
🇮🇪 Ireland and 7 more · Wildflower
BlackthornPrunus spinosa
A spiny shrub with white spring flowers and tart blue-black fruit
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 more · Wildflower
Common poppyPapaver rhoeas
The vivid red wildflower of fields and remembrance
🇨🇳 China and 7 more · Wildflower
Dog roseRosa canina
A wild climbing rose with pale pink flowers and bright red hips
🇮🇪 Ireland and 7 more · Wildflower
BorageBorago officinalis
A bristly blue-flowered herb from the Mediterranean, used in food and oil
🇩🇪 Germany and 6 more · Herb or useful flower
CornflowerCentaurea cyanus
A bright blue wildflower once common in European grain fields
🇩🇪 Germany and 7 more · Wildflower
Forget-me-notMyosotis
Small blue wildflowers known for remembrance and love
🇳🇿 New Zealand and 7 more · Wildflower
PeonyPaeonia
Large spring flowers in pink, red, white, yellow and purple, grown in gardens worldwide
🇨🇳 China and 7 more · Wildflower
Common hawthornCrataegus monogyna
A thorny shrub or tree with white spring flowers and red fruit, native to Europe
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 more · Wildflower
Marsh-marigoldCaltha palustris
A bright yellow wildflower of marshes and wet woodlands in cool climates
🇨🇳 China and 7 more · Wildflower
Place
Castle Howard
A grand English country house with historic gardens near York
Henderskelfe, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Common rhododendronRhododendron ponticum
A dense evergreen shrub with violet-purple flowers from Europe and the Caucasus
🇵🇹 Portugal and 6 more · Flowering shrub
Sea kaleCrambe maritima
Salt-loving coastal plant with edible white-flowered shoots
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 more · Wildflower
Place
TrebahLowarth Treverybow
A 26-acre sub-tropical garden above the Helford River in Cornwall
Mawnan, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Place
RHS Garden Hyde Hall
A 360-acre public display garden in Essex run by the Royal Horticultural Society
Chelmsford, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Place
Sheffield Botanical Gardens
A historic 19-acre botanical garden in Sheffield, England
Sheffield, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Place
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
A historic botanical garden with glasshouses in Glasgow, Scotland
Glasgow, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Place
RHS Garden Harlow Carr
A public display and trial garden on the edge of Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Harrogate, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Himalayan balsamImpatiens glandulifera
Tall Himalayan annual with pink helmet-shaped flowers and explosive seed pods
🇮🇳 India and 3 more · Wildflower
Place
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
A 16-hectare botanic garden for research, teaching and public enjoyment in Cambridge
Cambridge, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Place
Lost Gardens of HeliganLowarth Helygen
Restored 19th-century gardens with subtropical and formal plantings in Cornwall, England
Mevagissey, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Scilla luciliae
A small blue-and-white spring bulb from western Turkey
🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 more · Wildflower
Decoration
Wreath
A ring-shaped decoration made from flowers, leaves, or other materials
🇬🇷 Greece and 7 more · Arrangement
Decoration
Advent wreathAdventskranz
A ring of evergreens and candles marking each week of Advent
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 more · Worn flowers, Nov to Dec
Decoration
Boutonnière
A single flower worn on a suit or tuxedo lapel for formal occasions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Worn flowers
Place
Dunham Massey Hall
A historic English country house with formal gardens and a deer park
Dunham Massey, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Place
Inverewe Garden
A botanical garden on Scotland’s west coast with rare and exotic plants
Poolewe, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Guizotia abyssinica
An annual herb grown for its oil-rich seeds and yellow flower heads
🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 6 more · Wildflower
Place
Borde Hill Garden
A historic English garden with rare shrubs and champion trees in West Sussex
Haywards Heath, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Place
Chatsworth House
A grand country house with historic gardens in Derbyshire, England
Bakewell, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Place
Rousham House
An English country house with celebrated 18th-century landscape gardens
Oxfordshire, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Place
Aberglasney
Historic house and gardens in the Tywi valley, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Llangathen, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Place
Eden ProjectEdenva
A vast garden and biome complex in a former clay pit in Cornwall
Cornwall, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Bee orchidOphrys apifera
A wild orchid with flowers that mimic the look and scent of a female bee
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 more · Wildflower
Yellow horned poppyGlaucium flavum
A coastal poppy with bright yellow flowers and long horn-shaped seed pods
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 6 more · Wildflower
Sea CampionSilene uniflora
A mat-forming white-flowered plant of Atlantic and Baltic coasts
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 more · Wildflower
Hardy fuchsiaFuchsia magellanica
A South American shrub with drooping red and purple flowers
