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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Wood Sorrel

Wood sorrel is a clover-like herb with heart-shaped trifoliate leaves and small flowers, common as a garden and lawn weed.

herb

Sorrel

Sorrel is a leafy perennial herb in the dock family, grown in herb and vegetable gardens for its bright green, arrow-shaped leaves. It grows from a deep taproot and is among the earliest greens to emerge in spring.

herb

Wood Anemone

A low-growing spring ephemeral of European woodlands that carpets the forest floor with star-shaped white flowers before the tree canopy leafs out.

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

Celandine Poppy

A spring-blooming woodland wildflower of eastern North America bearing bright golden-yellow poppy flowers above deeply lobed blue-green leaves.

flower

Sourwood

Sourwood is a graceful native North American tree with drooping clusters of white lily-of-the-valley-like summer flowers and outstanding scarlet fall foliage.

tree

Forget-Me-Not

Forget-me-not is a low, spreading plant covered in tiny sky-blue flowers with yellow centers, beloved for carpeting spring gardens and self-seeding freely.

flower

Bluebell

Bluebells are spring bulbs that carpet woodlands in hazy drifts of nodding, violet-blue bells. The native English bluebell is a protected woodland icon, distinct from the more vigorous Spanish bluebell.

flower

Sweet Woodruff

Sweet woodruff is a low, spreading groundcover herb with whorls of slender green leaves and clusters of tiny white star-shaped flowers in spring. When dried, its foliage releases a sweet, hay-and-vanilla scent and it carpets shady ground beautifully.

herb

Wild Geranium

A graceful woodland perennial bearing saucer-shaped pink to lavender flowers above deeply lobed leaves in late spring. It is a true hardy geranium, distinct from the tender garden 'geraniums' that are actually pelargoniums.

flower

Sweetgum

A large deciduous shade tree known for its glossy star-shaped leaves, brilliant fall color, and spiky round seed balls. Native to the southeastern United States.

tree

Toadshade

Toadshade is a woodland trillium with mottled leaves and a stalkless, maroon, upright flower that never fully opens. It is a charming spring ephemeral of eastern North American forests.

flower

Wild Violet

Wild violet is a low-growing perennial wildflower with heart-shaped leaves and five-petaled blue-purple blooms, beloved by some and considered a stubborn lawn weed by others.

flower

Yellow Woodsorrel

Yellow woodsorrel is a common clover-like weed with heart-shaped leaflets and small yellow flowers. It self-sows aggressively in lawns, gardens, and pots.

herb

Incense Cedar

Incense Cedar is a stately western conifer with fragrant, flat sprays of foliage and cinnamon-red fibrous bark, famous as the wood used for pencils.

tree

Staghorn Fern

The staghorn fern is a dramatic epiphytic fern whose fertile fronds branch like antlers. It grows mounted on wood or in baskets rather than in ordinary soil.

fern

Live Oak

Live oak is a massive, sprawling evergreen oak of the American South, famous for wide spreading limbs draped in Spanish moss and an extremely strong, dense wood.

tree

Sitka Spruce

Sitka Spruce is the largest spruce in the world, a towering conifer of the cool, wet Pacific Northwest coast. Its strong, lightweight wood is prized for aircraft, boats, and musical instruments.

tree

Air Plant

Air plants are rootless epiphytes that absorb water and nutrients through their leaves, so they can grow mounted on wood, in shells, or simply set on a shelf without any soil.

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

White Ash

A large native shade tree once widely planted for its strong wood and purple-bronze fall color. Now severely threatened by the invasive emerald ash borer.

tree

Basswood

Basswood, or American linden, is a large deciduous shade tree with big heart-shaped leaves and fragrant summer flowers beloved by bees. Its soft, pale wood is a favorite of woodcarvers.

tree

Engelmann Spruce

Engelmann Spruce is a tall, narrow conifer of high western mountains, often forming dense subalpine forests near treeline. Its soft, resonant wood is prized for musical instrument soundboards.

tree

Pignut Hickory

Pignut hickory is a tall, upland hickory of eastern North America with smooth gray bark and pear-shaped nuts. It is valued for tough wood, brilliant golden fall color, and as wildlife habitat.

tree