Clubmosses	horsetails	true ferns

The ferns consists of three basic groups:
1) the  clubmosses: more or less creeping stems with small dense foliage. The link first leads to the Alpine Clubmoss, from where you can easily find and identify other clubmoss species.
2) the  horsetails: typically plants with a leafless stems or a stems from which spread needle like side branches. Spore forming organs are conically placed on the top of the stems. The link first leads to the Field Horsetail, from where you can easily find and identify other horsetail species.
3) the  true ferns (leafy plants, leaves (fronds) are usually divided in leaflets. Stems very short usually not visible. The spore forming organs are normally on the bottom side of the leaves. The link first leads to the Brittle Bladder-fern, from where you can easily find and identify other fern species.

Juniper	Birch trees	Dwarf Birch	Rowan tree

 Birches, rowan, willows and Juniper

Dwarf Willow	Wooly Willow	Bluish Willow	Tea-leaved Willow

Four  willow species are common on Iceland. Three are bushes but these sometimes tend to stay low where conditions are unfavorable (open country prone to storms). The link starts with the smallest almost herb like species: Salix herbaceae, dwarf willow

Bearberry	northern (bog) bilberry	Trailing azalea	Crowberry

Thumbnails above link to descriptions of some but not all heather species on this site. They serve as examples. The full list is presented together with the descriptions

Most  Heather species on Iceland are dwarf shrubs but there are a few herb-like species as well. The corolla's of the flowers are more or less tubular. The link starts with cassiope - a white flowered small herb-like plant.

Mountain sorrel	northern dock	Iceland-purslane	alpine bistort

  Dock family (Polygonaceae): Rather small reddish or white flowers clustered in dense inflorescenses. The link leads first to the mountain sorrel from where you can easily identify other dock/sorrel species and the orache species of the goosefoot family.

Oraches	Purslanes

  Goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae): On Iceland there is just one common species. It is a coastal plant often growing on sandy beach soils over flood deposits. Small inconspicuous green or reddish flowers grouped together.
  Purslane family (Portulacaceae): Also one common species on Iceland: Montia fontana (Blinks). Note there is also a plant called Iceland-purslane. Contrary to the suggestion of the name this is not a member of the purslane family but it belongs to the dock family (see above)

Marsh Saxifrage Saxifragaceae	mountain avens Rosaceae	Common Lady's-mantle Rosaceae	Pigmy buttercup Ranunculaceae	Biting Stonecrop Crassulaceae

 Saxifrage family (Saxifragaceae): Starry flowers usually (creamy-)white but two species are yellow and one purple. The calyx is often fused at the bottom. The link starts off with a very common species: tufted saxifrage (Saxifraga caespitosa). From the listing appearing on the left you can easily find and identify other saxifraga's
 Rose family (Rosaceae). It is very difficult - if not impossible - to name a single feature for identifying a plant as a member of the rose family. Common species on Iceland are lady's-mantle's, Cinquefoils and Mountain&Water Avens. The link starts with the mountain avens from where you can find the other members of the rose family on Iceland. In order to simplify matters I placed the Lady's-mantles in a sperate list. This link lead to the Lady's-mantles (Alchemilla sp.)
 Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and Poppy family (Papaveraceae). Buttercups on Iceland are usually yellow-flowered or white (be aware of cinquefoils of the Rose family with superficially similar flowers). A common but rather strange little plant is the alpine meadow-rue which has one row of small purple flower leaves. The link start with the alpine meadow-rue from where one can easily find and identify other buttercups. The poppy family is also included in this list. The common poppy on Iceland is the  Arctic Poppy (Papaver radicatum)
 Stonecrop family (Crassulaceae). Typically the members of this family have fleshy leaves. It includes three stonecrops (Sedum) species and the rose root (Rhodiola rosea). The link starts with the rose root from where you can find the other stonecops.

Within the group of families with free petals the pink and mustard family are quite distant groups. Pink family-members for example always have opposite leaf-pairs, members of the mustard family never. Also the fruits are very different: the pink family members have box-like capsules that open on the top Mustard family have silicles usually opening from the bottom/side. The reason I grouped them here together is that they both have a lot of family-members with rather small white flowers. However, both have species with other flower colors.

Examples of mustard family species:

Lady Smock	Hawkweed-leaved Treaclemustard	Alpine Rock-cress	Northern Rock-cress	Snow Whitlowgrass

The mustard family has many representatives on Iceland. In order to simplify matters I have chosen to subdivide them in non-white flowered species and white flowered species.

 Mustard family (Cruciferae) 1: non-white flowering species: The link opens with the Lady Smock from where you can cruise to other mustard family-members.

 Mustard family (Cruciferae) 2: white flowering species: The link opens with the Alpine Rock-cress from where you can cruise to other mustard family-members with white flowers.

