Resources

See and photograph native plants

Flora Northwest, hosted by Paul Slichter, includes regional trails and areas for wildflower viewing in both Oregon and Washington. You can find plant lists for these locations that include links to photos and tips for identification.

Mountain Plants of the Western Cascades, hosted by Tanya Harvey, shows wonderful images of plants from Tanya’s field trips, including where she was and her plant lists for those areas.

Oregon Wildflowers, hosted by Greg Lief, is a resource for wildflower and photography enthusiasts to share information on where and when to visit Oregon’s best wildflower spots. You can find many wildflower locations (through an interactive map) and read or add your own trip reports and photos.

US National Forest and Grassland Wildflower Viewing Areas assists the user in locating wildflowers in bloom on these federal lands.

Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club hosts outings to introduce people to the wild places in our own backyard. These locally-sponsored outings may be day-hikes, peak scrambles, flora and fauna-watching trips, conservation-oriented walks, or forays into the remaining natural areas of major urban areas.

Siskiyou Field Institute a school where you can learn about and explore the botanically-rich Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion through many dynamic field courses.

Botanical Areas to visit in Oregon

Cedar Grove Botanical Area, near John Day, OR
Marys Peak Botanical Area, near Philomath, OR
Darlingtonia State Natural Area, near Florence, OR
Eight Dollar Mountain Botanical Area, near Cave Junction, OR
Rough and Ready Flat Botanical Area, near Cave Junction, OR
Veva Stansell Botanical Area, near Gold Beach, OR

OregonFlora’s 50 botanical hotspots, by Ed Alverson, summarizes sites that offer excellent representation of Oregon’s botanical diversity. These places were originally described in Flora of Oregon, volume 1.

Native Plant Gardens and Arboreta to visit in Oregon

Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, OR
Leach Botanical Garden, Portland, OR
Delbert Hunter Arboretum and Botanic Gardens, Dallas, OR
Lewis and Clark Garden, Oregon Garden, Silverton, OR
Martha Springer Botanical Garden, Salem, OR
Mount Pisgah Arboretum, Eugene, OR
Beekman Woods & Native Plant Arboretum, Jacksonville, OR

Identify native plants in Oregon and adjacent regions

OregonFlora provides various tools to assist with identification of our flora – see links below. Tutorials to use the website are offered here.

CalFlora provides a variety of interactive tools to learn about California’s flora.

Trees Pacific NW is another mobile application to help identify and learn more about the nearly 50 native tree species in the Pacific Northwest. It also works without an internet connection once downloaded.

Turner Photographics– Wildflowers a large collection of photographs of plants found in the wild, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. It is organized by plant family and genus, flower color, and flower type.

Landscape Plants, Horticulture Department, Oregon State University provides a database of photographs of woody plants that are used in planted landscapes. The site is an excellent resource for those interested in memorizing identifying characteristics of species, and the species are organized by scientific name.

CalPhotos: Plants offers photos of plants native to California, many of which grow in Oregon as well. Organized by scientific and common names and by location.

WTU Image Collection offers photos of plants native to Washington, many of which grow in Oregon as well. Organized by family, genus, and scientific or common name. Includes a link to a random/multi- access identification key which enables the user to freely choose the characteristics that are convenient to evaluate for the species to be identified.

Invasive Weeds of Oregon a Flickr database of photographs of noxious weeds of Oregon.

Invasipedia lists invasive species and provides information on their management.

Become a citizen scientist

Flora of Oregon: Vascular Plants i-Naturalist project if you are knowledgeable with plant identification, become a contributor to this i-Naturalist project, a collaboration among OSU Herbarium, OregonFlora, and the NPSO.

Citizen’s Rare Plant Watch a citizen science program started by NPSO in 2012, with the goal of increasing understanding of the status and extent of rare species throughout Oregon, while promoting direct involvement of volunteers in conservation. Portland State University’s Rae Selling Berry Seed Bank and Plant Conservation Program now hosts the program.

Nature’s Notebook hosted by the National Phenology Network. It is a platform where citizens can post information about the phenological stage (such as flowering and leaf fall) of native plants in their area. Information is pooled to track long-term changes in seasonal and climatic patterns, such as those caused by climate change.

Noxious Weed Control Program of the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) works to protect natural resources from the introduction and spread of noxious weeds. An online Sighting/Identification Form is provided for reporting noxious weeds locations or requesting identification.

Oregon Invasives Hotline provides an interface for reporting invasive species locations. Your submission provides early detection information to experts working to stop these invasions in their earliest stages.

Garden and/or restore native plants

Grow Natives an interactive tool to explore native species for your garden landscape or restoration project developed by OregonFlora.

Backyard Habitat Program A certification program to encourage and train Oregon citizens to expand and develop urban natural habitats on their own land.

Gardening with Oregon Native Plants, West of the Cascades. March 2008. Oregon State University Extension Service. EC1577. A handbook for growing native plants in western Oregon.

GardenSmart Oregon is a guide provided by The Nature Conservancy that provides native species as alternatives to commonly seen and/or used invasive plants in Oregon gardens.

USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service in Oregon works to help private landowners and land managers to conserve soil, water, and other natural resources, including native plants and is a great source of information, skills, assistance, and native plants for landowners.

Institute for Applied Ecology conserves native species and habitats of the Pacific Northwest through restoration, research and education. The institute often has opportunities for volunteers to assist in their mission.

The Nature Conservancy is a multinational environmental organization that does plant conservation and restoration in Oregon, particularly in sagebrush, grassland, and forest ecosystems. They are always looking for volunteers.

Study native plants at herbaria

Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria
Oregon State University Herbarium
Portland State University Herbarium
Lane Community College – Rowe-Love Herbarium
Hoyt Arboretum Herbarium

Conservation

The Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center is an environmental advocacy group whose mission is to protect and restore wild nature in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southwest Oregon and northwest California.

The Wilderness Society is a national environmental organization with efforts in Oregon to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for wild places.

Oregon Invasive Species Council is a group whose mission is to protect Oregon’s natural resources and economy by planning and leading a coordinated and comprehensive campaign to prevent the introduction of invasive species, and to eradicate, contain, and/or manage existing invasive species in Oregon.

Oregon Biodiversity Information Center maintains, develops, and distributes rare, threatened, and endangered species biodiversity data in Oregon, including plant location and sighting information, as well as ranking species by their rarity and risk of extirpation.

Oregon’s Endangered Species is a U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) website that includes Oregon’s plant and animal species that are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, as well as species proposed for listing, are candidates for listing, or considered species of concern.

Visit us on Facebook!

NPSO Facebook Page
Oregon Native Plants Facebook Group

Learn more about other native plant societies
in our region

Washington Native Plant Society
Idaho Native Plant Society
California Native Plant Society
Nevada Native Plant Society
Utah Native Plant Society
Native Plant Society of British Columbia