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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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

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

Smoke Tree

A deciduous shrub or small tree named for the airy, smoke-like plumes of fading flower stalks that envelop it in summer. Many cultivars also feature striking purple foliage.

shrub

Bottlebrush Tree

An evergreen Australian shrub or small tree whose cylindrical red flower spikes look exactly like bottle brushes. The nectar-rich blooms draw birds and pollinators.

shrub

Giant Sequoia

The giant sequoia is the most massive tree on Earth by volume, a colossal evergreen conifer of California's Sierra Nevada with fibrous reddish bark, scale-like foliage, and a lifespan of thousands of years.

tree

Dwarf Umbrella Tree

The Dwarf Umbrella Tree has glossy leaflets arranged like the spokes of an umbrella radiating from each stem. It is a popular, fast-growing indoor plant and a favorite subject for bonsai.

houseplant

Kousa Dogwood

Kousa dogwood is an elegant small tree with pointed white bracts in late spring, raspberry-like fruit, and striking exfoliating bark. It is more disease-resistant than the native flowering dogwood.

tree

Corn Plant

The corn plant is a sturdy indoor tree with thick woody canes topped by arching, corn-like leaves, often with a yellow-green center stripe. It is famously tolerant of low light and neglect.

houseplant

Rainbow Eucalyptus

A towering tropical tree whose smooth bark sheds in patches to reveal streaks of green, blue, orange, purple, and maroon, like a living rainbow. It is the only eucalyptus native to the Northern Hemisphere.

tree

Silver Dollar Plant

A shrubby jade relative with round, silvery blue-gray leaves edged in red, resembling stacked silver coins. An easy, long-lived succulent that can grow into a small bonsai-like tree.

succulent

Calla Lily

Calla lilies are elegant plants grown for their sculptural, trumpet-shaped flower bracts in white and rich jewel tones above arrow-shaped leaves. Despite the name, they are not true lilies.

flower

Saguaro Cactus

The saguaro is the iconic giant columnar cactus of the Sonoran Desert, growing into a towering tree-like form with upraised arms. It is slow-growing and extraordinarily long-lived, reaching well over 150 years.

succulent

Apache Pine

A southwestern pine of the Sierra Madre and Arizona–New Mexico borderlands, notable for very long, drooping needles and a grass-like seedling stage. Young trees resemble a tuft of grass before the trunk elongates.

tree

Cottonwood

Cottonwood is a fast-growing deciduous tree of North American riverbanks, named for the fluffy, cotton-like seeds that fill the air in early summer. Large and vigorous, it provides quick shade and vital riparian habitat.

tree

Camellia Tree

The camellia is a glossy-leaved evergreen shrub or small tree bearing large, showy rose-like flowers in shades of red, pink and white during fall, winter and spring. It is a classic shade-garden ornamental.

shrub

Canna Lily

Canna lily is a bold tropical perennial grown for its large paddle-shaped leaves and vivid flower spikes. Despite the name it's not a true lily, and its rhizomes are lifted in cold climates.

flower

Silk Oak

The silk oak is a fast-growing Australian tree with fern-like silvery foliage and showy golden-orange, comb-shaped flowers in spring. It is widely grown for shade, timber and ornament, but can be weedy outside its range.

tree

Sago Palm

An ancient, palm-like cycad with a stout trunk and a symmetrical crown of stiff, feathery dark-green fronds. Despite the name it is not a true palm.

shrub

Honey Locust

Honey locust is a fast-growing deciduous tree with fine, fern-like compound leaves casting light dappled shade; wild forms have fierce branching thorns and long twisted seed pods, but thornless cultivars dominate landscaping.

tree

Asparagus Fern

The asparagus fern is not a true fern but a relative of garden asparagus, grown for its soft, feathery sprays of bright green needle-like foliage. It is easy and fast-growing.

houseplant

False Sunflower

False sunflower is a tough native perennial covered in golden-yellow daisy-like blooms all summer. It resembles a true sunflower but returns reliably year after year.

flower

Heavenly Bamboo

An evergreen-to-semi-evergreen shrub with lacy, bamboo-like foliage that flushes red in cool weather, plus white summer flowers and showy red winter berries. Despite the name, it is not a true bamboo.

shrub

Foxtail Fern

Despite its name, foxtail fern is not a true fern but a member of the asparagus family, grown for its plush, upright plumes of needle-like 'leaves.' Its dense, bottlebrush fronds resemble fluffy green foxtails.

houseplant

Yellow Nutsedge

Yellow nutsedge is a grass-like perennial sedge, not a true grass, that infests lawns, gardens and crops by spreading through underground tubers called 'nutlets'. The same tubers are also cultivated in some regions, where they are known as chufa or tiger nuts.

grass