Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Plum Yew
Plum Yew is a shade-tolerant evergreen conifer resembling a yew but with longer needles and plum-like fleshy seed cones. It is valued as a tough, deer-resistant landscape shrub for shady gardens.
shrub
Sugar Maple
Sugar maple is a hallmark of North America's blazing autumn forests and the maple traditionally tapped for its sap. It is a large, long-lived shade tree with dense, hard wood prized for furniture and flooring.
tree
Pinstripe Calathea
The Pinstripe Calathea is a striking prayer plant with dark green leaves finely lined in pink or white, like delicate pinstripes. Beautiful but demanding, it rewards careful humidity and watering with vivid foliage.
houseplant
Swedish Ivy
Swedish Ivy is a fast-growing trailing houseplant with glossy, scalloped leaves, prized for hanging baskets despite being neither Swedish nor a true ivy. It roots easily from cuttings and tolerates a wide range of conditions.
houseplant
Pineapple Weed
A small annual weed with feathery leaves and cone-shaped greenish-yellow flower heads that smell like pineapple when crushed. Closely related to chamomile, it is fragrant and common in compacted, disturbed ground.
herb
Skullcap
Skullcap is a slender North American mint-family herb with tiny blue, two-lipped flowers. It takes its name from the small helmet- or skull-cap-shaped appendage on the calyx of each bloom.
herb
Piñon Pine
Piñon Pine is a small, drought-hardy pine of the American Southwest and the state tree of New Mexico. It is a defining species of arid pinyon-juniper woodlands.
tree
Teasel
Teasel is a tall, spiny biennial topped with egg-shaped, prickly flower heads ringed by tiny lavender blooms. Once used to raise the nap on woolen cloth, it is now considered an invasive weed in much of North America.
herb
Pink Trumpet Tree
The pink trumpet tree bursts into masses of pink to magenta trumpet-shaped flowers in late winter and spring, often while leafless, creating a spectacular cloud of color. It is a popular tropical and subtropical flowering tree.
tree
Sweet Alyssum
A low, spreading annual smothered in tiny honey-scented flowers, sweet alyssum is a classic edging and container filler that blooms from spring through frost.
flower
Pittosporum
Pittosporum is a versatile evergreen shrub with whorled glossy leaves and clusters of intensely orange-blossom-scented spring flowers. It makes an excellent hedge or screen in mild climates.
shrub
Star Fruit Tree
A tropical evergreen tree producing waxy, ribbed yellow fruit that forms a star shape when sliced. Its decorative five-pointed fruit makes it an attractive ornamental in warm climates.
tree
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
Swamp Milkweed
A moisture-loving native milkweed bearing fragrant clusters of pink flowers, a vital host plant for monarch butterflies and a magnet for pollinators.
flower
Peony
A long-lived perennial famous for huge, often fragrant late-spring blooms in shades of pink, white, and red. Peonies are tough, cold-loving, and can thrive for decades.
flower
Star Magnolia
Star magnolia is a slow-growing small tree or large shrub that opens dozens of fragrant, many-petaled white star-shaped flowers in very early spring, often before any other tree blooms. Its compact size suits smaller gardens.
tree
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
Snapdragon
Snapdragons are cool-season flowers with tall spikes of colorful, two-lipped blooms that "snap" open when squeezed. They are popular bedding plants and excellent cut flowers.
flower
Parsley
Parsley is a hardy biennial culinary herb grown as an annual, cultivated for its fresh green curly and flat-leaf foliage.
herb
Soursop
Soursop is a tropical evergreen tree in the custard apple family, bearing large, spiny, dark green heart-shaped fruit. It is sensitive to cold and demands a warm, frost-free climate.
tree
Paper Birch
Paper birch is a northern tree famous for its peeling, chalky-white bark used historically for canoes and writing. It brings bright bark and golden fall color to cool, moist landscapes.
tree
Southern Magnolia
An iconic broadleaf evergreen tree of the American South, bearing huge fragrant white flowers and glossy leathery leaves. A symbol of Southern landscapes.
tree
Philodendron
A large, diverse genus of tropical aroids ranging from easy trailing vines to bold upright specimens. The heartleaf philodendron is the classic, nearly indestructible trailing form beloved by beginners.
houseplant
String of Bananas
A fast-growing trailing succulent whose curved, banana-shaped leaves cascade in long strands, making it a popular hanging-basket plant. It is hardier and quicker to fill out than its cousin the string of pearls.
