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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Cucumber

Cucumber is a warm-season vining plant in the gourd family, grown for its long green fruits. It is fast-growing and productive when given heat, sun, and steady moisture.

herb

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

Sausage Tree

The sausage tree is an African tree famous for its enormous, heavy, sausage-shaped fruits dangling on long stalks, and its dark maroon, bat-pollinated flowers. It is a striking specimen of savanna and riverbank landscapes.

tree

Sandbur

Sandbur is a warm-season grass infamous for its sharp, spiny seed burs that cling painfully to skin, clothing, and animal fur. It thrives in dry, sandy, disturbed soils and is a troublesome weed of lawns and pastures.

grass

Burdock

A large biennial famous for its bur-covered seed heads that cling to fur and clothing, the inspiration for Velcro. It has enormous rhubarb-like leaves and a thick, deep taproot.

herb

Burning Bush

A deciduous shrub famous for its fiery crimson-red fall foliage and distinctive corky 'wings' along the stems. Tough and adaptable, it is also invasive in parts of North America.

shrub

Burros Tail

A trailing succulent with long, rope-like stems densely packed with plump, blue-green leaves that resemble a braided tail. It makes a spectacular hanging plant but its leaves drop at the slightest touch.

succulent

Burro's Tail

A trailing succulent with plump, overlapping blue-green leaves packed along long stems that resemble braided tails. Easy to grow but its beads drop off at the slightest touch.

succulent

Borage

A fast-growing annual herb with brilliant blue star-shaped flowers and bristly, cucumber-scented leaves. A magnet for bees, it self-seeds freely and is a favorite of pollinator gardens.

herb

Agrimony

Agrimony is an upright perennial herb topped with slender spires of small yellow flowers that smell faintly of apricot. It produces bur-like seeds that cling to passersby.

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

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

Nettle

A vigorous perennial herb famous for the stinging hairs on its leaves and stems. It thrives in rich, damp soils across temperate regions.

herb

Stinging Nettle

Stinging nettle is a tall perennial herb covered in tiny hollow hairs that release an irritating fluid on contact, producing a brief stinging sensation. It has a long history as a fiber and dye plant.

herb

Donkey Tail

Donkey tail is a trailing Mexican sedum whose long stems are packed with plump, blue-green teardrop leaves that resemble a braided animal's tail, perfect for hanging baskets.

succulent

Fireweed

A tall, magenta-flowered perennial famous for blanketing burned and disturbed land, which gives it its name. Its spires of pink-purple flowers make it both a pioneer species and a showy garden plant.

flower

Shepherd's Purse

Shepherd's purse is a common annual weed of the mustard family named for its distinctive heart-shaped seed pods, found in gardens, fields, and roadsides worldwide.

herb

Artichoke

The globe artichoke is a striking thistle grown in gardens for its large, scaly flower buds. Left unharvested, the buds open into large, vivid purple blooms.

herb

Katsura Tree

A graceful Asian shade tree with heart-shaped blue-green leaves that turn gold and apricot in fall, famously releasing a sweet scent of burnt sugar or cotton candy.

tree

Christmas Cactus

The Christmas cactus is a Brazilian forest cactus that bursts into tubular pink, red, or white blooms in early winter. Unlike desert cacti, it likes humidity and regular water.

succulent

Trumpet Tree

The trumpet tree is a tropical American tree that bursts into a mass of pink-to-magenta trumpet-shaped flowers, often while leafless. Known as pink ipê, it is a prized ornamental.

tree

Rubber Tree

The rubber tree is a striking indoor tree with large, thick, glossy leaves that can be deep green or burgundy. It is easy to grow and can become an impressive floor plant several feet tall.

tree

Blood Orange

Blood orange is an orange cultivar whose flesh develops crimson-to-burgundy pigment from anthocyanins, triggered by cool nights. It produces fruit on a compact evergreen tree.

tree

Rat Tail Cactus

A trailing epiphytic cactus with long, slender, spiny stems that hang like rat tails and burst into vivid pink-magenta flowers in spring. It is a spectacular choice for hanging baskets.

succulent