Radially symmetrical
You can divide the flower through the centre in several directions and get broadly matching halves. Buttercup-like flowers are a familiar example.
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Flower shape means the form of an individual flower, especially its petals or corolla. Learning a few common shapes gives you another useful clue before you try to identify the family or species.
First look at symmetry
Before naming the exact shape, ask whether the flower looks similar all the way around its centre, or whether it has an obvious top and bottom.
Bilaterally symmetrical
There is usually one main line that divides the flower into matching left and right halves. These flowers often have a clear upper and lower side.
Common individual flower shapes
These categories are useful descriptions rather than rigid boxes. Real flowers often sit somewhere between two shapes.
Open or regular
The petals or petal-like parts spread out from the centre, making the flower easy to view from above. It is usually radially symmetrical.
On this site: Lesser Celandine and Wood Anemone.
Bell-shaped
The petals are joined for much of their length and flare out towards the mouth, producing a bell or cup-like form.
Examples to look for: harebells and bluebells. Foxglove also has a large tubular, bell-like corolla.
Tubular
The petals are fused into a tube for most of their length, often ending in small lobes. Tubular flowers can be radial or slightly irregular.
Look closely at whether the tube is long and narrow, or widens into a bell, funnel or lip.
Salver-shaped
A narrow tube suddenly opens into a flat, spreading face. From the front it can look like an ordinary open flower, so the side view is useful.
On this site: Primrose is a good example: its five petal lobes are joined below into a corolla tube.
Two-lipped or strongly irregular
The corolla has a distinct upper and lower side, often with lobes that form lips or a landing platform for visiting insects. These flowers are bilaterally symmetrical.
On this site: Foxglove has a strongly one-sided, tubular corolla with a prominent lower lobe.
Pea-shaped
A specialised bilateral flower with a large upper standard petal, two side wings and lower petals forming a keel. This is a strong clue to the pea family, Fabaceae.
On this site: the tiny individual flowers in a Red Clover head are pea-shaped.
Shape is not the same as flower arrangement
An umbel, raceme, spike or capitulum describes how several flowers are arranged on the plant. Bell-shaped, tubular and pea-shaped describe the form of one flower.
For example, Cow Parsley has many tiny individual flowers arranged in umbels, while Oxeye Daisy has a capitulum made from many florets that together look like one flower.