Resources for Identifying Plants around Bergamo

From left to right: Front and back covers of Erbe di città, front and back covers of Fiori di montagna delle Alpi Sud Occidentali and sample page.

Here are some of the resources we use to identify plants we see on our hikes and walks around Bergamo. The items marked with an asterisk (*) are the ones we tend to use the most. For a look at the flowers we cataloged over the years - and that might help you identify a plant quickly - see our Pinterest page: Bergamasque Prealps Flowers and Plants.

• Web sites
  • * Checklist flora per regione for Lombardia allows you to navigate families and genera. It is a comprehensive site.
  • Acta Plantarum has ways to search for plants by family, free text, region, and much more. It's a farily complete site regarding photos which can be critical to helping identify plants. They also have a interesting photo gallery of galls.
  • FAB - Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca includes a beautiful guide to beautiful flowers around Albino, close to Bergamo.
  • www.fioribrembani.it is useful for searching for color and petals.
  • Flora Alpi Orobie contains just a few of the beloved flowers of the Orobie.
  • Fiori di montagna Alpi Orobie contains a table of flower thumbnail pictures that are useful if you don't know where to start.
  • I fiori della Val di Scalve is a  list of flowers that's useful if you know what you are looking for.
  • Monte Bastia e del Roccolo contains a description of the plants and trees of the Monte Bastia area. There are no pictures, but contains a good overview (in Italian) of the type of landscapes you'll find around Bergamo.
  • Dryades Projects project. The search engine requires you know either part of the scientific or common name. You can search over all regions or over one region. Once you have found a match, the images are good.
  • This Parco delle Orobie Bergamasche site is sparse pickings, but does have a list of some rare or endemic species that could be useful for tricky identifications.
  • sentieridimontagna.it has a list of common plants searchable by family or genus.
  • Il Club Aquile Rampanti has a good list of plants for all of Italy that is searchable by color.
• General Books
  • Erbe spontanee commestibili by Luciano and Gatti. 
  • Identification brochures created by the Rete orti botanici lombardia, called Piante degli incolti and Piante del sottobosco.
  • Fiori di montagna delle Alpi Sud Occidentali by Iolanda Armand Ugon and Giovanni Manavella. Even though this is a book for the Western Alps, many plants are found in there as well as the Bergamasque Prealps.
  • Flora alpina e dell'Appennino. Again, wrong mountain range, but still a useful resource.
  • Erbe di città: Erbe spontanee su marciapiedi, muri, bordi strade nelle Città by Giovanni Appendino, Ricordo Luciano, Renzo Salvo. I was delighted to find this book because it is dedicated to plants in the city, especially on city walls. 
• Specialized Books for Bergamo and surrounding areas
• Fiori delle Orobie, 1 - Collina e bassa montagna by Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca (FAB).
• Fiori delle Orobie, 2 - Gli alberi by Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca (FAB).
• Fiori delle Orobie, 3 - Media e alta montagna by Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca (FAB).
• 30 Luoghi verdi del cuore by Gruppo Alpina Bergamasca (FAB). A book focused on hikes, but has lot of labeled pictures of plants.
• La flora della Val Sanguigno by Parco delle Orobie Bergamasche and Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca (FAB).
• Sanguisorba dodecandra - Fiore esclusivo delle Orobie by Renato Ferlinghetti. While this book deals primary S. dodecandra - it's discovery and habit - there are lot of other plant mentions and background information. We found this little opusculo (pamphlet) in the Ostello of Rifugio Curò. S. dodecandra is relatively easy to observe hiking, for example, the Sentiero delle Orobie. The common name for this plant is salvastrella.
• Campanula elatinoides - Una goccia di mare sulle Prealpi Bergamasche by Renato Ferlinghetti. Another little opusculo (pamphlet) we found in the Ostello of Rifugio Curò.

Fiori delle Orobie series. 1. Collina e bassa montagna. 2. Gli alberi. 3. Media e alta montagna.

• Apps (available for the country/region "United States")
  • * Wild-flowers App is for flower identification in France and Western Europe. The app has a wizard that lets you search by color, shape, type of inflorescence, leaf margin, or arrangement of leaves to produce a list of matches. You can search also by family or genera. Overall, this is a well-designed app.
  • Washington Wildflowers App.  Woah!? Yes, this app is for Washington State in the USA, but it still a great way to get "close" to the right family and genus when you have a flower you never seen before. Like the Wild-flowers App,  a wizard allows you to select different characteristics of the flower and shows you a list of matches.
  • Two other apps focused on European flowers that I tried are Wildflowers of Europe and Asia - eFlowersEA and Flora Europe. The former is only useful if you know what are looking for. The latter has a wizard, but you are immediately forced to use the wizard which limits the ability to explore different families, genera or species of plants like Wild-flowers App does. 
  • Una guida per organizzare una caccia al tesoro. This app focuses on common trees and shrubs found in Italy. You can just view the list of species and browse, search for a name, or try the identification key. There are nice descriptions written in Italian for each entry, so it makes good practice reading

From left to right: Erbe spontanee commestibili by Luciano and Gatti and brochures created by the Rete orti botanici lombardia, called Piante degli incolti and Piante del sottobosco.


The book 30 luoghi verdi del cuore put out by the Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca (FAB). Shown are front and back covers and and example page for plants you might see walking the scalette of Bergamo(example hikes: Scalette of Bergamo and The Scalette di Bergamo - Take 2). This books is full of flower pictures with names.


A small booklet called La flora della Val Sanguigno, which is a small valley north of Bergamo. The booklet does a nice job of detailing plants in this valley (which are sure to be found elsewhere) by habit. Shown are front cover, map of valley, and sample page of low-growing plants of marshy areas.


Sample pages from a pamphlet called Campanula elatinoides - Una goccia di mare sulle Prealpi Bergamasche.


Sample pages from a pamphlet called Sanguisorba dodecandra - Fiore esclusivo delle Orobie. S. dodecandra is commonly called Salvastrella orobica.