Plant Identification


Vascular Flora of Alberta: An Illustrated Guide

This resource is available as a paperback or e-book through Amazon.

The guide includes illustrated keys to all native and naturalized vascular plants in Alberta. The development of a set of keys for the 2000+ vascular plants in AB was a complex undertaking, and as the keys are used and as new information becomes available, the Authors decided to keep them as correct and as up-to-date as possible by collecting changes and producing up-dated versions (printings) when it seemed warranted.

For editions and revisions, visit this page.


Puzzling Pairs

Since 1988, the Alberta Native Plant Council newsletter IRIS has brought to the ANPC membership articles on all things native plant-related. Periodically, a series called “Puzzling Pairs” (or the occasional “Tricky Trio”) has been published to help the plant observer sort between similar species. If you are finding any of the following sets of species puzzling (or tricky), click on the appropriate issue of IRIS for some help. 

Remember though that there have been on-going taxonomic changes, so some of the names may have changed. Common names are from Kershaw, L. 2019. Alberta Plant Names: A guide to their pronunciation, meaning and English alternatives. Self-published. Kindle Direct Publishing.

Puzzling Pairs through the Years


Vascular and Non-Vascular Plants of Alberta Lists

The Alberta Conservation Information Management System (ACIMS) maintains a list of the document plant species within Alberta. For the latest version, please head to their website.