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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Ponytail Palm

Not a true palm but a succulent with a swollen, water-storing trunk and a fountain of long, curly leaves. Its bulbous base gives it the nickname elephant's foot.

succulent

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

Kentia Palm

The kentia palm is an elegant, slow-growing feather palm from Australia's Lord Howe Island, famed since Victorian times as one of the most durable and graceful indoor palms.

houseplant

Bamboo Palm

The Bamboo Palm is a clumping indoor palm with slender, cane-like green stems and feathery fronds. It tolerates low light and is a popular choice for adding tropical height.

houseplant

Yucca Palm

The yucca palm is not a true palm but a tough, drought-tolerant evergreen from Central America, prized as an architectural houseplant with rosettes of sword-shaped leaves atop woody canes.

shrub

Parlor Palm

A compact, slow-growing palm that thrives in low light, making it a classic indoor plant since Victorian times. It forms delicate clumps of feathery green fronds.

houseplant

Sago Palm

An ancient, palm-like cycad with a stout trunk and a symmetrical crown of stiff, feathery dark-green fronds. Despite the name it is not a true palm.

shrub

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

Lady Palm

The Lady Palm is an elegant clumping palm with fan-shaped leaves split into glossy, finger-like segments. It is tough, shade-tolerant, and a classic interior plant.

houseplant

Areca Palm

A clumping feather palm with feathery, arching fronds and golden-yellow stems. One of the most popular indoor palms.

tree

Joshua Tree

An iconic, slow-growing tree-sized yucca of the Mojave Desert, with spiky bayonet-like leaves and branched, shaggy arms that define the desert skyline.

succulent

ZZ Plant

The ZZ plant is an exceptionally tough houseplant with glossy, waxy leaves and thick water-storing rhizomes that let it survive drought and low light. It is nearly indestructible and ideal for beginners or neglectful owners.

houseplant

Castor Bean

Castor bean is a fast-growing, dramatic plant with huge tropical leaves and spiny seed pods, often used as a bold ornamental for an instant tropical effect in gardens.

shrub

Japanese Maple

A small, elegant ornamental tree prized for delicate, deeply lobed leaves in shades of red, green and purple, and spectacular fall color. A centerpiece of Japanese gardens.

tree

Silk Floss Tree

The silk floss tree is a striking subtropical tree with a bulging, thorn-studded green trunk and large pink-and-cream hibiscus-like flowers in autumn. Its seed pods burst to release silky white fibers, giving the tree its name.

tree

Bloodgood Japanese Maple

Bloodgood is the classic deep-red Japanese maple, holding its dark burgundy-purple leaf color through summer better than most cultivars before turning crimson in fall. It is an elegant upright specimen tree.

tree

Coral Bark Maple

Coral bark maple is a Japanese maple cultivar famous for its glowing coral-red young stems that brighten the winter landscape. Its spring leaves emerge soft green and turn golden-yellow in fall.

tree

Ohio Buckeye

A medium native tree with palmate compound leaves, spiny husks holding glossy brown 'buckeye' seeds, and foliage that smells unpleasant when crushed.

tree

Lupine

A striking cottage-garden perennial with tall, dense spires of pea-like flowers in vivid blues, purples, pinks, and bicolors above palmate leaves. A nitrogen-fixing legume beloved by bees.

flower

Lupin

Lupin is a striking perennial bearing tall, dense spikes of pea-like flowers in vivid colors above palmate leaves. A legume, it fixes nitrogen and is a cottage-garden showstopper.

flower

Chaste Tree

The chaste tree is a Mediterranean deciduous shrub or small tree with aromatic, palmate foliage and slender spikes of lavender-blue summer flowers that attract bees and butterflies.

shrub

Thimble Cactus

A tiny clustering cactus that produces masses of little thimble-sized offsets which detach at the slightest touch. The pale spines give the cluster a soft, frosty look.

succulent

Philodendron Verrucosum

A spectacular climbing philodendron with large, heart-shaped, velvety leaves of deep green and pale veining, set on distinctive hairy, fuzzy petioles. It demands high humidity to thrive.

houseplant

Butternut

Butternut is a medium-sized North American walnut relative with elongated, sticky nuts and a pale, lightweight wood. Wild populations have been devastated by butternut canker disease.

tree