Flower Identification

A Brief Guide on How to Identify a Flower by Photo with Botan

With Botan, flower identification is now simple. It’s a two-tap process for you — the system handles the rest. Here’s how it works in practice:

1. Open the Botan flower scanner and take a photo. 
2. The system matches it with 30,000+ plants in the database. 
3. AI double-checks the results across multiple plant features. 
4. You learn the plant’s common and scientific names. 
5. You get science-backed care tips and cultural insights. 
6. You can identify disease symptoms and get a treatment guide. 

If results are unclear, you can use the Retry feature or contact our botanist via chat for expert advice. 

Some Features to Note for Identification

What flower is this? To find the answer, focus on specific parts and characteristics of the plant. The key ones are the number of petals, petal shape, stem, leaves, and color. 

Here are some examples of how the plant’s signature features can help with recognition: 

Number of Petals

If you want to know how to identify flowers, start with the basics —  the number of visible petals. That’s the quickest way to narrow down a type: 

• 3 petals — often look a bit asymmetrical, like in the typical orchid. Also common in dayflowers. 
• 4 petals — symmetrical four petals, often arranged like a cross. Common for the mustard family and sometimes in the evening primrose family. 
• 5 petals — the most typical and familiar pattern. Common in multiple families, such as the pink family, geraniums, and buttercups. 
• 6 petals — often arranged as two layers of three petals, so the entire flower looks heart-shaped or radial. Common for lilies, daffodils, and irises. 
• 10 petals — looks like a more “crowded” 5-petal flower (2 layers of 5 petals). Can appear in cultivated species, such as roses. 

If you see numerous thin “petals” that are hard or nearly impossible to count, these can be composite flowers like daisies, sunflowers, or asters. Many real petals are common in species like anemones.

Petal Shapes

Shape is the second most important feature for species ID. The common types include: 

• Star-shaped — a very common, flat, open flower with petals spreading from the center. (e.g., wild rose, jasmine, phlox).
• Bowl / cup-shaped — looks like a curved cup, but not very deep (e.g., tulip, anemone). 
• Tubular — looks like a long, narrow tube with petals fused together (e.g., trumpet vine, honeysuckle, foxglove). 
• Funnel-shaped — also a tube, but widening gradually towards the top of the flower (e.g., morning glory, petunia, bindweed). 
• Bell-shaped — looks like a wide, rounded, hanging bell (e.g., bluebell, bellflower). 
• Two-lipped — has two parts: upper lip and larger lower lip (e.g., snapdragon, deadnettle, lavender). 
• Pea-shaped — asymmetric, with 1 large top petal, 2 side petals, and 2 fused bottom petals (e.g., sweet pea, clover).

Though clustered flowers don’t exactly fall into shape categories, it’s worth considering them as well. These are groups of many small flowers forming a single cluster, common in hydrangeas, syringas, and many daisy-like plants.

Stem

Though the stem’s diagnostic value is often underestimated, it can still be useful for identification. Here are some of the most distinctive types to consider: 

• Hollow vs. solid. Solid stems are very common, particularly in sunflowers and daisies. Hollow ones are more typical in many umbellifers and poppies.
• Square vs. round. These stems are present in multiple species, but square ones with 4 flat sides are especially common in the mint family (lavender, sage, oregano). 
• Single vs. branching. Such plants are often bulb plants with a single prominent flower (e.g., tulips, daffodils). Branching structures with multiple side flowers are more common among wildflowers, such as baby’s breath and yarrow. 

Stems can also be hairy or smooth, upright or creeping, but these additional features are more useful for description than for identification.

Leaves

Leaves aren’t the primary thing used to identify flowers. However, they are the hint you might need to finally determine the exact species. Here are the features to pay attention to: 

• The type. A leaf can be simple (one-blade) or compound (consisting of multiple leaflets). Simple ones are common in many plant families, including the pink family (carnations, chickweed, etc.)
• Leaf arrangement. It can be opposite (leaves grow in pairs at the same level), which is quite typical for the mint family. It can also be alternate — one leaf per node, arranged in a zig-zag pattern. Common in many members of the Asteraceae family (such as daisies, sunflowers, and asters).
• Leaf shape. Simple, oval, and broad leaves are frequently found in the rose and daisy families (rose, dandelion). Narrow and long forms are often seen in the lily and tulip family. Deeply cut, lobed leaves are common in the buttercup family, while heart-shaped leaves are typical for the morning glory family and bindweeds. 

Again, limitations exist, and leaf classification is relative, as the same patterns can be seen in different families. Use this feature alongside the petal count, petal shapes, bloom type, and other plant parts. 

Color

Different colors often overlap in different categories. Still, it’s another good filter to narrow the search, especially when you know some pollination patterns. 

For example, flowers with bright, saturated colors (e.g., buttercups, lupine) are often adapted to attract active pollinators like insects and birds. White and more pale plants are often pollinated at night or by generalist insects (e.g., wild roses, calla lily). Purple is a very common color in bee-pollinated plants, such as lavender, sage, mint, asters, and daisies. 

3 Flower ID Mistakes Beginners Often Make

There are a few common mistakes people usually make during the identification stage. Consider the possible pitfalls, so you can easily avoid them: 

1. Relying on one trait only. Often, people focus on just a color or a petal shape. For example, a small, round, yellow flower isn’t always a dandelion. It might be a cat's ear or a sow thistle. In this case, stem structure (branching vs. single) and leaf features (deeply cut vs. hairy vs. spiny) make a real difference. 
2. Not considering the environment. Context matters. For example, a cultivated rose can be more perfect and distinguishable than a wild rose, but they both belong to the same family. Also, flowers look different — larger and softer in wet environments vs. smaller and more compact in dry ones. 
3. Confusing a single flower and an inflorescence. What looks like one big flower can be many smaller flowers. For example, in a sunflower, what look like petals are actually individual small flowers, a common feature of the daisy family. 

So all you need to do is consider these pitfalls and follow the simple order: 

Identify: overall shape → number and type of petals → the type of stem → the structure and texture of leaves. 

5 Reasons to Choose Botan for Flower Identification

With Botan, you can do more than just identify a flower by picture. We offer such standout features: 

1. 98% accuracy due to detailed analysis of petals, leaves, and stems
2. Large database of garden and wild flowers, rare and exotic species
3. Identification in 1-3 seconds without sacrificing the quality 
4. Advanced care advice based on scientific research and studies 
5. Clear tips for beginners, non-obvious recommendations for experts 

With Botan, you always know how to identify a flower from a photo instantly.