Historical background of the Society

The Wild Flower Society is a British registered charity founded in 1886 by Edith Vere Annesley, to teach her youngest sister, Alice, to find and name wild flowers on their afternoon walks. The names of the wild flowers they saw were written in an exercise book, with space for the place and date of finding. These walks became so popular that more and more children and then adults too, joined in. The task of writing out all the plant lists by hand and keeping in touch by letter soon became too laborious. It was then that a magazine and a printed record book of the more common plants was published.

From the respect and awareness of plants in their natural surroundings instilled in these children, the Wild Flower Society was born.

The aims of the Society are:

• to promote a greater knowledge of field botany among the general public and in particular among young people;


• to advance education in matters relating to the conservation of wild flowers and of the countryside;


• to promote the conservation of the British flora.