Guidlines and Notes about the Flower Colour Indices

• Please understand that in several cases it is very difficult to cut a line of what exact colour a flower is, and sometimes this is subjective from one person to another. This mostly applies in the red-pink to purple-lilac to Violet-Blue hue range. Hence one may find an 'almost violet' flower which is indexed here in the blue flowers section. While usually flowers with such controversial colours are placed in both indices, it is safer to check both corresponding colour indexes.


• Some species produce flowers in different intensities of the same colour, or else the intensity of the colour is subjective. For example is a flower purple or pink (eg: Silene colorata), yellow or cream (eg: Iris pseudopumila), blue or lilac (eg: Cichorium intybus). As mentioned above, if in doubt both colour sections should be checked. More problematic is to distinguish between lilac and pink!


• Some species produce flowers in different colour forms. This is very true for ornamental plants, but fortunately wild plant suffer much less from this problem. Such an example is Anagallis arvensis which can be found with blue, orange(scarlet), or pink flowers. For such species, the colour index here tries to include all colour forms, but this might not be fully updated, and in such case the most common colour for the species is given in the index.


• Several species suffer from albinism, that is an abnormal condition were the plant fails to produce flower pigmentation and as a result its flowers are abnormally white. The indexes does not include albinos and specimens should be searced in the normal flower colour of the corresponding species.


• Some trees, grasses, sedges, rushes aquatic and most wind-pollinated plants tend to have inconspicuous, uncoloured florets. These can be found under green flowers or in a category purposely created for such plants called 'inconspicuous flowers'. Some rushes might be listed as brown flowering plants.


• Some species produces flowers with two or more different colours in the same flower. Such species are not always given in both colour indexes and as a general guide, the most abundant colour of the flower should be considered. For example the flower of Bellis sylvestris, has a yellow central disk, encircled by large, white ray-petals, which are often tinged or flushed purple at the edge or underside. In such example, the species is listed in the white colour index, because white is the main colour of the flower. On the same lines, certain flowers have complex patterns namely Orchids (in particular Genus Ophrys) and Irises. Again, the most dominat or general colour of the flower should be the one to be searched for in these colour indices. For example Ophrys lutea s.l. has yellow lip, subfused with brown and followed by a blusih-grey speculum at the centre. Yellow is the most prominent colour so it is indexed in the yellow colour index. Usually, but not a general rule, such flowers are also indexed in the second colour to avoid confusuon.


• Many blue-flowering species of the Borage family (eg: Echium psp.) have young flowers in the pink/purple hue which gradually develops to Blue in the mature flower. In such species, the mature flower is considered to have the right colour form.


• Finally, some plants like Anagallis arvensis can be found with scarlet-orange, blue or pink flowers. The most common form in the wild is blue, so one should check in the blue section. Although not a general rule, such species are they are placed under the two or three corresponding colour indices.


• Due these complexities in flower colour, the author of this website is aware that there are some mistakes or missing species in these indices. You are kindly asked to draw attention by emailing on info@maltawildplants.com to perform such corrections.