succulent
Persimmon Tree
A deciduous fruit tree grown for its glossy orange fruit that ripens in autumn and clings to bare branches like ornaments, and for its vivid fall foliage.
tree
Spider Plant
The spider plant is a fast-growing, easy-care houseplant with arching variegated leaves and dangling baby plantlets called 'spiderettes.' It is adaptable and one of the best plants for beginners.
houseplant
Philodendron Gloriosum
Philodendron Gloriosum is a creeping tropical aroid grown for its large, heart-shaped, velvety green leaves veined dramatically in white. Unlike climbing philodendrons, it crawls horizontally along the soil via a thick rhizome.
houseplant
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
Passion Fruit
A vigorous tropical climbing vine grown for its intricate, exotic flowers and its rounded fruit. The purple passion fruit is the most widely cultivated variety.
shrub
Shasta Daisy
The classic cheerful garden daisy: crisp white petals around a sunny yellow eye, blooming abundantly all summer. Reliable, long-lasting, and a top-tier cut flower.
flower
Peanut Cactus
A small clustering cactus with finger-like, peanut-sized stems that sprawls into a mat and produces vivid orange-red flowers. It is an easy, free-flowering favorite for sunny spots.
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
Philodendron Melanochrysum
A climbing philodendron famed for its long, velvety, dark blackish-green leaves shot through with golden veins. As it matures and climbs, its heart-shaped juvenile leaves elongate dramatically.
houseplant
Shagbark Hickory
A tall native hardwood instantly recognized by its shaggy, peeling gray bark. A long-lived tree of eastern North American forests.
tree
Pencil Cactus
A nearly leafless succulent shrub whose mass of slender, pencil-thick green branches gives it a coral-like silhouette. It is striking and easy to grow.
succulent
Solomon's Seal
Solomon's seal is a graceful shade perennial with arching stems lined with paired leaves and dangling white bell flowers. It brings elegant structure to woodland gardens.
flower
Petunia
Petunias are prolific, trumpet-shaped bedding flowers prized for nonstop summer color in containers, hanging baskets, and borders. Most garden plants are hybrids derived from South American Petunia species.
flower
Sea Buckthorn
Sea buckthorn is a thorny, nitrogen-fixing shrub bearing dense clusters of bright orange berries. It is extremely hardy, tolerating salt, drought, and poor soils.
shrubPainted Dropwing
Important note: the Painted Dropwing (also called the violet dropwing) is not a plant but a dragonfly, Trithemis annulata. Mature males are a striking violet-pink with red-veined wings, often seen perched at the edges of warm ponds and streams.
flower
Royal Poinciana
A spectacular tropical tree famous for its fiery red-orange canopy of blooms and broad, fern-like foliage. It is one of the most flamboyant flowering trees in the world.
tree
Pansy
Pansies are cool-season bedding flowers known for their large, flat, face-like blooms in a huge range of colors. They are a hybrid garden plant derived from wild violas.
flower
Shirley Poppy
The Shirley poppy is a refined garden strain of the wild corn poppy, bred for its delicate, papery flowers in soft pinks, whites, reds, and bicolors. These cool-season annuals self-sow freely for drifts of tissue-thin blooms.
flower
Oregano
A hardy, sun-loving Mediterranean herb with small aromatic leaves, valued as a drought-tolerant ground cover and bee plant and grown widely in gardens.
herb
Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff is a low, spreading groundcover herb with whorls of slender green leaves and clusters of tiny white star-shaped flowers in spring. When dried, its foliage releases a sweet, hay-and-vanilla scent and it carpets shady ground beautifully.
herb
Norway Spruce
Norway spruce is a fast-growing European evergreen conifer with drooping branchlets and the longest cones of any spruce; it is widely used for timber, windbreaks, and as a Christmas tree.
tree
Saucer Magnolia
A deciduous magnolia famous for large, goblet-shaped pink-and-white blooms that open on bare branches in early spring. It is one of the most widely planted flowering trees in temperate gardens.
tree
Pear Tree
The pear tree is a deciduous fruit tree grown for its abundant white spring blossom and glossy foliage. European pears (Pyrus communis) are long-lived ornamental and orchard trees.
tree
Self-Heal
A low, spreading mint-family herb with squat spikes of violet flowers, forming a tough, pollinator-friendly mat across lawns, meadows, and woodland edges.
herb