Types of Flowers: The beauty and diversity of colorful flowers, scents and textures, and intriguing scientific properties can feel like a world beyond our own. However, it is not just the beauty of flowers that captivates us but also the science behind it.
In botany, there are four different types of plants, and one of them is angiosperms (aka flowering plants).
The APG (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) is an international group of systematic botanists dedicated to discovering new angiosperms that reveal new data about plant relationships identified through phylogenetic studies.
Flower Types By Life Cycle
There are three primary kinds of flowers: Annuals, Perennials, and Biennials. In addition, the fourth type of flower behaves in annuals and perennials like a hybrid. Also there are two more kinds of flowers namely shrub flowers and tree flowers.
Let’s explore what each of these means:
Annuals
These flowering plants complete their entire life cycle from seed to flower and back to see within a single growing season. Essentially, roots, stems, leaves, and flowers all die at the end of the year. The seeds stay dormant until the following season. A few annual examples are Marigold, Geranium, Cornflower, and Impatiens.
Perennials
These plants persist for many growing seasons. The root remains the same; however, the top sections of the plant die out in winter and then regrow in the spring. It is observed that many perennial plants tend to keep their leaves year-round. Perennial examples include Coneflower, Columbine, Coreopsis, Daylily, and more.
Biennials
Biennials will take two full years from germination to seed to complete an entire biological life cycle. A rosette of leaves appears near the soil surface during the first year (essentially the primary growth of stems and roots). In the second year, the stem would elongate, and flowers and seed formation would occur before the plant eventually died out.
Sweet William Dwarf, leek, cabbage, parsley, foxglove, and hollyhocks are good examples of Biennials. Some biennial plants in the wild will take longer than two years to mature and complete their cycle fully.
Annual/Perennial Hybrid
Certain flowering plants exhibit annual or perennial characteristics depending upon where it is grown. For instance, the Black-eyed Susan flower would grow faster in Texas due to warm weather – thus, it would behave as annuals. On the other hand, the same Black-eyed Susan in Minnesota would grow slower due to cold weather – thus, it would behave as a biennial.
Flowering Shrubs
The flowering shrubs are small to medium-sized perennial woody plants with woody stems from the ground. There are two kinds of flowering shrubs, namely deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous shrubs (often also called bushes) shed their leaves and floral parts at the end of each growing season in winter or dry seasons (e.g., Hawthorn). The other types of shrubs are called evergreen, where foliage remains green for many seasons (e.g., Ilex/Holly).
Unlike flowering trees, they are shorter in height, usually 6 to 10m. The shrub flowers usually appear in clusters on the stems. Some flowering shrubs are Hydrangea, Azalea, Camellia, Lilac, Forsythia, Quince, and Deutzia.
Flowering Trees
Trees are perennial plants with elongated trunks, supporting branches, leaves, flowers, or fruits. Like flowering shrubs, trees can also be deciduous and evergreen. It has been documented that trees have existed for 370 million years. Flowering trees help to form a backbone for your garden with lovely flowers. Magnolia, Cherry blossom, Eastern redbud, Trumpet trees, Dogwood, Banksia, and Acacia are good examples of flowering trees.
Types of Flowers
Here is a collection of all types of flowers in the plant world.
Types of Flowers By Names
Here is a list of flower names sorted alphabetically.
Flowers That Start with A
There are so many gorgeous flowers in the world it's hard to know where to begin. But here are some of the most popular flowers that start with A.
Flowers Starting with B
Here is a list of flowers that start with B to make things easier for you the next time you head out into your backyard to plant your first flower garden.
Flowers Starting with C
Flowers are a significant part of human life. They're pretty, they decorate our homes, and they make our lives more beautiful. Here is a collection of flowers starting with C.
Flowers Starting with D
The flowering plants that we know today are the result of an evolutionary process spanning 100s of millions of years. Here is a collection of all flowers starting with D.
Flowers Starting with E
In spring, as the snow melts and the trees bud, you can smell flowers blooming from a mile away. You can even see flowers poking their heads out from our neighbors’ gardens. Here is a list of flowers starting with E.
Flowers Starting with F
In a way, flowers have always been the perfect example of the beautiful things in life. False spirea, Farewell-to-Spring, Fig Marigold, Forget-me-not, Four-O-Clock, and Foxglove flowers are some of the gorgeous flowers starting with F.
Flowers Starting with G
Flowers provide us with so much joy. The bright colors, the intoxicating scents - it's no wonder they're one of the most popular gifts for all occasions. Flowers starting with G are Gardenias, Gerberas, Gladioli, Garden Phlox. The list goes on and on!
