Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Mullein
Mullein is a striking biennial that forms a rosette of soft, woolly leaves the first year and a towering yellow flower spike the second. It is a classic wildflower herb of dry, open ground.
herb
Snowberry
Snowberry is a hardy, suckering deciduous shrub best known for its clusters of plump, white, marble-like berries that persist into winter. It is exceptionally tough and thrives almost anywhere.
shrub
Evening Primrose
A hardy biennial wildflower whose fragrant yellow blossoms open at dusk and close by midday, timed to attract night-flying moths. It forms a low rosette in its first year and a tall flowering stalk in its second.
flower
Periwinkle
Periwinkle is a tough, low evergreen ground cover with glossy leaves and starry blue-violet flowers that thrives in shade. It spreads quickly to carpet difficult areas but can become invasive.
shrub
Foxglove
Foxglove is a stately biennial bearing tall spires of tubular, spotted bell-flowers, beloved by bees and a striking accent in shade and cottage gardens.
flower
Dandelion
The dandelion is a familiar, resilient perennial with sunny yellow flowers and toothed leaves, widely recognized as both a common lawn weed and a cheerful wildflower.
herb
Burdock
A large biennial famous for its bur-covered seed heads that cling to fur and clothing, the inspiration for Velcro. It has enormous rhubarb-like leaves and a thick, deep taproot.
herb
Purslane
Purslane is a low, succulent annual with fleshy paddle-shaped leaves and trailing reddish stems. A widespread plant of warm, sunny ground, it grows both wild and as a cultivated garden vegetable.
succulent
Horsetail
An ancient, fern-related plant with jointed, hollow stems and whorls of needle-like branches that resemble a horse's tail. It is a persistent weed of damp ground, spreading by deep rhizomes and reproducing by spores.
fern
Boneset
Boneset is a native North American wildflower with clusters of fuzzy white blooms and distinctive leaves that appear pierced by the stem. It is valued as a pollinator plant for moist gardens.
herb
Soapwort
Soapwort is a vigorous perennial whose roots and leaves lather in water, historically used as a gentle natural soap. It bears fragrant pink-to-white flowers and spreads readily by runners.
herb
St. John's Wort
St. John's wort is a hardy yellow-flowered perennial with masses of five-petaled summer blooms. Tough and drought-tolerant, it is also a noxious weed in many grazing regions.
herb
Mugwort
A tall, aromatic perennial with silvery-backed, deeply cut leaves, long associated with folklore. It is hardy, vigorous, and often weedy along roadsides.
herb
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
Yellow Woodsorrel
Yellow woodsorrel is a common clover-like weed with heart-shaped leaflets and small yellow flowers. It self-sows aggressively in lawns, gardens, and pots.
herb
Hackberry
A tough, adaptable North American shade tree with distinctive warty, corky bark and small dark berries relished by birds. It tolerates drought, wind, poor soil, and urban conditions with ease.
tree
Broadleaf Plantain
Broadleaf plantain is a tough, low-growing perennial weed with a rosette of broad, ribbed leaves and slender flower spikes, found in lawns, paths and compacted ground worldwide. It is unrelated to the banana-like plantain fruit despite the shared name.
herb
Apple Tree
The apple tree is a deciduous fruit tree grown worldwide for its familiar fruit. With thousands of cultivars and the need for cross-pollination, it is a rewarding but slightly demanding garden and orchard tree.
tree
Bradford Pear
Bradford pear is a fast-growing ornamental cultivar of Callery pear known for a uniform teardrop shape and clouds of white spring flowers. It is now widely regarded as an invasive species with notoriously weak, breakage-prone branching.
tree
Tangerine Tree
A type of mandarin orange producing small, easy-to-peel fruit with a deep reddish-orange rind. It is a compact, productive citrus tree well suited to home gardens.
tree
Fishbone Cactus
An epiphytic jungle cactus with flat, deeply zigzagged stems resembling a fish skeleton. Easy to grow and capable of producing large, fragrant night-blooming flowers in autumn.
succulent
Allium
Ornamental alliums are bulbs grown for their dramatic spherical flower heads on tall, leafless stems. Related to onions and garlic, they add bold architectural interest and are largely pest-proof.
flower
Salvia
Salvia is the huge genus of sages, spanning the culinary herb of the kitchen, aromatic shrubs, and a vast range of ornamental perennials with vivid flower spikes that hummingbirds and bees adore.
herb
Douglas Fir
Douglas fir is a towering western North American conifer prized as a timber and Christmas tree, recognizable by its soft flat needles and distinctive three-pointed bracts protruding from the cones.
tree