Plant identifier (Beta)
Identify your houseplant by photo
Upload a photo and we will give you our best-guess shortlist of what it could be, then point you to the care guide. It is a starting point, not the last word.
Here is what we think it could be
Was this right?
Thank you, that helps.
No luck, or want a second opinion? Read how to identify a houseplant by hand, browse the plant finder, or post a clear photo to the r/whatsthisplant community.
How to take a photo that identifies well
Identification is only as good as the photo. The tool, like any visual identifier, is matching shapes and patterns, so a clear, well-lit photo of the right part of the plant does most of the work. A few habits make a big difference:
- Fill the frame with one plant. A single plant against a plain background reads far better than a shelf of ten. If several plants are in shot, the result is a guess at whichever one the tool latched onto.
- Photograph a leaf up close. Leaf shape, edges, and vein pattern carry most of the signal. A sharp shot of one leaf, top side and underside, beats a blurry photo of the whole plant.
- Add the whole plant and any flower. Growth habit (upright, trailing, climbing) and any flower or unusual detail help separate lookalikes. If you can, identify from more than one angle.
- Use soft, even light. Daylight near a window is ideal. Avoid harsh shadows, yellow indoor light, and backlight that turns the plant into a silhouette.
How to read the results
You get up to three candidates, strongest first, each with a confidence reading. Treat them as a shortlist of hypotheses, not a verdict. Common beginner plants are easy to confuse even for people who have grown them for years: pothos and heartleaf philodendron, the many calatheas and prayer plants, the small succulent rosettes. If the top two look plausible, open both care guides and compare the leaf detail against your plant. When the confidence is low, the honest answer is that the photo was not clear enough or the plant is outside what the tool knows well. A better photo, or the hand-identification method linked above, will usually get you there.
A safety note
Please do not rely on this tool for any decision about whether a plant is safe to touch, eat, or keep around pets and children. A confident-looking match can still be wrong, and some houseplants have toxic lookalikes. Where a result links to one of our care guides, the pet-safety note there is drawn from the ASPCA's lists, but it is general guidance, not veterinary advice. If a pet or child has eaten part of a plant, call your vet or doctor rather than an app.
Why this is a Beta
We are building this in the open and improving it over time. Today it leans on an external identification service to give you a fast answer; as more people use it and tell us when a result was right or wrong, we are growing our own houseplant database so the tool gets steadily more accurate at the plants our readers actually own. Your feedback after each identification is what powers that, and it is entirely optional.