🇦🇷 Argentina and 5 more · Flowering shrub
Place
Exbury Gardens
A woodland garden in Hampshire with famous collections of flowering shrubs
New Forest, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Decoration
Rushbearing
An English festival of carrying rushes and flowers to church in decorated processions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Custom, Jul to Aug
Place
Bodnant GardenGardd Bodnant
A hillside garden in Wales known for its Laburnum arch and rare plant collections
Tal-y-Cafn, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Flower garden
Genista
Shrubs and small trees with yellow, pea-like flowers called broom
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Wildflower
Place
Westonbirt Arboretum
A vast tree collection and woodland park in Gloucestershire, England
Tetbury, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Botanical garden
Decoration
Remembrance poppy
An artificial red poppy worn to honour those lost in war
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 7 more · Worn flowers, Apr to Nov
Purple pitcher plantSarracenia purpurea
A hardy carnivorous plant with tubular purple-green leaves that trap insects
🇺🇸 United States and 7 more · Wildflower
Decoration
White poppy
A peace symbol worn for Remembrance Day and Anzac Day
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 more · Worn flowers, Apr to Nov
Saxifraga
Small alpine and meadow plants known for their star-shaped flowers
🇨🇦 Canada and 4 more · Wildflower
Decoration
Maypole
A tall decorated pole at the heart of spring and summer festivals in Europe
🇩🇪 Germany and 6 more · Custom
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- RHS Garden Wisley: Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Columbia Road Flower Market: SunDawn, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Castle Howard: Pwojdacz ( talk ). Original uploader was Pwojdacz at en.wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Forget-me-not: Sedum Tauno Erik, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Common rhododendron: ABesheva, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sea kale: Charlesdrakew, Public domain, source
- Cornflower: TeunSpaans, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Blackthorn: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hawthorn: Nadiatalent, Public domain, source
- Dog rose: Roberta F., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Borage: Jengod, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Narcissus: Uberprutser, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Trebah: Gordon Joly, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- RHS Garden Hyde Hall: Mrmatiko, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sheffield Botanical Gardens: Warofdreams, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Peony: Taken by Fanghong, CC BY 2.5, source
- Glasgow Botanic Gardens: No machine-readable author provided. Finlay McWalter assumed (based on, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- RHS Garden Harlow Carr: DS Pugh, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Common hawthorn: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Marsh-marigold: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Himalayan balsam: Guptaele, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden: temporalata, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Lost Gardens of Heligan: Dirt Therapy, CC BY 4.0, source
- Floristry: Joachimj, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Scilla luciliae: AnRo0002, CC0, source
- Wreath: Олександр Майоров, Майкл Ендрюс, Світлана Буланова, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Advent wreath: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY 4.0, source
- Boutonnière: David Ring, CC0, source
- Dunham Massey Hall: Parrot of Doom, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Inverewe Garden: Alexandre Dulaunoy, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Guizotia abyssinica: Silvestresbrasileiros, Public domain, source
- Borde Hill Garden: Craigsnyders, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chatsworth House: Rprof, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rousham House: Grahamec, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Common poppy: Kieran Roy Powell, CC BY 4.0, source
- Aberglasney: Trevor Rickard, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Eden Project: Jürgen Matern, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Bee orchid: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yellow horned poppy: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sea Campion: Ixitixel, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hardy fuchsia: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Exbury Gardens: Charlesdrakew at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Rushbearing: Alexander Wilson, Public domain, source
- Bodnant Garden: Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Genista: Robert Flogaus-Faust, CC BY 4.0, source
- Westonbirt Arboretum: Photo taken by and copyright Stuz ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Remembrance poppy: Heatherannej, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Purple pitcher plant: (c) Alex Karasoulos, some rights reserved (CC BY), CC BY 4.0, source
- White poppy: Nankai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Saxifraga: Kurt Stüber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maypole: Uploaded by Mikael Häggström, CC0, source
- Wholesale Flower Markets: EG Focus, CC BY 2.0, source
- Great Dixter Garden: Miles Berry, CC BY-SA 2.0, source