The Pink family is a very well represented family in the flora of Iceland. Because the number of species is quite large, I have split the group in four series.
The first series consists the "Stellaria" genus - known in English as the chickweeds and stitchworts.
The second group is that of the Cerastium and Arenaria species(Mouse-ear species and Sandworts)
The third series group the Sagina species (Pearlwort species)
Finally the last group contain Lychnis (catchfly's) Silene (campion's ) and Honckenya (sandworts) species

The first series presents the Chickweeds and Stitchwort group

Common Chickweed	Fleshy Stitchwort

The second series refer to the Cerastium and Arenaria species (Mouse-ear and Sandworts):
Note there are more species described than those pictured below. Just klick on any species to open the full list

Alpine Mouse-ear	Common Mouse-ear	Arctic Sandwort

The third series refer to the Sagina species (Pearlwort species):
Note there are more species described than those pictured below. Just klick on any species to open the full list

Knotted Pearlwort	Procumbent Pearlwort	Alpine Pearlwort	Heath Pearlwort

The fourth series refer to the Lychnis (catchfly), Silene (campions) and Honckenya (Sea sandwort) species:
Note there are more species described than those pictured below. Just klick on any species to open the full list

Alpine-catchfly	Moss Campion	Sea Campion	Sea Sandwort

Wild Pansy	Alpine Marsh Violet introducing all viola's	Northern Marsh Violet	Heath Dog Violet

On Iceland four violet species are common. On the page of the Alpine Marsh Violet (V. palustris) the differences between the species are described. The link to this species is here.

Wood Crane's-bill	Mare's-tail	Dwarf Cornel	Sea Plantain	Chickweed Wintergreen

In this section we wrap up the remaining species with flowers having free petals. Most species here are only distantly related. This link starts with the Wood Crane's-Bill

Alpine Gentian Gentiana nivalis	Slender Gentian Gentianella tenella	Field gentian Gentianella campestris	Northern Gentian Gentianella aurea	Autumn Gentian Gentianella amarella

Gentians (family: Gentianaceae) are typically summer-flowering plants. The thumbnails above are a some of the Icelandic Gentians. There are more though which you can find from the list that goes with each individual page of any Gentian species. The following link starts with the Arctic fellwort (Lomatogonium rotatum)

The thumbnails below link to Speedwell (Veronica) species of Iceland
Rock Speedwell Veronica fructans	Alpine Speedwell Veronica alpina	Heath Speedwell Veronica officinalis	Marsh Speedwell Veronica scutellata	Thyme-leaved Speedwell Veronica serpyllifolia

Speedwells belong to the Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae). Unlike other members of this family on Iceland, the speedwells have flowers with equally spreading petals around the flower-base. Other Figwort family-members have flowers which have a left-right symmetry. Very characteristic for this genus are the heart-shaped fruits.

The thumbnails below are examples of figwort species on Iceland other than speedwells
Alpine Bartsia Bartsia alpina	Cold Eyebright Euphrasia frigida	Upright Lousewort Pedicularis flammea	Yellow-rattle Rhinanthus minor

These figwort species are semi-parasites: they tap their own root system into the roots of other plants in order to acquire (steal) nutrients from these other plants (often grasses). Unlike the more or less stars-shaped flowers of the speedwells these have flowers with a left/right symmetry.

The thumbnails below link to mint species of Iceland
Wild Thyme Thymus praecox	Selfheal Prunella vulgaris

The number of mint species growing in the wild on Iceland is small. That is of coarse because generally members of the mint family are warmth loving species. Having said this though it should be noted that the arctic thyme (a subspecies of the wild thyme) is very common all over Iceland where plant-growth conditions are not extremely tough.

The thumbnails below link to daisy (Compositae) species with yellow flowers (or at least with a yellow heart). The thumbnails shown are examples. There are more in the list. Just follow any lead.
Sea Mayweed Tripleurospermum maritimum Also known as Matricaria maritima	Pineappleweed Matricaria discoidea	Alpine Hawkweed Hieracium alpinum	Autumn Hawkbit Leontodon autumnalis	Colt's-Foot Tussilago farfara

The daisy family (Compositae) is a very large family. Characteristic for this family is that (very) many single flowers are grouped together in a flower head which in turn resembles a single flower. This is accentuated by the fact that often the outer ring of the flowers on the head have one long petiole. The ring of these petioles of single flowers on the rim of the head make the head appear to be just one flower (think of the sunflower). This is not always the case (see for example the pineappleweed). The first lead here leads to the all to common dandelion.

The thumbnails below link to daisy (Compositae) species with flower colors other than yellow.
Yarrow Achillea millefolium	Alpine Fleabane Erigeron borealis	Dwarf Fleabane Erigeron uniflorus	Dwarf Cudweed Omalotheca supina	Perennial Cornflower Centaurea montana

Apart from yellow daisies the family of the compositae have many members with very different colors. Opening a page of any of the species from the thumbnails above also shows a list of other non-yellow flowering daisies. The link here starts with the Alpine Fleabane (Erigeron borale). A common roadside plant is the Yarrow.

