Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Blue Flame Cactus
A fast-growing, heavily branching columnar cactus with powdery blue-green ribbed stems. Its many upright arms cluster like dancing flames, hence the name.
succulent
Bishop's Cap Cactus
A spineless, star-shaped cactus with a rounded body of distinct ribs flecked with tiny white scales, resembling a bishop's mitre. It produces yellow daisy-like flowers from its crown.
succulent
Powder Puff Cactus
A clustering pincushion cactus wrapped in silky white hairs, with hooked central spines hidden beneath. Rings of small creamy or pink flowers appear readily, even on young plants.
succulent
Rat Tail Cactus
A trailing epiphytic cactus with long, slender, spiny stems that hang like rat tails and burst into vivid pink-magenta flowers in spring. It is a spectacular choice for hanging baskets.
succulent
Prickly Pear Cactus
Prickly pear cacti have flat, paddle-shaped pads and produce showy flowers followed by colorful fruit. Tough and drought-hardy, several species are widely grown for landscaping.
succulent
Old Man Cactus
A columnar cactus famously cloaked in long, shaggy white hairs that resemble an old man's beard. The wool shields the plant from sun and cold while hiding sharp spines beneath.
succulent
Fairy Castle Cactus
A slow-growing columnar cactus whose many vertical, turret-like branches resemble the spires of a tiny castle. It is a compact, easygoing favorite for sunny windowsills.
succulent
Elephant Ear Cactus
A prickly pear with flat, rounded green pads that branch into ear-like shapes. Instead of long spines it bears dense tufts of tiny barbed glochids that detach at the lightest touch.
succulent
Thimbleberry
Thimbleberry is a thornless North American shrub with large maple-like leaves, white flowers, and soft red berries shaped like thimbles. It thrives in cool, shaded woodlands.
shrub
Harebell
A delicate, wiry perennial bearing nodding blue bell-shaped flowers on thread-like stems. Found across the Northern Hemisphere, it is famed as the bluebell of Scotland.
flower
African Milk Tree
The African milk tree is a fast-growing, upright succulent with ridged, branching green stems that resemble a cactus. Despite the look, it is a Euphorbia that exudes milky white sap when cut, not a true cactus.
succulent
Globe Thistle
Globe thistle is a bold, architectural perennial topped with spherical, steel-blue flower heads above spiny, gray-green foliage. It is drought-tolerant and irresistible to bees.
flower
Bull Thistle
Bull thistle is a spiny biennial weed with sharp, prickly leaves and large rose-purple flower heads that is both a pasture nuisance and a pollinator magnet.
flower
Queen of the Night
An epiphytic jungle cactus famous for its enormous, fragrant white flowers that open for a single night before wilting by dawn. It grows on flattened, leaf-like stems and is a celebrated rare bloomer.
succulent
Sow Thistle
A leafy annual resembling a soft thistle, with milky sap, lobed prickle-edged leaves and small dandelion-like yellow flowers. It is a widespread garden and field weed.
herb
Musk Thistle
Musk thistle is a spiny biennial weed with large, nodding rose-purple flower heads; native to Eurasia, it is an aggressive invader of pastures and rangelands across North America.
flower
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle is a striking, spiny thistle with glossy white-marbled leaves and large purple flower heads. Robust and self-seeding, it can become a weed in warm climates.
herb
Canada Thistle
Canada thistle is an aggressive perennial weed with spiny leaves and small pink-purple flower heads that spreads relentlessly through deep, creeping roots. Despite its name it is native to Europe and Asia, and it is one of the most difficult agricultural weeds to control.
herbFiresticks
A pencil-thin, branching succulent whose cylindrical stems turn brilliant orange, red, and yellow in cool, sunny weather. It is a dramatic landscape and container plant with slender, leafless stems.
succulent
Dragon Fruit
A climbing cactus that produces vivid pink-skinned fruit covered in green, leaf-like scales. Its enormous, fragrant flowers bloom for a single night.
succulent
Blackberry
Blackberries are vigorous, often thorny cane plants in the rose family, bearing glossy black aggregate berries in late summer. Famously tough, they grow wild as brambles and in many improved garden varieties.
shrub
Anemone
Anemones, also called windflowers, are graceful perennials and bulbs that produce delicate, cup- or daisy-shaped flowers in spring or fall. Japanese anemones in particular bring valuable late-season color to shady borders.
flower
Wood Anemone
A low-growing spring ephemeral of European woodlands that carpets the forest floor with star-shaped white flowers before the tree canopy leafs out.
flower
Prickly Lettuce
Prickly lettuce is a tall annual or biennial weed and the closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce. It is recognized by spiny leaf midribs, milky sap, and leaves that twist to align vertically like a compass.
herb