Flowers Starting with H
There are 100s of different types of flowers in different shapes, sizes, and colors. In addition, different types of popular annual flowers can thrive in the spring and summer to beautify your garden. Here is a selection of flowers starting with H for your next backyard project.
Flowers Starting with I
The joy of gardening is all about adding new flowering species to your garden, as there is always room for one more plant. So to ensure that you keep your garden looking great all year long, spice it up with new flower types - be it colorful perennials or flowering bulbs. Here is the group of flowers starting with the letter I.
Flowers Starting with J
Flowering plants are one of the best ways to spread color, scent, and beauty around your yard for free. Here are some flowering species starting with J that are easy to maintain and are sure to delight!
Flowers Starting with K
Beautiful flowers have captivated the hearts of many, as well as their eyes. Flowers are one of nature’s wonders and are essential for life on Earth. Certain flowers make the world feel more alive, and growing flowers is an excellent hobby for those who want to live more naturally. Here are the flowers starting with K.
Flowers Starting with L
Lotus and lily flowers are the core symbols of worship in Buddhism, representing a symbol of enlightenment as they emerge from the mud. They are used for their beauty, purity, and meditation purposes. Find all flowers starting with L on this page.
Flowers Starting with M
Magnolias are excellent landscaping and attractive ornamentals for any garden. They come in many different varieties, bloom across a wide range of colors and textures, require minimal care, and tolerate a variety of climates. Besides Magnolias, there are many other flowers are starting with M in the floral world.
Flowers Starting with N
Nemesia flowers are known for their strong garden fragrance. Although these flowers are grown commercially in greenhouses, the plants are suitable for outdoor soil or containers. Available in various color styles, they are usually blooming from the end of spring to the end of summer. Many more flowers are starting with N, including Nerine, Nettle & more.
Flowers Starting with O
Growing flowers in your garden are rewarding both for the satisfaction of seeing your hard work create beautiful blooms and for the pleasure of enjoying their beauty up close. Here is an exhibition of flowers beginning with O.
Flowers Starting with P
Turn any garden into fragrant heaven with sweet-scented Persian Candytuft, Phlox, and Polemonium flowers. Explore the world of all sorts of flowers starting with P.
Flowers Starting with Q
A home garden is an abode where you can create a space for relaxation with colorful and fragrant flowers. While it is easy to order many types of flowers like roses, daffodils, and petunias, it is more satisfying to grow them yourself if you put time and effort. Here are flowers starting with Q to express your creativity and get close to nature.
Flowers Starting with R
Roses are the most popular single flower you can grow in your garden. They come in a variety of shapes and colors. Roses will flourish in a sunny spot outdoors and even grow in pots. Check out all flowers starting with R.
Flowers Starting with S
According to the University of Vermont Saffron project, cultivating Saffron Crocus flowers are a good revenue source for farmers to produce the most expensive spice in the world (Saffrons). Besides the Saffron flower, there are many other types of flowers in the plant world, starting with S.
Flowers Starting with T
There are many types of flowers starting with T such as Tassel flower, Tares, Tansy, Throatwort, Tiger lily, and more. Explore all flower names beginning with T and their descriptions here.
Flowers That Start with V
Explore the enchanting world of 'V' flowers: from Venus Flytrap to Vanda Orchid. Uncover their unique beauty, aromas, and ecological significance.
Flowers That Start with W
Dive into the world of 'W' flowers: from Water Lily to Wisteria and more. Discover their beauty, fragrances, and significance in gardens and ecosystems.
Flowering Orders
Here are the 65 different flower orders in the plant world.
Types of Flowers By Regions
Beautiful Japanese Flowers
Japan is a beautiful country with a wide array of beautiful flowers. These Japanese flowers that bloom in different seasons are great attractions to tourists and even locals. Explore the best flowers endemic to Japan.
Top 26 Best Hawaiian Flowers
Explore the top 26 unique Hawaiian flowers exclusive to Hawaii's archipelago. Dive into the world of these beautiful species, their interesting facts, and their significance in Hawaii's ecosystem.
The Ultimate Guide to 25+ Spectacular Desert Flowers & Their Unique Adaptations
Desert Flowers: Approximately 1/3 of the earth's surface is deserts. Despite having prolonged periods without precipitation, severe temperature ranges, dry winds, and low humidity, the beautiful blooms of the desert have learned to survive the harsh environment and continue to bloom and provide colors to the desert.
Blooming Texas: 25 Gorgeous Native Flowers Revealed!
Texas is a large state with its own floristic region, having more than 5,000 species of native flowering plants. Because of its diverse landforms, Texas offers many famous blooms for visitors and residents. Explore the top 25 Texas flowers and their characteristics.