Wintergreens & bedstraws:

Common Wintergreen Pyrola minor	Serrated Wintergreen Orthilia secunda	Northern bedstraw Galium boreale	Slender bedstraw Galium normanii	Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum

There are three more or less common wintergreen species. Alas I still miss the more rare Pyrola grandiflora (Arctic wintergreeen). The link here starts with the common wintergreen (P. minor).
Bedstraws are common on Iceland too. The link here start with the Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale)

Follows the remaining herbs with fused petals

Thrift Armeria maritima	Common Butterwort Pinguicula vulgaris	Oyster plant Mertensia maritima	Field Forget-me-not Myosotis arvensis	Harebell Campanula rotundifolia

This wrap-up combines rather unrelated species having fused petals. Some however, are very common on Iceland, like Thrift (Armeria maritima)and the insectivorous Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris).

Lily family and closely related to the lily family members.

Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia	Scottish asphodel Tofieldia pusilla

The number of species belonging to the Lily family or any closely related family growing in the wild on Iceland is very limited. Very common though is the Scottish asphodel (Tofieldia pusilla). The Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia) is much more rare. It can be found in lava crevasses.

Rushes
Due to their leaf-forms, rushes appear at first glance to be something like grasses or sedges. Close inspection on flowers show they have - be it small - neat 6 floral leaves like lily flowers - very different to the complex spike(lets) inflorescences of sedges and grasses.

First: the Luzula rushes (known as Wood-rushes)
These rushes have grass blade-like leaves

Heath Wood-rush Luzula multiflora	Sudetan Wood-rush Luzula sudetica	Spiked Wood-rush Luzula spicata	Curved Wood-rush Luzula arcuata

Second: the Juncus rushes (three examples, just link to any get the full list) The Juncus rushes have hollow-pointed leaves (more or less like chives)

Jointed Rush Juncus articulatus	Iceland Rush Juncus arcticus ssp. intermedius	Alpine Rush Juncus alpinoarticulatus

Orchids:
Although the number of common species is relatively low, orchids are common throughout the better vegetated regions of Iceland. The sample below show the most common species but there are more in the orchids list (just open any species and this list will appear).

Frog Orchid Coeloglossum viride	Heath Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza maculata ssp. intermedius	Northern Green Orchid Platanthera hyperborea	Small-white orchid Pseudorchis albida	Coralroot orchid Corallorhiza trifida

There are many sedges and grass species on Iceland. Below are a few examples but you can find many more by following any lead in the lists presented there.

First some examples of sedges. Because there are many sedge species growing on Iceland I have split them in two groups: non-Carex species and Carex species. The first have bisexually flowers and miss the utricle fruit shape. Carex species have unisexual flowers, grouped in male and female inflorescences (usually called spikes like in grasses, but one must realize that the flower-structures of grasses and sedges differ completely) or the male/female flowers are placed in a different areas (bottom/top) of the spikelet.

First some examples of non-Carex species: Just select one two open all included non-Carex sedge species on this web site at the time

Scheuchzer's cottongrass Eriophorum scheuchzeri	Common Spike-rush Eleocharis palustris

Here are some sedge examples. Just select one two open all included Carex sedge species on this web site at the time

Common Sedge Carex nigra	Stiff Sedge Carex bigelowii	White Sedge Carex curta	Lyngbye's Sedge Carex lyngbyei

Second, some examples of grass species. Just like sedges there are so many species that I have split them in two groups for conveniance. The basic element of grass flowers is the spikelet. They can be either arranged in spikes or panicles. Having said this though, some grass inflorescences are technically panicles but resembles spikes. So I have grouped the latter two in one group. The second group is made up of panicles which are either plume formed or where the spikelets are well spaced apart. Its all a bit technical bur below you can see the different appearancen..
The first grass collection is that of spikes or spike-like panicles

Lyme grass Leymus arenarius	Timothy Phleum pratense	Alpine Cat's-tail Phleum alpinum	Sweet Vernal-grass Anthoxanthum odoratum

Next are some examples of grasses with plume shaped panicles or panicles where the spikelets are well spaced apart.

Holy-grass Hierochloë odorata	Creeping Bent Agrostis stolonifera	Alpine Meadow-grass Poa alpina	Waivy Hair-gras Deschampsia flexuosa

The thumbnails below link to some water plants of Iceland. This section of the flora of Iceland is all but complete. Watch for updates in 2012 and 2013

Alternate Water-milfoil Myriophyllum alterniflorum	Red Pondweed Potamogeton alpinus	Bur-reeds Sparganium sp

Water plants can be from very different taxonomic groups.