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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Sweetgum

A large deciduous shade tree known for its glossy star-shaped leaves, brilliant fall color, and spiky round seed balls. Native to the southeastern United States.

tree

Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe is a warm-season trailing vine in the gourd family, grown for its round, netted melons. It needs long, hot summers and plenty of sun.

herb

Sweetshrub

Sweetshrub is a deciduous native shrub of the southeastern U.S. known for its unusual maroon-brown flowers that release a fruity fragrance reminiscent of strawberries, banana or spice. Its aromatic bark and foliage add to the appeal.

shrub

Sweetspire

A North American deciduous shrub with drooping, fragrant white flower spikes in early summer and outstanding long-lasting crimson-to-burgundy fall color. Thrives in moist soils and tolerates shade.

shrub

Summersweet

A late-summer-blooming deciduous shrub with upright spikes of intensely fragrant white or pink flowers that draw bees and butterflies. Native to eastern North America, it thrives in moist, shady spots.

shrub

Lemon Myrtle

Lemon myrtle is an Australian rainforest tree whose glossy leaves carry one of the most intense natural lemon fragrances of any plant, driven by very high citral content. It is grown as an aromatic ornamental.

tree

Liquidambar

A large deciduous shade tree known for its star-shaped leaves that blaze red, purple, and orange in autumn, and its spiky round seed balls. It is a classic American street and park tree.

tree

Cherry Tree

The cherry tree is a deciduous fruiting and ornamental tree grown for its fruit and showy spring blossoms. Sweet cherries (Prunus avium) and sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) are the two main types.

tree

Miracle Fruit

A slow-growing evergreen shrub from West Africa bearing small, bright red oval berries. It demands acidic soil, warmth, and humidity, making it a challenging container plant outside the tropics.

shrub

Marjoram

Marjoram is a tender, aromatic Mediterranean herb closely related to oregano, grown as a culinary herb in gardens, pots, and on windowsills.

herb

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

Mock Orange

A deciduous shrub grown for its profuse, intensely fragrant white late-spring flowers that smell like orange blossom. Easy and hardy, it is a nostalgic favorite of cottage gardens.

shrub

Basil

A fragrant, warmth-loving aromatic herb in the mint family, grown for its highly aromatic leaves.

herb

Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay magnolia is a graceful native North American tree with creamy, lemon-scented summer flowers and silvery-backed leaves. Unusually for a magnolia, it thrives in wet, swampy ground.

tree

Bay Leaf

Bay laurel is an aromatic evergreen Mediterranean tree grown for its glossy, fragrant leaves and as an ornamental.

tree

Fennel

Fennel is an aromatic, feathery herb grown in gardens for its finely divided foliage and airy yellow flower heads; the Florence type forms a swollen bulb at the base of the leaves.

herb

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

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

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

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

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

Wormwood

Wormwood is a silvery, aromatic perennial herb best known as the signature botanical associated with absinthe and vermouth. Its finely divided gray-green foliage is aromatic and drought-tough.

herb

Carpetweed

A low, mat-forming summer annual that spreads flat across the ground in a star-like pattern of whorled leaves. It is a common weed of gardens, lawns and bare soil, germinating in warm weather.

herb

Alocasia Frydek

A velvet-leaved elephant ear with deep emerald-green arrow-shaped leaves and bold white veins. It is dramatic and upright but notoriously demanding about humidity and watering.

houseplant