Types of Flowers By Attributes
Top 100 BEST Fragrant Flowers
Most fragrant flowers release their scents via Methyl benzoate and Benzaldehyde. These chemical aromatic volatile compounds give off a sweet odor. Explore the top 100 best-scented flower collections here.
Top Short-lived Flowers
Short-lived flowers are a type of flower that only exists for a limited time. Typically short-lived perennials last a 3 to 5 year period before eventually dying out. However, some flowers live for a day (Daylily, as the name suggests, lives for one day; Morning Glory is another very short-lived flower that lives for a day). Here is a collection of all short-lived flowers.
25 Most Known Exotic Flowers
Exotic plants, when introduced to a foreign place, have the tendency to overgrow and dominate. Listed are the 25 most known exotic flowering plant species.
Types of Flowers By Shapes
The following pages show various flowers by their geometrical shapes.
Bell-Shaped Flowers
The bell-shaped flowers are trendy because they are known for their beauty, colors, and variations. Featuring green, blue, purple, white, pink, and many colors, these bell-resembling flowers are used for many purposes such as decoration, using it in weddings, making wreaths, and lovely gifts.
Cone-Shaped Flowers
Cone-shaped flowers are three-dimensional blooms that narrow evenly from the bottom to the apex of the flower to form a cone-shaped appearance. These conical flowers come in different colors ranging from trees to shrubs.
Star-Shaped Flowers
Star-shaped flowers are bilaterally symmetrical flowers. Being exotic and funky, they can be an excellent addition to any garden. The starry flowers come in many colors, including red, yellow, pink, white, and orange. Here is a collection of all star-shaped flowers.
Thread-Shaped Flowers
Thread-like flowers are a relatively new trend, and they're coming in droves. From thread-like chrysanthemums to thread-like lavender, the variety is endless. Thread-shaped flowers are a fantastic way to add flair to your everyday florals without going overboard with color and design.
Types of Flowers By Species
The following pages showcase various flowers categorized by species.
Types of Lilies
Discover the stunning beauty of different types of lilies. From oriental hybrids to unique lily species, learn about the diverse world of lily varieties.
Top 21 Holly Flowers For Sprucing Up Your Garden!
Discover the enchanting world of Holly flowers with our comprehensive guide. Explore their vibrant beauty today from 21 notable Holly varieties from history to cultivation.
The 25 Most Captivating Narcissus Flowers You Need to Know!
Explore the mesmerizing world of Narcissus Flowers with our detailed guide. Dive into the top 25 daffodil varieties, from the classic Trumpet to the exotic Pheasant's Eye.
Types of Flowers By Colors
Exploring the Top 50 Most Exquisite Purple Flowers in the World
Are you looking for cute purple flowers to plant in your garden, or want to learn them from a botany perspective? Here are the 50+ top pretty purple flowers & names.
43 Blue Flowers Unveiled: Why These Beauties Have Captured Everyone’s Attention?
Discover the hidden secrets of 43 types of blue flowers in our captivating blog post. Explore the rarity of natural blue pigments in flowers and symbolism and meanings of blue flowers.
The Enchanting Beauty of the Top White Flowers
Discover the captivating world of the top 85+ white flowers, from the iconic Lily of the Valley to the lesser-known Snowball Viburnum. Explore their enchanting beauty, rich symbolism, and fascinating scientific facts in this comprehensive guide.
Types of Birth Flowers
Birth flowers, each unique to a specific month, offer a beautiful and symbolic way to celebrate life’s milestones, capturing the essence of each season and the personalities born within it. Explore all birth month flowers below:
Classification of Flowers
According to APG IV (2016) molecular-based flowering plants classification, there are currently two major categories – basal angiosperms and core angiosperms.
Basal Angiosperms
The basal angiosperm is a large group of the most primitive flowering plants in the plant kingdom. These flowering plants have many flattened stamens with broad filaments, diverse tepals, separate carpels, fragrant oils, and spirally organized leaves.
The most basal angiosperms are called the ANITA grade, an acronym of three sub-groups: Amborellales, Nymphaeales, Illiciaceaes, Trimeniaceae, and Austrobaileyales. However, some botanists recently abbreviated it further to ANA-grade since Illiciaceaes and Trimeniaceae orders are considered sub-orders of Austrobaileyales.
Amborellales
The Amborellales order has just one species (Amborella), a shrub or small tree growing up to 8m endemic to New Caledonia. The leaves of Amroerall are evergreen in all seasons without stipules and grow beautiful yellow flowers. Being dioecious produces both male and female flowers for a mixed pollination system. Wind and insect pollinators are two main contributors to the reproduction of this species.
