Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Purslane
Purslane is a low, succulent annual with fleshy paddle-shaped leaves and trailing reddish stems. A widespread plant of warm, sunny ground, it grows both wild and as a cultivated garden vegetable.
succulent
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.
shrub
Coleus
Coleus is a vibrant foliage plant grown for its endlessly varied leaves in shades of red, pink, green, purple, and gold. Easy to grow and propagate, it is a favorite for containers and shady beds.
houseplant
Elephant Ear
A dramatic tropical plant grown for its huge, heart- or arrowhead-shaped leaves resembling elephant ears.
houseplant
Onion
The onion is a globally cultivated plant grown for its layered underground bulb. A biennial usually grown as an annual, it is one of the world's most widely grown garden plants.
herb
Smokebush
A deciduous shrub famous for the airy, smoke-like haze of fluffy flower stalks that envelop the plant in summer. Many cultivars add dramatic purple or gold foliage and fiery fall color.
shrub
Rhubarb
Rhubarb is a hardy herbaceous perennial grown for its thick, ruby-to-green leaf stalks rising from a ground-level crown. It is a robust, long-lived cool-season garden plant.
herb
Madagascar Palm
The Madagascar palm is a spiny, succulent caudex plant with a thick, spine-covered trunk topped by a crown of strappy leaves. Despite its name and look, it is not a true palm but a relative of the desert rose.
succulent
Horsetail
An ancient, fern-related plant with jointed, hollow stems and whorls of needle-like branches that resemble a horse's tail. It is a persistent weed of damp ground, spreading by deep rhizomes and reproducing by spores.
fern
Goatsbeard
Goatsbeard is a robust, shade-loving perennial that produces tall, feathery plumes of creamy-white flowers, resembling a giant astilbe. It is a striking native woodland plant for moist, partly shaded gardens.
shrub
Elephant Bush
Elephant bush is a fast-growing South African succulent shrub with small round jade-green leaves on reddish stems, popular as a houseplant, bonsai subject, and carbon-storing landscape plant.
succulent
Pawpaw Tree
A small native North American tree producing the largest fruit native to the continent, borne on a hardy understory tree with large drooping leaves. It is the only temperate member of a largely tropical plant family.
tree
Lungwort
Lungwort is a shade-loving perennial grown for its silver-spotted leaves and early spring flowers that often open pink and age to blue on the same plant. It is an excellent groundcover for woodland and shady gardens.
flower
Stevia
Stevia is a tender perennial herb in the daisy family, native to South America. It forms a bushy, branching plant grown in gardens and containers.
herb
Sassafras
An aromatic native tree known for its three differently shaped leaves on the same plant, spicy fragrance, and brilliant fall color.
tree
Old Man Cactus
A columnar cactus famously cloaked in long, shaggy white hairs that resemble an old man's beard. The wool shields the plant from sun and cold while hiding sharp spines beneath.
succulent
Bell Pepper
Bell pepper is a blocky-fruited variety of Capsicum annuum grown as a warm-season garden crop, bearing glossy fruit in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. It is a colorful, productive plant for sunny beds and containers.
herb
Kumquat
A small evergreen citrus producing tiny oval orange fruit. It is among the most cold-hardy citrus and a popular compact container plant.
tree
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
Balloon Flower
Balloon flower is a long-lived perennial named for its puffy, balloon-like buds that pop open into star-shaped blue, pink or white blooms. It is an easy, deer-resistant plant that flowers reliably through summer.
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
Zucchini
Zucchini is a prolific summer squash in the gourd family, grown as a bushy warm-season annual. A single healthy plant produces vigorously through the summer.
herb
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
Majesty Palm
A graceful feather palm with arching fronds, popular as a large indoor floor plant. It demands plenty of light, moisture, and humidity to look its best.
tree