Calflora is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, located in Berkeley, CA. We are not affiliated with other organizations, and therefore we rely on individual donations to fund our staff, projects, and programs. Every donation helps! Click to make a tax-deductible contribution to Calflora. The whole Calflora community thanks you!

Our database includes over 3.1 million plant observations, covering more than 8,000 plants. How can you explore such a vast library of content?

What Grows Here?

Are you curious about what plants grow in your favorite state park? Are you wondering about an interesting plant you noticed on a hike? What Grows Here? answers these and other related questions.

The Planting Guide

What types of native wild plants will grow in your backyard? To find out, you can use our Planting Guide. Just find your location on the map, check if you’re interested in low water plants, or plants that grow in shade, or riparian plants, and click “Search”. We’ll show you all the plants that fit your criteria. From there you can explore further details about each plant. Your garden will be looking better than ever!

Great Places to view native plants

Calflora includes detailed information on over 150 (and growing!) of the best places in the state to view wild plants. Simply go to the Great Places home page and you’ll find a map of California with a dot for each of these places to explore. We also show in which California Native Plant Society chapter each place resides.

Search for Plants

The classic Calflora interface: search for wild California plants by lifeform, duration, county, etc.

Search for Observations

And if those options don’t provide just what you’re looking for, you can always dive deep on our Observation Search page. Here you can expore fully the rich trove of data that make up Calflora.

We provide a number of different ways in which you can contribute your talents to expanding Calflora.

Record your observations in the field

Using our smartphone apps for Android or iOS, you can record observations of plants that you find out in nature. Then, when you return home, you can upload them to your Calflora account, edit them if you like, and then share them with the community.
 

Upload your existing plant photos

Do you already have great photos of plants from your peregrinations through California? You can upload them to Calflora directly from your browser, then make them available for everyone to see.

Plant Identification

Are you a wizard at figuring out just which plant is which by looking at photos? Can you tell an Eriastrum from an Ericameria? Then you can help your fellow Calflora contributors by identifying some of the plants that they’ve gotten stuck on. Or, if you need help yourself, you can ask for an identification from one of our helpful contributors. You’ll need to join the Plant ID Help group.

Photo Contests

Even if you don’t have photos or observations of your own, you can still help! We run an annual photo contest in the late spring, in which you can vote for your favorite photos from other Calflora contributors. We all love beautiful plant photography!

Calflora is big! We’ve spent over 20 years building and refining our tools to make Calflora the best and most powerful system for exploring California’s wild plants. To navigate this sophisticated system, we provide several sets of learning materials to make your exploration of Calflora as easy as possible.

Help Pages

We have an extensive set of help pages on our site that give you detailed, step by step instructions on how to use the various features of Calflora.

YouTube

We have a YouTube Channel with numerous videos that walk you through using Calflora to find what you’re looking for, or how to contribute.

In-person Training

Did you know that we offer in-person training on Calflora? One- and two-day in-person training sessions are available. Click here to learn more.