Nymphaeales
The Nymphaeales order consists of 3 subfamilies of aquatic plants, namely Nymphaeaceae (water lilies), Hydatellaceae (aquatic grass/sedges), and Cabombaceae (aquatic herbaceous flowering plants). About 85+ flowering plants have been classified under Nymphaeales.
Austrobaileyales
The Austrobaileyales plant order consists of 100+ woody flowering plants growing as shrubs, small trees, or lianas (woody climbing vines) worldwide. The most famous Austrobaileyales plant is the star anise (Illicium verum).
There are three subfamilies under this order, namely Austrobaileyaceae (1 species only – Austrobaileya scandens – endemic to rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia), Schisandraceae (90+ essential oil-producing shrubs, trees, and lianas), and Trimeniaceae (6+ essential oil-generating lianas).
Core Angiosperms
The core angiosperms are another group of flowering plants known as mesangiosperms. About 99% of all types of flowers worldwide are classified under mesangiosperms.
Mesangiospermae includes five clades, namely Ceratophyllales, Chloranthales, Eudicots, Magnoliidae, and Monocots.
Chloranthales
Chloranthales has only one family called Chloranthaceae. There are 77+ species in these woody fragrant, herbaceous flowering plants, endemic to Asia, Central & South America, and the West Indies. Being void of petals, the flowers of Chloranthaceae are tiny and seated on the inflorescence axis. These plants produce drupes and berries with just one carpel. Cigarbush is an excellent example of this plant order.
Magnoliids
Magnoliids are another core angiosperm characterized by trimerous flowers with branching-veined leaves. About 9000+ flower species are classified in this plant order, including avocado, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, and tulip trees. Magnoliid flowering plants play an essential role in our economy as food, drugs, perfumes, species, timber, and many other applications.
Monocots
It is short for Monocotyledons order. Monocots are grass-like parallel-veined, trimerous, flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf (cotyledon) and pollen with a single pore. There are about 70,000+ flowering species in this plant order. Monocot diversity includes ornamental flowers, including orchids, tulips, lilies, cereal grains, woody tree-like palm trees, bamboo, reeds, bromeliads, bananas, and ginger. Two-thirds of monocots are zoophilous pollinated by insects.
Ceratophyllales
Ceratophyllum includes flowering plants commonly found in ponds, marshes, and streams in tropical regions. These aquatic angiosperms typically grow partially submerged in water and mostly float on the surface. These flowering plants have no roots, but sometimes they develop modified leaves with a rootlike structure, which anchor the plant to the bottom. Examples include hornwort species such as spiny hornworts, rigid hornworts, prickly hornworts, soft hornworts, and coontails. There are about 6 extant species of Ceratophyllum in the world.
Eudicots
These core angiosperms have two seed leaves upon germination, also known as Dicotyledons. The most popular eudicots include sunflower, dandelion, cabbage, apple, maple, macadamia, forget-me-not, petunia, and oaks. Eudicots are the largest flowering order in the world. About 175,000+ flower species of eudicots are currently characterized by 4 or 5 flowers, pollen with three pores, and branching-veined leaves.
Suggested Reading:
Exploring the Top 50 Most Exquisite Purple Flowers in the World
Are you looking for cute purple flowers to plant in your garden, or want to learn them from a botany perspective? Here are the 50+ top pretty purple flowers & names.
25 Most Known Exotic Flowers
Exotic plants, when introduced to a foreign place, have the tendency to overgrow and dominate. Listed are the 25 most known exotic flowering plant species.
43 Blue Flowers Unveiled: Why These Beauties Have Captured Everyone’s Attention?
Discover the hidden secrets of 43 types of blue flowers in our captivating blog post. Explore the rarity of natural blue pigments in flowers and symbolism and meanings of blue flowers.
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BioExplorer.net. (2024, March 18). Types of Flowers. Bio Explorer. https://www.bioexplorer.net/plants/flowers/.
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Key References
- “The earliest angiosperms: evidence from mitochondrial, plastid and nuclear genomes – PubMed”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “American Journal of Botany”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “AMBORELLA TRICHOPODA – the cultivation of the most ancestral angiosperm in botanic gardens”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “American Journal of Botany”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “Update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III | Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society | Oxford Academic”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “Phylogenetic classification of the land plants to accompany APG III | Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society | Oxford Academic”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “Plants of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants – Maarten J. M. Christenhusz, Michael F. Fay, Mark W. Chase – Google Bøker”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
- “Pollen aperture evolution – a crucial factor for eudicot success?: Trends in Plant Science”. Accessed October 09, 2021. Link.
