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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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

Tamarind Tree

The tamarind is a large, long-lived tropical fruiting tree in the legume family, producing brown seed pods. It is heat- and drought-tolerant but frost-sensitive.

tree

Willow Oak

A fast-growing red-oak with narrow, willow-like leaves that lack the typical oak lobes, prized as a tough shade and street tree across the southeastern United States.

tree

Staghorn Fern

The staghorn fern is a dramatic epiphytic fern whose fertile fronds branch like antlers. It grows mounted on wood or in baskets rather than in ordinary soil.

fern

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

Lifesaver Cactus

A low, clumping stem succulent famous for bizarre flowers with a thick, glossy red ring at the center that looks exactly like a candy lifesaver. The flowers are striped like a zebra.

succulent

Living Stones

Tiny, stem-less succulents that mimic pebbles to avoid being grazed. They split to reveal new leaves and produce daisy-like flowers, but need a strict dry regime.

succulent

Jackfruit Tree

A large tropical evergreen tree that produces the biggest tree-borne fruit in the world, with enormous spiky green fruit growing directly on the trunk and main branches.

tree

Croton

The croton is a tropical shrub famous for its leathery leaves splashed with brilliant yellow, orange, red, and green. Bright light is the key to its vivid coloring.

shrub

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

Avocado Tree

The avocado is a broadleaf evergreen fruiting tree. Frost-tender and vigorous, it is a popular subtropical orchard tree and a fun, if slow-fruiting, houseplant from a sprouted pit.

tree

Wild Ginger

A low, spreading woodland groundcover with heart-shaped leaves and curious maroon flowers hidden at soil level. Its ginger-scented roots inspired the common name, though it is unrelated to true ginger.

flower

Silk Floss Tree

The silk floss tree is a striking subtropical tree with a bulging, thorn-studded green trunk and large pink-and-cream hibiscus-like flowers in autumn. Its seed pods burst to release silky white fibers, giving the tree its name.

tree

Raven ZZ Plant

The Raven ZZ Plant is a dramatic cultivar whose new growth emerges bright green then matures to near-black, glossy foliage. As tough and drought-tolerant as the classic ZZ, it adds bold, dark color with almost no effort.

houseplant

Radish

Radish is a fast-growing root vegetable in the cabbage family, grown for its crisp, brightly colored roots. Many varieties go from seed to harvest in under a month, making it a favorite for impatient and beginner gardeners.

herb

Pitcher Plant

A carnivorous plant whose leaves form hanging, fluid-filled pitchers that lure, trap, and digest insects. Tropical Nepenthes species dangle their colorful 'monkey cups' from vining stems.

houseplant

Monstera Esqueleto

A climbing Monstera whose mature leaves develop enormous, elongated fenestrations that open all the way to the leaf edge, leaving a skeletal, lace-like blade. It is a dramatic large-leaved collector's aroid.

houseplant

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

Milkweed

Milkweed is a hardy native perennial with fragrant flower clusters and milky sap, best known as the essential host plant for monarch butterflies. Its seed pods release silk-tufted seeds in fall.

flower

Gardenia

Gardenias are evergreen shrubs famous for their glossy foliage and intensely fragrant, waxy white flowers. They are rewarding but demanding, requiring acidic soil, humidity, and steady warmth.

shrub

Flowering Plum

The flowering plum is a small deciduous ornamental tree grown for its early pink or white spring blossoms and, in popular purple-leaf forms, its deep burgundy foliage. It is a favorite accent tree for gardens and streets.

tree

Arizona Cypress

Arizona Cypress is a tough, drought-tolerant evergreen conifer from the American Southwest, valued for its silvery blue-gray scale foliage. It makes an excellent windbreak and waterwise screen.

tree

Angelica

Angelica is a stately, architectural biennial herb in the carrot family with huge domed greenish-white flower heads and bold, divided foliage. It is a dramatic showpiece in herb and ornamental gardens.

herb