The internet is full of wonderful resources that keep getting better and better. This is a few links to some sites I can't do without- such as the USDA Plants database and other places of worthwile interest.

Central Washington

Databases of Species

  • PLANTS Database

    USDA and National Resources Conservation Service database on all agricultural, native, and exotic plants in the US. As well as providing maps of the distribution of plant species by state, it now includes county distribution maps for Washington State and other states.

  • Herbarium at the Burke Museum (WTU)

    Explore the University of Washington's herbarium specimen database by county or the fantastic WTU Image Collection.

  • Washington Natural Heritage Program

    Information about Washington's rare and endangered species.

  • New York Botanical Garden Vascular Plant Catalog

    A catalog of over 89,000 vascular plant types (including many from this area). Includes scanned images of specimens.

  • Western Wetland Flora

    Species list and key for 300 wetland plants, and an illustrated glossary of floral terms.

Photographs

Online Floras and Keys
  • E-Flora BC

    Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia. A great resource for those north and south of the BC border. Includes 13,500 photos of plants, mosses and lichens.

  • Flora of North America

    Online keys and species descriptions, partially completed at this time with a few volumes published and also available on the web.

  • Manual of Grasses for North America North of Mexico

    Intermountain Herbarium- Utah State University.

  • Grasses of the Columbia Basin of British Columbia

    A Royal British Columbia Museum project which includes many grasses found in Central Washington with full page descriptions and illustrations.

  • Common Trees of the Pacific Northwest

    Oregon State University. Includes an easy dichotomous key for identifying trees in the Pacific Northwest.

  • Trees of Washington

    WSU 44 page book in that can be printed in PDF. Keys to native conifers and broadleaf trees of Washington. Individual profiles of 32 native trees provide sketches of range, leaf and tree shape, fruit and bark characteristics.

General Botany
  • Taxonomy of Flowering Plants

    A resource for learning plant structures and terms useful in plant identification and learning plant families. Detailed descriptions of major plant families.

  • Dave's Garden

    All kinds of information about growing plants... "PlantFiles is largest plant database in the world, built by 39,196 gardeners working together from around the world. The database has 179,855 entries, 259,802 images and 104,965 comments. Currently entries are from 402 families, 4,931 genera, 41,158 species, and 111,587 cultivars" and a variety of other things such as trading seeds with other members, chat with other gardeners and botanists, and get help identifying plants and pests.

  • Scott's Botanical Links

    An extensive list of botanical links- not updated since 2006- but still a good resource for botany sites.

  • Agricola

    National Agricultural Library's database for agricultural related publications.

  • Virtual Paleobotany Lab

    The evolution of plants through geological time. This course traces the history of green plants covering the origin of photosynthesis in the Proterozoic, the colonization of the land, the evolution of seeds, the origin of flowers, and the extinctions and diversification that generated the modern flora.

Ethnobotany

Growing Native Plants

Organizations and Societies
  • The Nature Conservancy of Washington

    An organization that strives to protect a diversity of ecosystems worldwide. The Nature Conservancy has several preserves in Central Washington: Beezley Hills near Quincy, Moses Coulee near Palisades and the Yakima River Canyon.

  • Washington Native Plant Society

    Native plant societies are a good place to meet other botanically minded folks, go for wildflower walks, and learn a lot about native plants. This is the Washington State one. Almost every state in US has one and there are also societies around the world.

  • The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust

    A great local organization actively involved in conservation and stewardship of land and resources in Central Washington.

  • Cascadia Conservation District

    A non-regulatory political subdivision of the State of Washington whose mission is to encourage wise stewardship and conservation of all natural resources for current and future residents of Chelan County. Has a native plant sale in March and April in Wenatchee.

  • The Student Conservation Association Inc.

    The SCA provides conservation and natural resource internships in parnership with other organizations and agencies to students, graduates, and others who are interested in these fields.

Botanical Shopping
  • Herbarium Supply

    The place to find plant presses, herbarium paper, hand lenses, etc...

  • Powells Books

    Self-proclaimed as the largest bookstore in the world, Powells carries both new and used books, and is a great source with good prices on used books and rare books. It is located in Portland Oregon.

  • Dave's Garden Community Trading

    The website of Dave's Garden has tons of information as well as this trading forum for plant seeds. A great place to find the seeds you want for free, including some natives and many unusual and heirloom garden plant varieties.

  • Derby Canyon Natives

    A nursery with a good selection of native plants, and located in the heart of Central Washington in Peshastin. Currently there is no shipping, but the nursery is open to the public Fridays and Saturdays, April through June, and again in October.

  • Plants of the Wild

    A nursery located in Tekoha, Washington specializing in native plants which does ship plants.

  • Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

    A seed company specializing in heirloom and rare seeds, many organic, and all non-GMO. Why grow just a tomato when you could grow a Paul Robeson or Pink Accordion tomatoes?