Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Prayer Plant
A low-growing tropical foliage plant famous for folding its decoratively veined leaves upward at night, like hands in prayer. Its oval leaves show striking patterns of green, cream and red.
houseplant
Empress Tree
The empress tree is an extremely fast-growing tree with huge fuzzy leaves and upright clusters of fragrant lavender, foxglove-like flowers in spring. It is admired for its rapid growth and bloom but is invasive in many regions.
tree
Cyclamen
Cyclamen is a tuberous perennial famous for its swept-back, butterfly-like flowers and heart-shaped, silver-marbled leaves. The florist's cyclamen blooms through the cool months, going dormant in summer heat.
flower
Bird's Nest Fern
An epiphytic fern that forms a rosette of broad, undivided, ripple-edged fronds around a central nest-like crown. Unlike lacy ferns, its simple glossy leaves make it forgiving and bold indoors.
fern
Apache Pine
A southwestern pine of the Sierra Madre and Arizona–New Mexico borderlands, notable for very long, drooping needles and a grass-like seedling stage. Young trees resemble a tuft of grass before the trunk elongates.
tree
String of Turtles
A delicate trailing peperomia with tiny round leaves patterned like miniature turtle shells. Slow-growing and compact, it is well suited to small hanging pots and terrariums.
houseplant
String of Buttons
An easy succulent whose triangular leaves are stacked in pairs around the stem, looking like buttons threaded on a string. Forms tidy spirals that sprawl and trail as they lengthen.
succulent
Lovage
Lovage is a tall, robust perennial herb with bold, celery-scented foliage and an architectural form. Long-lived, a single plant makes a striking back-of-border specimen.
herb
Goldfish Plant
The goldfish plant is a tropical trailing houseplant named for its bright orange, pouched flowers that look like leaping goldfish among glossy dark green leaves.
houseplant
Dutchman's Breeches
A delicate spring ephemeral whose white, pantaloon-shaped flowers hang in a row like tiny upside-down breeches. It blooms early in woodlands then vanishes by summer.
flower
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.
tree
Chervil
A delicate annual culinary herb with lacy, fern-like leaves, grown in gardens. One of the classic French fines herbes, it prefers cool weather and light shade.
herb
Blanket Flower
A heat-loving, daisy-like perennial in fiery bands of red, orange, and yellow that bloom nonstop all summer. Tough, drought-proof, and beloved by bees and butterflies.
flower
Black Medic
Black medic is a low, clover-like legume weed with small yellow flower clusters and distinctive coiled black seed pods, common in lawns and disturbed soils.
herb
Asparagus Fern
The asparagus fern is not a true fern but a relative of garden asparagus, grown for its soft, feathery sprays of bright green needle-like foliage. It is easy and fast-growing.
houseplant
Velvet Shield Anthurium
This collector's anthurium is grown for its large, velvety, heart-shaped leaves emblazoned with bold, contrasting white veins. The thick, dark foliage has a stiff, almost cardboard-like texture that gives it its nicknames.
houseplant
Trillium
A cherished woodland wildflower built entirely in threes: three leaves, three petals, and three sepals. Slow-growing and long-lived, it is a hallmark of healthy spring forests and should never be picked or dug from the wild.
flower
Indian Paintbrush
A vivid North American wildflower whose flame-colored display comes not from petals but from brightly tipped leaf-like bracts. It is a hemiparasite that taps the roots of neighboring plants, making it notoriously difficult to cultivate.
flower
Henbit
Henbit is a low winter annual in the mint family that carpets lawns, fields and gardens in early spring with pinkish-purple tubular flowers. It is closely related to purple deadnettle and, like it, is a bee-friendly weed of cool seasons.
herb
Franklin Tree
The Franklin tree is a rare deciduous tree extinct in the wild, surviving only in cultivation from seed collected in the 1700s. It bears fragrant white camellia-like flowers in late summer and fiery red fall color.
tree
Foxtail Fern
Despite its name, foxtail fern is not a true fern but a member of the asparagus family, grown for its plush, upright plumes of needle-like 'leaves.' Its dense, bottlebrush fronds resemble fluffy green foxtails.
houseplant
Bur Oak
Bur oak is a massive, long-lived North American oak known for its huge, fringe-capped acorns, deeply furrowed bark and exceptional toughness. Drought- and fire-resistant, it is a stately tree for large landscapes.
tree
Button Fern
The Button Fern is a compact fern with distinctive round, button-like leaflets along arching dark stems. Unlike most ferns it tolerates somewhat drier conditions, making it a charming, manageable choice for small spaces.
fern
Tree Aeonium
A branching, shrubby succulent that holds glossy leaf rosettes atop bare woody stems. Popular dark cultivars like 'Zwartkop' turn nearly black in strong sun.
succulent