Posted on: Friday October 10, 2025
Manitoba has over 1,700 species of wildflowers, ferns, shrubs and trees. But identifying them is not easy.
The original Flora of Manitoba book, published in 1957, is missing more than 300 species known to grow here, including 13 ferns and 10 orchids. For the last two decades, staff at the Manitoba Museum, along with a team of volunteer botanists, have been working on an updated edition of Manitoba Flora to replace the old one.
This team spent years conducting field surveys to search for new species and relocate rare plant populations. Close examination of the Museum’s preserved specimens was also conducted to verify and update the plants’ names. The new publication will contain all the ‘missing’ species, making it easier for scientists to track the rarity of the provinces’ plants.
Volume 1 of the Manitoba Flora will cover 614 species of spore-producing plants (i.e. clubmosses, ferns, horsetails, quillworts, and spikemosses), conifers, and flowering monocots (i.e. orchids, irises, lilies, grasses, etc.). Volume 2, available in a few years, will cover the dicots (e.g. broad-leaved trees, asters, roses, etc.).
The beautiful prairie lily (Lilium philadelphicum) is one of the species described in the new book. © Manitoba Museum
The book contains all the cone-bearing trees in the province, including Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana). © Manitoba Museum
In addition to detailed descriptions of the plants, the book will also contain:
- A foreward by elder Mukaday Animikii/Black Thunderbird/Shirli Ewanchuk on Indigenous worldviews and relationships with the plant world;
- A history of scientific and common plant names;
- An illustrated guide to vascular plant terminology;
- Hundreds of species illustrations;
- Indigenous names of culturally important plants integrated throughout the book;
- Species’ rarity, ecological zones, habitats, and flowering periods; and
- An extensive glossary of botanical terms.
It is the Manitoba Museum’s hope that this new publication will make it easier for students, professional botanists, landowners, ranchers, foresters, gardeners and native plant enthusiasts to identify the plants of the province.
You can pre-order your copy of Volume 1 of the Manitoba Flora, available this fall, by visiting the online Museum Shop at ManitobaMuseumShop.ca!
