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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Yew

A long-lived evergreen conifer with dark needle foliage and red, berry-like arils. Extremely shade-tolerant and shearable, yews are classic hedging and topiary plants.

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Rockrose

Rockrose is a tough Mediterranean evergreen shrub prized for its papery, crepe-like flowers and resinous, aromatic foliage. It thrives on neglect in hot, dry, poor soils.

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Pyracantha

Pyracantha, or firethorn, is a thorny evergreen shrub that bursts with white spring flowers and brilliant masses of red, orange, or yellow berries in fall. It makes a formidable hedge or espalier.

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Bottlebrush

Bottlebrush is an Australian evergreen shrub famous for its cylindrical brushes of bright red flowers that draw hummingbirds and bees. It is heat- and drought-tolerant and blooms for much of the year.

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Scotch Pine

Scotch Pine is a widespread evergreen conifer known for its distinctive orange-red upper bark and blue-green twisted needles. It is one of the most common Christmas trees and a major timber species.

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Sea Thrift

Sea thrift is a compact, evergreen coastal perennial forming tidy cushions of grassy foliage topped with round pink pompom flowers. It is exceptionally tough, thriving in poor, salty, well-drained soils.

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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.

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Hellebore

An evergreen shade perennial that blooms in late winter and early spring, when little else does, with nodding, cup-shaped flowers in white, pink, plum, and green. Long-lived and deer-resistant.

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Buddhist Pine

Buddhist Pine is a versatile evergreen conifer with long, soft, strap-like leaves, widely grown as a hedge, container plant, houseplant, and bonsai. Native to East Asia, it tolerates pruning and shade well.

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Weeping Nootka Cypress

Weeping Nootka Cypress is a graceful evergreen conifer with sweeping, drooping branchlets that hang like curtains from upturned limbs. It is a striking, hardy specimen tree for cool climates.

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Privet

A fast-growing, dense deciduous-to-semi-evergreen shrub long used for clipped hedges. It bears panicles of small white flowers and black berries, but is invasive in many regions.

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Pigsqueak

Pigsqueak is an evergreen perennial with large, glossy, leathery leaves and early-spring clusters of pink flowers. Its name comes from the squeak the leaves make when rubbed.

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Magnolia

Magnolias are ancient flowering trees and shrubs prized for their large, fragrant, cup- or star-shaped blooms. They range from evergreen Southern magnolias to deciduous spring-flowering types.

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Lime Tree

The lime tree is a small, often thorny evergreen citrus grown for its aromatic green fruit. Key limes (Citrus aurantiifolia) and Persian limes are the most familiar types.

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Indian Hawthorn

Indian hawthorn is a compact evergreen shrub with leathery leaves, fragrant pink or white spring flowers, and blue-black berries. It is a low-care favorite for warm-climate landscapes.

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Natal Plum

Natal plum is a glossy, spiny evergreen shrub from South Africa with fragrant white flowers and red plum-like fruit. It is a tough, salt-tolerant choice for warm-climate hedges and coastal gardens.

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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.

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Stokes' Aster

Stokes' aster is a clump-forming perennial bearing large, frilly, cornflower-like blooms in blue, purple, white, or pink atop neat evergreen foliage. It is a long-blooming, heat-tolerant native of the southeastern US.

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Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa pine is a tall, drought-hardy evergreen conifer of western North America, known for its long needles, large cones and puzzle-piece bark that smells of vanilla or butterscotch. It is a major western timber tree.

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Threadleaf False Cypress

Threadleaf false cypress is an evergreen conifer with long, drooping, whip-like thread foliage that gives a soft, mounding, weeping texture. Golden forms are especially popular as garden accents.

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Skimmia

Skimmia is a compact, shade-loving evergreen shrub valued for fragrant spring flowers, ornamental red winter berries, and showy red flower buds that decorate the plant all winter.

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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.

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Rhododendron

A large genus of evergreen and deciduous shrubs famed for spectacular spring trusses of bell- or funnel-shaped flowers. They thrive in acidic, moist, well-drained woodland soils with dappled light.

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Oregon Grape

Oregon grape is a hardy evergreen shrub with spiny, holly-like leaves, bright yellow spring flowers and clusters of blue berries. It is the state flower of Oregon and a tough plant for shade.

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