On this page we point you towards all the webpages and downloadable files we know about to help the more experienced botanist identify wild plants. If you are just starting out with plant identification, we suggest that you try this page first. There's extra help on offer to BSBI members who can consult our network of 100+ plant experts. Our members will also find useful information on plant ID in our periodicals. Check out the videos on our YouTube channel for even more ID help.
ID resources
BSBI publishes a range of Handbooks for difficult plants as well as Floras, ID keys and the Plant Crib. BSBI publications are also available as eBooks. Many of the files from the Plant Crib are available for you to download free of charge from the Plant Crib page.
There are some useful hand-outs on the Recorders' Conference webpage to help you identify tricky plants such as docks, willow-herbs, firs and aquatics; you can also download Tim Rich's introductions to identifying dandelion characters and sections.
Erigeron (Conyza) key by Martin Rand - see also Bob Leaney's ID guide to Conyza.
Andy Amphlett's ID guide to sundews (Drosera spp. inc hybrids)
Stonewort ID Key by Nick Stewart.
Guidance from Andy Amphlett on Identification of subspecies of Puccinellia distans.
Jeremy Roberts’s website on Trichophorum, Eleocharis, Viola rupestris and Hymenophyllum. And click on the link to download Jeremy's Trichophorum (Deergrass) fieldguide.
Andy Amphlett’s key to Balsam Poplars.
If you’re a real expert, you can try identifying northern hawkweeds using Tim Rich’s online key. - good luck!
FSC multi-access keys
Have you tried these new multi-access keys from FSC Biolinks?
Have a go and let us know what you think!
Identification resources from Norfolk botanist Bob Leaney
- Allium paradoxum (2022)
- Atriplex (2018)
- Calystegia (2022)
- Conyza (2017)
- Eleocharis (2023)
- Epilobium (2020)
- Poa infirma (2021)
- Polygonum aviculare agg. (2021)
- Salix and Agrimonia (2021)
If you have any comments to pass on to Bob, having tried out these ID resources, please email enquiries@bsbi.org or you can phone him direct on 01603 782 462.
Grass ID: the TEP files
Grass identification leaflets produced by Peter Gateley of Warrington-based ecological consultancy TEP.
Check out these pages too:
- Fern ID
- Grass ID
- Dandelion ID
- Plant ID videos on our videos page and the BSBI YouTube channel
- The Plant Crib
- BSBI Species Accounts
- BSBI Handbooks for tricky plant groups
- ID resources for beginner botanists.
Plant experts
Members of the BSBI can make exclusive use of our network of 100+ plant experts, who will name difficult plants for you. There are two referees just for beginners; specialists in garden shrubs and cultivated trees; aquatics and alpines; as well as experts in orchids, grasses, tricky plant families...
Contact details for our experts/ referees are in the BSBI Yearbook, which is sent out to members each year in January and is available via our password-protected members-only area. If you’re not a member, and you are interested in plant identification, you may want to think about joining BSBI.