How to Use

To locate a plant, you can either use the Plant Categories section and simply scroll down the alphabetical list of plants until you find what you are looking for, or you can use the Plants A-Z section to try and identify the plant from the pictures shown.  You can also use the search box, located at the top of each page, to type in either the common name or the Latin name of the plant.
Here is the way these sections work:

The Plant Categories Section

The Plant Categories section is currently divided into six general sections;  Wild Flowers; Garden and House Plants; Trees, Shrubs and Climbers; Cacti and Succulents; Grasses and Ferns; and Fruit and Vegetables. 

N.B.  Some plants fall under more than one category, and in these cases the plant has often been listed twice, or in some cases one part of the plant is listed in one section and another part in another section (for example, the fruit of the apple tree is listed in the Fruit and Vegetables section and the rest of the plant is covered in the Trees, Shrubs and Climbers section). 

Each entry for an individual plant provides one photo (where available) and a short summary, but if you click on the photograph, or on the "See more" link at the bottom of the short entries in this section, you will find the full entry, where additional images and more information may be available to help you identify the plant.  In the full entries, each picture will open up to give a larger view, and by hovering the cursor to the upper left or right of the picture you can scroll either to the next picture or back to the previous one.  Using the left and right arrows on your PC keypad will have the same effect.

The A-Z Section

This section provides images of plants in the database, and hovering your cursor over an image will provide the name of the plant.  Clicking on the image of an individual plant will take you to the full entry for that plant.

Plants by Colour

To help you to easily identify flowers by their characteristic colours we have included a search-by-colour facility. 

Because flower colours vary throughout the flowering season, from the new emerging flower to the one that is past its best, we use the colour of the flower when it is in full bloom. 

Where a plant is commonly known by one colour but has varieties in other colours, we identify the main colour and list other colours in the plant information. 

N.B.  If a plant is known for its varieties in many colours, or if the individual flowers of a plant display several colours, then we have labelled that as 'all colours'.

The "Traffic Light" System of Colour Coding for Safety

To indicate whether an individual plant is safe food for your tortoise we have used a traffic light style of colour coding, with green, orange and red markers.  Green indicates plants which are safe to freely feed to your tortoise.   Orange colour coding is for plants which may be fed either with caution or in moderation.  Red indicates plants which generally should never be fed to your tortoise.  What is important is that you accurately identify the plants, and with the help of this list you should find that easier.  If there is any uncertainty, then rather than take a risk, you should not feed it to your tortoise.  Please note that plants marked as green, and which can be freely fed to your tortoise, should as far as possible make up part of a varied diet, and not be a sole source of food.

Please note that if an entry states that a plant is safe to feed to tortoises, or can be fed in moderation, our general rule is that this statement applies to all parts of the plant (leaves, flowers, roots, bark, etc.), and if some parts are safe but others are not, we will list the parts that are not safe.