Plant Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.

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Elephant Bush

Elephant bush is a fast-growing South African succulent shrub with small round jade-green leaves on reddish stems, popular as a houseplant, bonsai subject, and carbon-storing landscape plant.

succulent

Boneset

Boneset is a native North American wildflower with clusters of fuzzy white blooms and distinctive leaves that appear pierced by the stem. It is valued as a pollinator plant for moist gardens.

herb

Bell Pepper

Bell pepper is a blocky-fruited variety of Capsicum annuum grown as a warm-season garden crop, bearing glossy fruit in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. It is a colorful, productive plant for sunny beds and containers.

herb

Sassafras

An aromatic native tree known for its three differently shaped leaves on the same plant, spicy fragrance, and brilliant fall color.

tree

Norway Maple

A dense, fast-growing European shade tree with broad five-lobed leaves and milky sap, widely planted but invasive in much of North America.

tree

Catnip

Catnip is a hardy, easy-growing mint-family herb famous for the response it triggers in many cats. It is also a useful pollinator and pest-repelling plant.

herb

Loblolly Pine

Loblolly pine is a fast-growing evergreen conifer of the southeastern United States and the region's most important timber tree. Tall and straight with long needles, it dominates southern forests and plantations.

tree

Leyland Cypress

Leyland cypress is an extremely fast-growing evergreen conifer hybrid widely planted for hedges and privacy screens. Dense and columnar, it offers quick cover but can quickly outgrow its space if not maintained.

tree

Horsetail

An ancient, fern-related plant with jointed, hollow stems and whorls of needle-like branches that resemble a horse's tail. It is a persistent weed of damp ground, spreading by deep rhizomes and reproducing by spores.

fern

Goatsbeard

Goatsbeard is a robust, shade-loving perennial that produces tall, feathery plumes of creamy-white flowers, resembling a giant astilbe. It is a striking native woodland plant for moist, partly shaded gardens.

shrub

Poison Oak

Poison oak is a woody shrub or climbing vine native to North America, recognized by its compound leaves of three lobed leaflets that resemble oak foliage.

shrub

Zucchini

Zucchini is a prolific summer squash in the gourd family, grown as a bushy warm-season annual. A single healthy plant produces vigorously through the summer.

herb

Red Clover

Red clover is a short-lived perennial legume with rounded pinkish-purple flower heads, widely grown as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop and forage plant.

herb

Onion

The onion is a globally cultivated plant grown for its layered underground bulb. A biennial usually grown as an annual, it is one of the world's most widely grown garden plants.

herb

Forget-Me-Not

Forget-me-not is a low, spreading plant covered in tiny sky-blue flowers with yellow centers, beloved for carpeting spring gardens and self-seeding freely.

flower

Cucumber

Cucumber is a warm-season vining plant in the gourd family, grown for its long green fruits. It is fast-growing and productive when given heat, sun, and steady moisture.

herb

Edamame

Edamame is a warm-season legume in the pea family, a bushy annual grown from young green soybeans. The plant fixes its own nitrogen and forms fuzzy green pods.

herb

Japanese Stiltgrass

Japanese stiltgrass is an aggressive annual grass from Asia that has become one of the most damaging invasive plants in eastern North American forests and shaded yards. It forms dense, sprawling mats that crowd out native ground flora.

grass

Ground Ivy

Ground ivy is a creeping, aromatic perennial in the mint family with scalloped round leaves and blue-violet spring flowers, the same plant widely known as creeping Charlie. It forms dense mats in shady lawns and gardens and is notoriously persistent.

herb

Four O'Clock

A bushy tuberous perennial famous for fragrant trumpet flowers that open in late afternoon and stay open through the night, then close by morning. A single plant can bear differently colored blooms, sometimes flecked on the same flower.

flower

Catalpa Tree

The catalpa is a fast-growing deciduous shade tree famous for its huge heart-shaped leaves, showy clusters of frilly white flowers, and long slender seed pods resembling beans or cigars. It is a popular ornamental for large lawns and street plantings.

tree

Tulip

A spring-flowering bulb cherished for its goblet-shaped blooms in nearly every color. Tulips are planted in autumn and naturalize best in regions with cold winters.

flower

Parlor Palm

A compact, slow-growing palm that thrives in low light, making it a classic indoor plant since Victorian times. It forms delicate clumps of feathery green fronds.

houseplant

Pansy

Pansies are cool-season bedding flowers known for their large, flat, face-like blooms in a huge range of colors. They are a hybrid garden plant derived from wild violas.

flower