Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
California Poppy
The official state flower of California, a hardy annual or short-lived perennial with silky, cup-shaped orange to gold blooms above ferny blue-green foliage. It thrives in poor, dry soil and closes its petals at night and on cloudy days.
flower
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
Sassafras
An aromatic native tree known for its three differently shaped leaves on the same plant, spicy fragrance, and brilliant fall color.
tree
Satin Pothos
A trailing tropical vine with heart-shaped, matte green leaves splashed in shimmering silver. Despite the name it is not a true pothos, but it shares the same easygoing, low-light tolerance.
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
Four O'Clock
A bushy tuberous perennial famous for fragrant trumpet flowers that open in late afternoon and stay open through the night, then close by morning. A single plant can bear differently colored blooms, sometimes flecked on the same flower.
flower
Ground Ivy
Ground ivy is a creeping, aromatic perennial in the mint family with scalloped round leaves and blue-violet spring flowers, the same plant widely known as creeping Charlie. It forms dense mats in shady lawns and gardens and is notoriously persistent.
herb
Cocklebur
Cocklebur is a coarse annual weed famous for its hard, hooked burs that cling to fur and clothing. It is a serious agricultural and pasture pest.
herb
Velvet Calathea
A prayer-plant relative with long, wavy-edged leaves that are velvety to the touch and flushed deep maroon underneath. Beautiful but thirsty for humidity and sensitive to hard water.
houseplant
Ironweed
A tall, robust native perennial crowned in late summer with clusters of intensely purple flowers. Its tough, wiry stems and iron-hard durability give it its name.
flower
Butternut Squash
Butternut squash is a winter squash with a tan, bell-shaped rind grown on vigorous trailing vines. The hard-skinned fruit stores well for months.
herb
Puncturevine
Puncturevine is a low, mat-forming summer weed notorious for its hard, spiny seed burs that puncture bicycle tires and bare feet. It thrives in hot, dry, disturbed ground and is widespread in warm regions worldwide.
herb
Black Locust
Black locust is a fast-growing deciduous tree with fragrant white spring flowers and extremely hard, rot-resistant wood. A nitrogen-fixing legume, it is valued for timber and erosion control but can be invasive.
tree
Creeping Charlie
Creeping Charlie is a low, aromatic perennial in the mint family that spreads aggressively by creeping stems to form dense mats in lawns and shady gardens. Its scalloped, round leaves and small blue-violet flowers make it easy to recognize and notoriously hard to eradicate.
herb