Plant Encyclopedia

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

all houseplant flower tree shrub succulent herb fern grass

Guava Tree

A hardy tropical fruiting tree producing fragrant fruit and recognizable smooth, peeling bark. It is fast-growing, adaptable, and tolerant of a range of soils.

tree

Gooseberry

A thorny deciduous shrub in the currant family that produces translucent berries on arching, spiny stems. It is hardy, productive and tolerant of cool climates.

shrub

Foxtail

Foxtail is a group of annual grasses named for their bushy, bristly seed heads that resemble a fox's tail. They are common weeds of lawns, fields and roadsides.

grass

Fox Tail Agave

A soft, spineless agave with pale blue-green rosettes and a curving, foxtail-like flower spike. Unusual among agaves for its lack of sharp spines and tolerance of light shade.

succulent

Devil's Ivy

A vigorous trailing vine with heart-shaped, often variegated leaves, famous for being nearly impossible to kill. One of the best beginner houseplants.

houseplant

Coral Cactus

The coral cactus is a grafted novelty plant combining a fan-shaped, crested Euphorbia top with a separate Euphorbia rootstock, resembling a piece of coral or a crested ridge. It is a Euphorbia, not a cactus.

succulent

Cardamom

Cardamom is a tropical, shade-loving relative of ginger grown for its aromatic seed pods. A spice plant, it needs warmth, humidity and patience.

herb

Boxelder

A fast-growing, weedy native maple unusual for its compound leaves and paired winged seeds, tough and adaptable but often considered a nuisance tree.

tree

Water Oak

Water oak is a fast-growing, semi-evergreen red-oak-group tree of the southeastern US, common along streams and in yards. It has spatula-shaped leaves but is relatively short-lived.

tree

Wintercreeper

Wintercreeper is an extremely tough evergreen groundcover or climbing shrub, often grown for its variegated foliage. It tolerates harsh sites but is invasive in many regions.

shrub

Wisteria Tree

A wisteria tree is a wisteria vine trained and pruned into a small free-standing tree form, prized for cascading clusters of fragrant purple-blue spring flowers. It is vigorous and requires regular pruning.

tree

Yarrow

Yarrow is a tough, drought-tolerant perennial with feathery foliage and flat-topped clusters of tiny flowers. It is a popular low-maintenance plant for pollinator and meadow gardens.

herb

Shepherd's Purse

Shepherd's purse is a common annual weed of the mustard family named for its distinctive heart-shaped seed pods, found in gardens, fields, and roadsides worldwide.

herb

Silver Fir

Silver Fir is a tall European forest conifer with flat, glossy needles bearing two silvery bands beneath. It was the original Christmas tree of central Europe and is an important timber species.

tree

Sitka Spruce

Sitka Spruce is the largest spruce in the world, a towering conifer of the cool, wet Pacific Northwest coast. Its strong, lightweight wood is prized for aircraft, boats, and musical instruments.

tree

Swamp White Oak

Swamp white oak is an adaptable white oak of moist North American bottomlands, with two-toned leaves that are green above and silvery beneath. It is a popular, easy-to-grow shade and street tree.

tree

Starfish Cactus

A clumping stem succulent that produces enormous, hairy, star-shaped maroon flowers resembling a starfish. The blooms smell of carrion to attract flies, earning it the name carrion plant.

succulent

Snowbell Tree

A graceful small tree that hangs with rows of fragrant, bell-shaped white flowers in late spring. Its horizontal branching shows the dangling blooms off to perfection.

tree

Smoke Tree

A deciduous shrub or small tree named for the airy, smoke-like plumes of fading flower stalks that envelop it in summer. Many cultivars also feature striking purple foliage.

shrub

Rose

The rose is the world's most beloved flowering shrub, a thorny perennial grown for thousands of years for its fragrant, many-petaled blooms in nearly every color but true blue.

shrub

Norway Spruce

Norway spruce is a fast-growing European evergreen conifer with drooping branchlets and the longest cones of any spruce; it is widely used for timber, windbreaks, and as a Christmas tree.

tree

Nectarine Tree

A smooth-skinned variety of peach, the nectarine produces juicy fruit on a compact deciduous tree. It is genetically nearly identical to the peach, differing mainly in its fuzz-free skin.

tree

Lupin

Lupin is a striking perennial bearing tall, dense spikes of pea-like flowers in vivid colors above palmate leaves. A legume, it fixes nitrogen and is a cottage-garden showstopper.

flower

Little Jewel

A compact intergeneric hybrid forming tight rosettes of plump, pointed, blue-green leaves tipped in rosy red. A small, jewel-like succulent that clusters into neat clumps.

succulent