Plants in Motion
Watch a tiger lily bloom, see the circadian responses of a bean leaf, or watch a venus flytrap in action at this site from Indiana University that uses time-lapse photography to show plant growth, development, and movement. You'll also find sections on plant art and plants in movies and tips on making time-lapse movies!
Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No
NatureServe Explorer
This site from NatureServe has information on more than 70,000 plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United States and Canada. A companion site, InfoNatura, has information about species in Latin America. You can search by name, taxonomy, location, or conservation status. For some species you'll find detailed information, including images.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes
Encyclopedia of Life
This site is an effort to become an online reference source and database for every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on the planet. You'll find species profiles, data, distribution maps and more.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes
The Tree of Life
This collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history. A special section of the site, Treehouses, is designed for younger students.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes
The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center
Search the Wildflower Center's Native Plant Information Network for North American native plant info by plant traits or names, or browse through its collection of 23,000 native plant images. You'll also find a botanical glossary, how to articles and conservation tips.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes
Planting Science
Planting Science brings together students, plant scientists, and teachers from across the nation as they engage in hands-on plant investigations, working with peers and scientist mentors to build collaborations and to improve their understanding of science. The programs is free and open to middle school, high school and college students. Project typically take 2-3 weeks for students to complete. An additional week is needed for classroom prep and set-up activities. You can look at past projects on the site.
Intended Audience: Students/Teachers Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No
Kids Gardening
This site from the National Gardening Association has loads of information and ideas about gardening with kids in school and at home!
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Botany
Learn more about the research the department is doing and search an online photo and illustration collection for images of plants from around the world.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes
Botany Society of America
Get the latest news from the plant world, learn about careers in botany, check out a plant database, get classroom plant talking points, and loads more!
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes
USDA Plant Database
This site has over 40,000 images of plants. You can look up plants by common name or scientific name. For most of the plants you will get a Plant Profile with all synonyms, a distribution map, and image and web links, if available. You can get a list of plants for your state (be patient, there are over 10,000 species for New Hampshire!), learn about endangered plants, download data and posters, and lots more!
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes
University of Illinois Extension
Travel with Pierre on a narrated tour and learn about trees, learn about plants in the Great Plant Escape, find out where your food comes from, take a walk in the woods and learn about the plants and animals that live there, and lots more at this site for kids that features interactive learning modules that are available in English and Spanish.
Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No
Botany
This site from the National Biological Information Infrastructure has links to hundreds of botany resources.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/high School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No
Seeds of Change Garden
Learn about diversity and history by looking at the evolution of agriculture and cuisine throughout the world at this site from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Check out gardening activities, recipes, and the history of agriculture. Teachers will find the learning section with activities that promote diversity helpful.
Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary/Middle Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: No
Secrets of Plant Genomes
This 24-minute online video from the National Science Foundation and Twin Cities Public Television looks at how these plants got to be the way they are and investigates how we can make better use of them in the future. It can be used with middle and high school students and can be downloaded.
Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: N/A Teacher Section: No Searchable: No
Celebrating Wildflowers
Learn more about the role native wildflowers play in the environment at this site from the National Forest Service. The site features information about rare plants, pollinators, invasive species, native gardening, and more. A special section for kids includes activities and coloring pages.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: Yes Searchable: Yes
Botanical Society of America Online Image Collection
You'll find hundreds of botanical images at this site organized by topics including plant anatomy, carnivorous plants, cellular communication channels, pollen, paleobotany, phloem development, and plant geography.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No
Kids' Valley Garden
This site for kids from Copper Tree Health Consulting includes tips on growing flowers, vegetables, herbs, and shrubs. It includes a gardening glossary and links to other resources.
Intended Audience: Students Reading Level: Elementary Teacher Section: No Searchable: No
Botany Photo of the Day
Check out these daily images of plants from the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: No
