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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California Juniper

California Juniper is a rugged desert shrub or small tree of the arid Southwest, with gray-green scale foliage, reddish berry-like cones, and a gnarled habit prized for bonsai.

shrub

Purslane

Purslane is a low, succulent annual with fleshy paddle-shaped leaves and trailing reddish stems. A widespread plant of warm, sunny ground, it grows both wild and as a cultivated garden vegetable.

succulent

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

Black Cherry

Black cherry is a native North American hardwood valued for its fine reddish furniture timber, drooping clusters of white spring flowers, and small dark fruits borne in late summer.

tree

White Ash

A large native shade tree once widely planted for its strong wood and purple-bronze fall color. Now severely threatened by the invasive emerald ash borer.

tree

Paper Bark Birch

A graceful northern tree famous for its peeling, papery white bark and fluttering golden fall foliage. Its bark was traditionally used by Indigenous peoples to build canoes.

tree

New England Aster

A robust native perennial that crowns the fall garden with masses of purple, daisy-like flowers around golden centers. It is a magnet for late-season bees and migrating monarch butterflies.

flower

Toad Lily

Toad lily is a shade perennial bearing exotic, orchid-like flowers heavily speckled with purple in late summer and fall. Its intricate blooms reward a close look in the woodland garden.

flower

Smokebush

A deciduous shrub famous for the airy, smoke-like haze of fluffy flower stalks that envelop the plant in summer. Many cultivars add dramatic purple or gold foliage and fiery fall color.

shrub

Pignut Hickory

Pignut hickory is a tall, upland hickory of eastern North America with smooth gray bark and pear-shaped nuts. It is valued for tough wood, brilliant golden fall color, and as wildlife habitat.

tree

Crepe Myrtle

Crepe myrtle is a small deciduous tree or large shrub beloved for its long-lasting, crinkled summer flower clusters, smooth peeling bark, and brilliant fall color, thriving in hot climates.

tree

Flowering Dogwood

Flowering dogwood is a beloved small ornamental tree whose spring branches are clouded in showy white or pink bracts. It offers four-season interest with summer berries, scarlet fall color, and tiered branching.

tree

Mockernut Hickory

Mockernut hickory is a sturdy, slow-growing eastern hickory with fragrant, densely hairy leaves and very thick-shelled nuts. Its strong wood and golden fall color make it a valued forest and shade tree.

tree

Pokeweed

Pokeweed is a tall, robust native perennial with striking magenta stems and drooping clusters of dark purple-black berries in late summer and fall.

herb

Sourwood

Sourwood is a graceful native North American tree with drooping clusters of white lily-of-the-valley-like summer flowers and outstanding scarlet fall foliage.

tree

Chrysanthemum

A classic autumn-blooming perennial with dense, colorful flower heads in countless forms. Mums are a staple of fall displays and a major cut flower worldwide.

flower

Witch Hazel

Witch hazel is a deciduous shrub or small tree famous for fragrant, spidery yellow flowers that bloom in late fall or winter when little else does.

shrub

Persimmon Tree

A deciduous fruit tree grown for its glossy orange fruit that ripens in autumn and clings to bare branches like ornaments, and for its vivid fall foliage.

tree

Black-Eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan is a cheerful North American wildflower with golden-yellow petals around a dark brown center, blooming abundantly from summer into fall.

flower

American Beech

A majestic, slow-growing native hardwood with smooth silvery-gray bark and golden fall leaves that often cling through winter. A dominant tree of eastern forests.

tree

Katsura Tree

A graceful Asian shade tree with heart-shaped blue-green leaves that turn gold and apricot in fall, famously releasing a sweet scent of burnt sugar or cotton candy.

tree

Bald Cypress

A deciduous conifer of southern swamps, famous for its feathery foliage, buttressed trunk, and 'knees' that poke up from the water. Drops its needles in fall, hence 'bald.'

tree

Beautyberry

A deciduous shrub famous for the clusters of vivid metallic-purple berries that wrap its arching branches in fall. Native to the southeastern US, it is easy, wildlife-friendly, and unmistakable in autumn.

shrub

Abelia

Abelia is a tough, semi-evergreen shrub with arching branches, glossy leaves, and a long summer-to-fall show of small, fragrant, bell-shaped flowers. It is a magnet for bees and butterflies.

shrub