30 Flowers That Start With S (Names, Bloom Times & Toxicity)

Flowers that start with S include the tallest annual in most gardens and the smallest spice on earth — sunflowers and saffron — along with sweet peas, snapdragons, snowdrops and a goldenrod that gets blamed every year for hay fever it does not cause.

This guide covers 30 flowers beginning with S, with botanical names, plant type, bloom season and what sets each apart. Toxic species are flagged.

Flowers Starting With S: Quick Reference

Garden Favourites

Sunflower

The heliotropism everyone knows applies only to the buds: young sunflowers track the sun across the sky and swing back overnight, driven by uneven stem growth. Once the flower opens, that stops — mature heads settle facing east permanently, which warms them earlier and measurably increases pollinator visits. The seed head is a textbook Fibonacci spiral, the arrangement that packs the most seeds into the space.

Sweet Pea

The rule with sweet peas is simple and absolute: keep picking. They are annuals whose only purpose is to set seed, so the moment pods form the plant stops flowering. Cut every few days and a row will run for two months. Modern long-stemmed varieties were bred for size at the cost of scent, so if fragrance is the point, choose old-fashioned or Spencer types. The seeds are toxic and should never be eaten — they are not garden peas.

Snapdragon

The hinged flower is a pollination filter: it takes real weight to force open, which admits bumblebees and excludes lighter insects that would rob nectar without transferring pollen. Snapdragons flower best in cool weather and often stall in high summer, picking up again in autumn. The dried seed capsules look unnervingly like small skulls.

Salvia

The largest genus in the mint family, with roughly a thousand species covering culinary sage, tender bedding salvias and hardy border perennials. Many have a lever mechanism in the flower: a visiting bee pushes a plate that swings the stamens down onto its back. Nearly all are drought-tolerant and heavily worked by bees and hummingbirds.

Shasta Daisy

A hybrid created by Luther Burbank in the 1890s and named for the snow of Mount Shasta. It is the classic large white garden daisy, and it needs dividing every two or three years — clumps die out in the centre and flowering drops off sharply if left alone.

Scabious

Pincushion flower, named for the domed centre studded with protruding stamens. It is one of the best butterfly plants available, flowering over a very long season if deadheaded, and the seedheads of some species are as ornamental as the flowers.

Sedum

Autumn-flowering stonecrops carry flat plates of pink or russet flowers that are among the last significant nectar sources of the year. Leave the stems standing over winter rather than cutting back — the dried heads hold frost and snow beautifully and shelter overwintering insects.

Sweet William

Dianthus barbatus, a biennial forming dense flat heads of clove-scented flowers in early summer. Like all dianthus it prefers alkaline, sharply drained soil. Sow two years running to get flowers every season, since each plant flowers once and then dies.

Stock

Matthiola has one of the strongest evening scents in the garden — clove and spice, carrying several metres on still air. Night-scented stock is deliberately unremarkable by day and opens after dusk. Both are best planted near a door, path or seating area where the scent is actually encountered.

Spider Flower

Cleome holds airy heads where the long protruding stamens splay outward like legs. It grows tall fast, tolerates heat and drought, and self-seeds freely. Older varieties have spined stems and a pungent smell; newer thornless cultivars have largely fixed both.

Bulbs and Spring Flowers

Snowdrop

Usually the first flower of the year, pushing through frozen ground and often flowering in snow. The leaf tips are hardened to break through frozen soil. Snowdrops are best moved “in the green” — in leaf just after flowering — rather than as dry bulbs, which establish poorly. All parts contain galantamine and lycorine and are toxic if eaten; galantamine is used pharmaceutically, which is not an invitation to self-medicate.

Snowflake

Leucojum is regularly mistaken for a large snowdrop. The distinction is clear once seen: a snowflake has six petals of equal length, each tipped with a green or yellow spot, while a snowdrop has three long outer petals and three short inner ones. Snowflakes are taller and flower later.

Squill

Scilla produces some of the most intense blue in the early garden, naturalising into carpets under trees. It seeds and multiplies rapidly, which is either the appeal or the problem depending on the setting. The bulbs are toxic.

Star of Bethlehem

Ornithogalum umbellatum opens white six-pointed stars in spring, each with a green stripe on the reverse, and the flowers close in dull weather. It naturalises aggressively and is a persistent weed in some regions.

Saffron Crocus

Crocus sativus flowers in autumn, and each bloom yields exactly three crimson stigmas. It takes roughly 150 flowers to produce a single gram of dried saffron and around 150,000 to make a kilogram, all hand-picked — which is the entire explanation for the price. The plant is sterile and propagates only by corm division, so every saffron crocus is a clone.

Shooting Star

Primula meadia sweeps its petals backwards so the flower points downward like a falling star. It is buzz-pollinated: bees grip the flower and vibrate their flight muscles to shake pollen loose, the same mechanism tomatoes rely on. It is a spring ephemeral that dies back entirely by midsummer.

