There are at least 13,000 identifiable varieties. As farms and buildings take over more land, there are fewer places for wild flowers to grow and some have become very rare. A few are so rare that they must be protected by law, such as the lady's slipper orchid which now grows in only one place in Yorkshire. Every kind of place has its own range of wild flowers. On heathlands, for instance, you may see purple blooms of bell-heather, yellow gorse and scarlet pimpernel.
Woodlands are the home of bluebells, primroses and celandines.
By the sea, sea campion and thrift bloom among the rocks and birdsfoot trefoil flowers in the grass on the cliffs. The lady's slipper orchid is just one of the many kinds of orchids that have become very rare. The Madagascar periwinkle grows in Madagascar and widely throughout the tropics. It makes an ideal houseplant. The slowest flowering plant is the rare Puya raimondii of the Andes.