Welcome to Montana Plant Life!
News!
The new 2009 version
of the Montana Plant Life DVD is now available, featuring 1,800 species in 161 plant families, with over 9,000 images, and a text database comparable to several books.
See full list of features
This web site presents a wide variety of Montana wildflowers and other plants growing in the wilds
of Montana. The flora of Montana is very varied and contains many species which range extends from the
Pacific Northwest region as well as from the Great Plains. The site includes edible plants, medicinal
plants as well as poisonous plants with sub-categories for edible roots, poisonous berries etc. Choices
can also be made for displaying introduced vs. native plants and weeds. On the left menu there are indexes
for English and Scientific names, plus all presented species ordered after families. There are also lists
for flowering month and plant types, for a total of 31 different indexes.
Each presented species has its own page with pictures, a full description and, if applicable, information
about edibility, medicinal and poisonous properties. The plant search engine from the title bar above
can be used to search the entire plant identification database for any words or phrases, for example "lily",
"arthritis", "Lewisia", "cancer" etc. If a name is not found in the indexes, it can often be found from
a search instead. Each presented plant family has its own page with a description of its unique characteristics
plus a plant identification online guide with pictures, short descriptions and links to the species that
belong to it.
The menu on the title bar above is the main navigation of the site. On the plant identification page,
flower color, number of petals, leaf type etc. can be selected to find an unknown plant. This unique online
plant identification system uses easy choices and images instead of a traditional plant identification
key to arrive at the correct species. The site is created with the intent that anybody, without much prior
knowledge about botany, should be able to identify and find information about Montana wildflowers and
plants in general from the Montana flora. Therefore the guides on each family and genus page have also
been set up to use easily recognizable features about the plants and, in addition, the images can be used
to find the correct species.
A Plant and Wildflower
DVD is available for purchase and with the same functions for search and identification as this
web site, the link is also found on the menu above. A major advantage of using the DVD is that it can be
taken into the field on a laptop. And, of course, the DVD contains over 1,500 more species than the web
site, which will contain its present 250 species and serve as a preview. Suggestions, comments or questions
are more than welcome, and can be entered on the form provided from the menu. We are especially interested
in knowing about any errors that may be found on any page, or possible inaccuracies in the results from
making choices from the plant identification page.
Disclaimer: Montana Plant Life does not
warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness
of any information disclosed. Any information from Plant-life.org about edibility, medicinal use, or any
other use, is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to be used for practical applications.
If readers use information from Montana Plant Life in any way, they do so at their own risk.
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