Wildflowers and Useful Plants

Solidago

Goldenrod is blamed for hay fever every autumn and is innocent. Its pollen is heavy and sticky, carried by insects rather than wind, so it rarely reaches anyone’s nose. The actual culprit is ragweed, which flowers at the same time with inconspicuous green flowers and clouds of wind-borne pollen. Goldenrod is meanwhile one of the most valuable late nectar sources for bees preparing to overwinter.

Sneezeweed

Helenium is similarly misnamed. It does not cause sneezing through pollen — the name comes from historical use of the dried leaves as snuff, deliberately inhaled to induce sneezing. The drooping petals and prominent domed centre make it unmistakable in late summer borders.

Soapwort

Saponaria officinalis contains saponins that lather in water, and it was cultivated for centuries as a gentle cleaner — it is still used by textile conservators to wash historic fabrics too fragile for detergent. It spreads by runners and can become invasive. The saponins make it mildly toxic if eaten.

Sea Holly

Eryngium looks like a thistle and is actually in the carrot family. The metallic blue of the bracts and stems is unusual among plants and intensifies in poor, sandy, sun-baked soil. It has a deep taproot, so it resents being moved once established, and it dries exceptionally well.

Skullcap

Scutellaria takes its name from the small helmet-shaped ridge on the calyx, which persists after the flower drops. Species range from tiny alpines to substantial border plants, and several have long histories in traditional herbal medicine.

Safflower

One of humanity’s oldest crops, grown for at least four thousand years — first for the red and yellow dye in its florets, later for the oil in its seeds. Safflower dye was used on ancient Egyptian textiles. The plants are thistle-like and extremely drought-tolerant.

Spiderwort

Tradescantia opens three-petalled flowers that last a single morning, closing by afternoon. Its stamen hairs are a classic teaching specimen — single files of cells visible under a basic microscope — and some varieties change colour when exposed to radiation, which has been used for environmental monitoring.

Scented Geranium

Pelargonium grown for foliage rather than flowers, with leaves that release rose, lemon, mint, apple or nutmeg scent when brushed. The oils are held in glandular hairs and only release on contact, so plant them where people will touch them.

Growing Notes

Poor, dry, sunny soil: sea holly, sedum, safflower, statice, snow-in-summer and salvia all flower harder in thin ground. Cut-and-come-again: sweet pea, scabious, snapdragon and statice — picking is maintenance, not theft. Late-season nectar: sedum, solidago, sneezeweed and scabious carry pollinators into autumn when little else remains. Earliest colour: snowdrop, then squill, then snowflake.

Three dry beautifully with colour intact — statice, strawflower and sea holly — which makes S unusually well supplied for everlasting arrangements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What flowers start with the letter S?

Thirty are covered here, including sunflower, sweet pea, snapdragon, salvia, snowdrop, sedum, scabious, Shasta daisy, sweet William, stock, statice, strawflower, sea holly, spiderwort, spider flower, squill, snowflake, star of Bethlehem, saffron crocus, solidago, sneezeweed, soapwort, skullcap, safflower, scented geranium, shooting star, speedwell, sundrops, snow-in-summer and sweet alyssum.

Do sunflowers really follow the sun?

Only while in bud. Young sunflowers track the sun and reset overnight, driven by uneven growth on opposite sides of the stem. Once the flower opens that stops and the head settles facing east, which warms it earlier in the morning and attracts more pollinators.

Does goldenrod cause hay fever?

No. Goldenrod pollen is heavy and sticky and is carried by insects, not wind. Ragweed flowers at the same time with inconspicuous green flowers and clouds of airborne pollen, and is the real cause. Goldenrod is simply the more visible plant, so it takes the blame.

Why did my sweet peas stop flowering?

Because seed pods formed. Sweet peas are annuals that stop once they have set seed, so the moment you leave pods on the plant it winds down. Pick every two or three days, remove any pods you find, and a row will flower for two months.

What is the difference between a snowdrop and a snowflake?

Petal shape. A snowdrop has three long outer petals and three short inner ones. A snowflake has six petals of equal length, each with a green or yellow spot at the tip. Snowflakes are also taller and flower later.

Are any flowers starting with S poisonous?

Yes. Star of Bethlehem is toxic in all parts, the bulbs especially, and contains cardiac glycosides. Snowdrop and squill bulbs are toxic. Sweet pea seeds are toxic and are not edible peas. Soapwort contains saponins and is mildly toxic if eaten.

Sources

Cardiac glycosides in Ornithogalum and lycorine/galantamine in Galanthus: standard toxicological plant references. Sunflower heliotropism and east-facing maturity: plant physiology research literature. Goldenrod versus ragweed pollen: allergy and aerobiology literature.

This article is for general information. Never eat any flower, bulb or seed unless you are certain of its identification — several plants listed here are toxic.

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