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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Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay magnolia is a graceful native North American tree with creamy, lemon-scented summer flowers and silvery-backed leaves. Unusually for a magnolia, it thrives in wet, swampy ground.

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Arborvitae

Arborvitae is a dense, evergreen conifer with flat sprays of scale-like foliage, widely planted as hedges and privacy screens. It is easy to grow and tolerates a range of conditions.

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Firesticks

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

Bay Leaf

Bay laurel is an aromatic evergreen Mediterranean tree grown for its glossy, fragrant leaves and as an ornamental.

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Key Lime

A small, thorny citrus tree producing tiny, highly aromatic green-to-yellow fruit. It is a fruiting tropical tree historically grown in the Florida Keys.

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Australian Willow

Australian Willow is a graceful evergreen tree with weeping, willow-like foliage that is not a true willow but a member of the citrus family. Prized as a tough, low-litter street and shade tree for hot, dry climates.

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Quaking Aspen

A fast-growing native tree whose flat-stalked leaves tremble in the slightest breeze and turn brilliant gold in fall. It forms vast clonal groves and is the most widely distributed tree in North America.

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Liquidambar

A large deciduous shade tree known for its star-shaped leaves that blaze red, purple, and orange in autumn, and its spiky round seed balls. It is a classic American street and park tree.

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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.

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Flowering Peach

The flowering peach is an ornamental form of the peach tree grown for its lavish spring display of double pink, red, or white blossoms. It is a showy small accent tree, prized in gardens and in East Asian culture.

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American Elm

American elm is a stately deciduous tree famous for its graceful vase-shaped canopy, once a beloved street tree until Dutch elm disease devastated populations; disease-resistant cultivars now revive its use.

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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.

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Fraser Fir

A high-elevation Appalachian evergreen and a favorite premium Christmas tree, with fragrant, silvery-backed needles and excellent needle retention.

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Deodar Cedar

Deodar Cedar is a graceful true cedar with gently drooping branches and soft blue-green needles. It is a popular large ornamental tree with an elegant, weeping silhouette.

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Cedar of Lebanon

Cedar of Lebanon is a majestic, long-lived true cedar famous for the broad, flat tiers of foliage it develops with age. It is an iconic specimen tree steeped in history and symbolism.

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Jabuticaba

A slow-growing Brazilian tree remarkable for producing its grape-like purple-black fruit directly on the trunk and main branches (cauliflory).

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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.

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Norway Maple

A dense, fast-growing European shade tree with broad five-lobed leaves and milky sap, widely planted but invasive in much of North America.

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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.

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Shagbark Hickory

A tall native hardwood instantly recognized by its shaggy, peeling gray bark. A long-lived tree of eastern North American forests.

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Witch Hazel

Witch hazel is a deciduous shrub or small tree famous for fragrant, spidery yellow flowers that bloom in late fall or winter when little else does.

shrub

Angel's Trumpet

A tropical shrub or small tree bearing enormous, pendulous trumpet-shaped flowers that release a powerful fragrance at night. It is grown as a dramatic ornamental in warm climates.

shrub

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.

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Japanese Maple

A small, elegant ornamental tree prized for delicate, deeply lobed leaves in shades of red, green and purple, and spectacular fall color. A centerpiece of Japanese gardens.

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