Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Bull Thistle
Bull thistle is a spiny biennial weed with sharp, prickly leaves and large rose-purple flower heads that is both a pasture nuisance and a pollinator magnet.
flower
Globe Thistle
Globe thistle is a bold, architectural perennial topped with spherical, steel-blue flower heads above spiny, gray-green foliage. It is drought-tolerant and irresistible to bees.
flower
Musk Thistle
Musk thistle is a spiny biennial weed with large, nodding rose-purple flower heads; native to Eurasia, it is an aggressive invader of pastures and rangelands across North America.
flower
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle is a striking, spiny thistle with glossy white-marbled leaves and large purple flower heads. Robust and self-seeding, it can become a weed in warm climates.
herb
Canada Thistle
Canada thistle is an aggressive perennial weed with spiny leaves and small pink-purple flower heads that spreads relentlessly through deep, creeping roots. Despite its name it is native to Europe and Asia, and it is one of the most difficult agricultural weeds to control.
herb
Sow Thistle
A leafy annual resembling a soft thistle, with milky sap, lobed prickle-edged leaves and small dandelion-like yellow flowers. It is a widespread garden and field weed.
herb
Purple Coneflower
Purple coneflower is a tough, long-blooming prairie perennial with daisy-like pink-purple flowers and a raised, spiny orange center that draws butterflies and bees.
flower
Purple Deadnettle
Purple deadnettle is a low winter annual in the mint family, recognized by its triangular, reddish-purple-tinged upper leaves and small pink-purple flowers. A close relative of henbit, it is a harmless, bee-friendly weed that carpets gardens and fields in early spring.
herb
Purple Waffle Plant
The Purple Waffle Plant has puckered, metallic green leaves with deep purple undersides that give a quilted, waffle-like texture. It is a low, spreading plant great for terrariums and groundcover.
houseplant
Prickly Lettuce
Prickly lettuce is a tall annual or biennial weed and the closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce. It is recognized by spiny leaf midribs, milky sap, and leaves that twist to align vertically like a compass.
herb
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
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
Monkey Puzzle Tree
The monkey puzzle is a striking evergreen conifer from the Andes with stiff, spiral-arranged spiky leaves and a distinctive symmetrical, dome-topped silhouette. It is a living fossil, virtually unchanged for millions of years, and can live over a thousand years.
tree
Echinacea
Echinacea, or purple coneflower, is a hardy North American perennial with daisy-like pink-purple blooms, popular in prairie and pollinator gardens.
flower
Coneflower
A rugged North American prairie perennial with daisy-like purple-pink petals around a spiny, copper-orange central cone. Beloved by pollinators and goldfinches.
flower
Wood Betony
Wood betony is a clump-forming perennial herb with crinkled, scalloped leaves and spikes of reddish-purple flowers beloved by bees. It was a widely grown garden plant in medieval Europe.
herb
Mangosteen Tree
A slow-growing tropical evergreen known for its dark purple fruit with white segments. Notoriously demanding, it needs constant warmth and humidity and takes many years to fruit.
tree
Passionflower
Passionflower is a vigorous climbing vine famous for its intricate, fringed purple-and-white blooms. The maypop form (Passiflora incarnata) is hardy in temperate gardens and produces egg-shaped fruits.
flower
Tricolor Beech
Tricolor beech is a striking cultivar of European beech with purple leaves edged in irregular bands of pink and creamy white. It is a slow-growing, eye-catching specimen tree that needs protection from harsh sun.
tree
Red Clover
Red clover is a short-lived perennial legume with rounded pinkish-purple flower heads, widely grown as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop and forage plant.
herb
Passion Fruit
A vigorous tropical climbing vine grown for its intricate, exotic flowers and its rounded fruit. The purple passion fruit is the most widely cultivated variety.
shrub
False Shamrock
A bulbous plant with deep purple, triangular three-part leaves that fold up at night like butterfly wings. Easy to grow, it also produces dainty pale pink or white flowers.
houseplant
Texas Sage
Texas sage is a silvery-leaved desert shrub that erupts in purple flowers after rain or humidity—earning the nickname barometer bush. It thrives on heat, sun, and minimal water.
shrub
Flowering Plum
The flowering plum is a small deciduous ornamental tree grown for its early pink or white spring blossoms and, in popular purple-leaf forms, its deep burgundy foliage. It is a favorite accent tree for gardens and streets.
tree