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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Baobab Tree

The baobab is an iconic African tree with a massive, swollen, water-storing trunk and stout branches that look like roots, earning it the name upside-down tree. Some specimens live over a thousand years.

tree

Heliotrope

A tender shrubby perennial loved for dense clusters of tiny purple flowers with an intense vanilla-cherry fragrance, earning it the nickname 'cherry pie plant.' It is grown as a fragrant bedding and container plant in most climates.

flower

Camellia

Camellias are elegant evergreen shrubs with glossy dark foliage and large, rose-like blooms in winter and early spring. Their long flowering season and lush leaves make them prized in shade gardens.

shrub

Lady Palm

The Lady Palm is an elegant clumping palm with fan-shaped leaves split into glossy, finger-like segments. It is tough, shade-tolerant, and a classic interior plant.

houseplant

Japanese Maple

A small, elegant ornamental tree prized for delicate, deeply lobed leaves in shades of red, green and purple, and spectacular fall color. A centerpiece of Japanese gardens.

tree

Deodar Cedar

Deodar Cedar is a graceful true cedar with gently drooping branches and soft blue-green needles. It is a popular large ornamental tree with an elegant, weeping silhouette.

tree

Bay Laurel

Bay laurel is an aromatic evergreen tree or shrub, a classic culinary herb most often grown as an elegant clipped topiary or hedge. Slow-growing and easily shaped.

herb

Hinoki Cypress

Hinoki Cypress is an elegant evergreen conifer with rich green, fan-like foliage held in graceful sprays. Slow-growing dwarf cultivars are popular for gardens, containers, and bonsai.

tree

Culver's Root

Culver's root is a tall, elegant North American prairie perennial with whorled leaves and slender, candelabra-like spires of white to pale-lilac flowers. It is a magnet for bees and butterflies in summer.

flower

Orange Tree

The sweet orange is an evergreen citrus tree grown worldwide for its bright fruit and fragrant white blossoms. It is the most widely cultivated fruit tree on Earth.

tree

Pea

The garden pea is a cool-season climbing legume grown for its seeds and pods. It is one of the earliest crops to sow in spring and fixes nitrogen to enrich the soil.

herb

Honeyberry

An extremely cold-hardy deciduous shrub bearing elongated blue berries with a waxy bloom. It is one of the earliest of its kind to set fruit each season.

shrub

Plum Tree

The plum tree is a deciduous stone-fruit tree grown for its fruit and early spring blossom. European plums (Prunus domestica) and Japanese plums (Prunus salicina) are the main cultivated types.

tree

Lilac Tree

The Japanese lilac tree is the tree-form member of the lilac family, producing huge creamy-white fragrant flower plumes in early summer. It is a tough, compact street and lawn tree.

tree

Dewberry

Dewberry is a low, trailing relative of the blackberry that produces dark berries earlier in the season. Its sprawling thorny canes form ground-hugging mats.

shrub

Solomon's Seal

Solomon's seal is a graceful shade perennial with arching stems lined with paired leaves and dangling white bell flowers. It brings elegant structure to woodland gardens.

flower

Apricot Tree

A deciduous stone-fruit tree prized for its golden-orange fruit and early spring blossoms. It thrives in regions with cold winters and warm, dry summers.

tree

Iris

Irises are elegant perennials with sword-like leaves and intricate flowers featuring upright "standards" and drooping "falls." The bearded iris is the most widely grown garden type.

flower

Crocus

Crocuses are among the earliest spring bulbs, pushing up goblet-shaped flowers in purple, yellow, and white, sometimes through snow. Autumn-blooming species include the saffron crocus.

flower

Bloodroot

An early spring ephemeral named for the red-orange sap that bleeds from its roots when cut. Each delicate white flower is wrapped in a single curled leaf and lasts only a few days.

flower

Yoshino Cherry

An ornamental cherry famous for clouds of pale pink-to-white blossoms in early spring. It is the iconic tree of Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin and Japan's cherry-blossom season.

tree

Elderberry

Elderberry is a fast-growing deciduous shrub bearing large creamy flower clusters in early summer and drooping bunches of small dark purple-black berries in late summer.

shrub

Eastern Redbud

A small understory tree famous for the cloud of pink-purple flowers that bloom directly on its bare branches in early spring. Native to eastern North America.

tree

Christmas Cactus

The Christmas cactus is a Brazilian forest cactus that bursts into tubular pink, red, or white blooms in early winter. Unlike desert cacti, it likes humidity and regular water.

succulent