# Finding Plants

AgroForest Designer provides two ways to explore the shared plant library: a browseable catalogue and an advanced search. Both are available without an account. Sign in when you want to save plants in a planting recipe, manage cultivars, or request a missing plant.

> Plant records are design references, not identification, cultivation, food-safety, or medical advice. Verify the identity, suitability, toxicity, preparation, invasiveness, and legal status of a plant with reliable local sources before obtaining or using it.

## Choose the right discovery route

Open **Library** > **Plants and recipes** when signed in. Public visitors can find the same discovery pages under **Product**.

Use **Plant database** when you want to browse the catalogue by vegetation layer. Use **Search plants** when you know part of a name or want to combine habitat, function, growth, and rating filters.

The advanced-search page also offers **Browse all plants**, which opens the catalogue.

The two plant pages do not modify your work until you explicitly use a signed-in recipe or cultivar action.

## Browse the plant database

Select **Plant database** to open **Plant List for Agroforestry**. Plants are grouped under **Plants per Layer**, with a layer navigation bar for moving through the catalogue.

To narrow the visible cards:

1. Enter text in **Find plants...**.
2. Search by a common name, scientific name, or vegetation layer.
3. Select a plant card to open its full profile.
4. Clear the field to display the complete grouped catalogue again.

This is a live filter of the already displayed catalogue. It is useful when you want to scan a layer or compare nearby entries without completing the full advanced-search form.

Signed-in users can also select **Request plant** from this page. Select **Advanced search** when you need growing-condition or functional filters.

### Choose the common-name language

Use the **Common names** selector on **Plant database** or **Search plants** to choose **English**, **Nederlands**, or **Français**. You do not need an account. For a public visitor, the browser remembers this functional preference for up to one year. Signed-in users save the same choice to their account and can also change it under **Profile** > **Preferences**.

New accounts are asked for this preference while completing onboarding. When that browser already has a public-visitor choice, onboarding selects it initially. The preference changes plant common names across the catalogue and planning tools. It does not translate navigation, descriptions, or other interface content; those remain English.

When a name is missing in the selected language, AgroForest Designer falls back to the English common name and then to the scientific name. A browser or account without a saved preference starts in English.

## Run an advanced search

Select **Search plants** to open **Find the right plants for your design**. The **Advanced search** panel is titled **Filter plants**.

No result set is loaded when you first open the page. Enter a name or choose one or more filters, then select **Search**. After running a query, select **Reset filters** to return to an empty search form.

### Search by name

The name field is labelled **Name (scientific, English, Dutch or French)**. It searches:

- the scientific name;
- the English common name;
- the Dutch common name;
- the French common name.

It does not search cultivar names. If an exact species name returns nothing, check the spelling and try the genus or a shorter part of the name. If you are looking for a cultivar, first find its parent species and then select **Manage cultivars**.

You can leave the name blank and search entirely with filters.

### Use the filters

The current filters are:

| UI label | What it narrows |
| --- | --- |
| **Layer** | Vegetation layer, such as tree, shrub, herb, climber, or groundcover groupings available in the database |
| **Soil Moisture** | Recorded moisture preferences |
| **Edible part** | Recorded edible plant parts |
| **Function** | Recorded design or ecological functions |
| **Soil** | Recorded soil-texture or soil-type preferences |
| **Light** | Recorded light conditions |
| **pH** | Recorded soil-reaction preferences |
| **Format** | Stored plant size or growth-form category |
| **Growth Rate** | Stored growth-rate class |
| **Age** | Stored lifecycle or longevity category |
| **Leaf** | Stored foliage behavior |
| **USDA Hardiness** | Plants whose stored hardiness range includes one of the selected zones |
| **Minimal Edibility** | Minimum database edibility rating |
| **Minimal Medicinality** | Minimum database medicinal rating |

Multiple choices inside one filter act as alternatives: a plant can match any selected value in that category. Different filter categories are combined, so a result must also satisfy the other active categories. The name term is combined with those filters as well.

Start with the one or two requirements that would genuinely rule out a plant. Add more filters after reviewing the first result set. A highly specific combination can return no results because data is missing or because no record matches every category; it does not prove that no suitable plant exists.

The rating sliders use stored database ratings. A higher minimum narrows the list, but it does not establish that a plant is safe, effective, correctly identified, or appropriate for a particular person.

The **USDA Hardiness** filter compares the selected zone with the inclusive range stored on each plant. For example, selecting zone 6 includes a plant recorded as `5-8`, but not one recorded as `7-11`. Treat this as a catalogue filter, not a complete climate-suitability calculation, and verify the full hardiness information with a suitable regional source.

## Read the search results

Each result card starts with the scientific name and the common name selected in your browser or account preference. Select the scientific name to open the full plant profile.

Where data is available, the card summarises:

- age or lifecycle and vegetation layer;
- edible parts and edibility rating;
- recorded functions;
- format, height, and width;
- medicinal rating;
- growth rate;
- soil, pH, moisture, and light preferences;
- leaf behavior and USDA hardiness.

A dash or an empty field usually means that the database does not currently provide that value. Some current cards can instead render an unassessed rating as `0` or a missing dimension as `None m`; do not interpret those placeholders as a measured zero. Missing data never means “safe” or “suitable”. Dimensions generally represent stored mature values and may differ with rootstock, cultivar, climate, soil, pruning, and management.

Cultivar badges can appear under a plant name when cultivar records exist. They are not included in the name search; use the cultivar action to work with them. The current public search can show a cultivar name badge even when its owner cleared **Publicly visible**; that setting controls public-library discovery and duplication rather than guaranteeing that the name is hidden everywhere.

### Use the card actions

The action row at the bottom of a result card uses icons with tooltips:

- **Manage cultivars** opens the cultivar library for that parent plant;
- **View plant images** opens an external image search in a new tab;
- **View plant details** opens the available description in a compact dialog.

The external image search is a visual research aid. Image results can be mislabelled and must not be used as the sole basis for plant identification.

## Inspect the full plant profile

Open the scientific-name link when a card looks relevant. The plant profile can contain general information, size and growth properties, site conditions, edible parts, functions, descriptive information, harvest data, and crown information. Sections can be absent when the underlying record is incomplete.

When signed in, the **Use this plant** panel lets you choose a recipe and select **Add to recipe**. Choose one labelled **Planting recipe**. The current selector can also show pollinator recipes, but they are not valid destinations for main-database plants and the add action will fail. You can also select **Create a new recipe**, enter a recipe name, and use **Create and add**. Guests are asked to log in before saving the plant.

Returning to the result list may not preserve every temporary browser state. Use a recipe when you need a durable shortlist rather than relying on open tabs.

## Build a recipe from search results

The recipe workbench appears between the filter form and the results. Guests can see it, but its management controls require an account.

### Select a recipe

1. Choose one of your recipes under **Select Recipe**.
2. The page loads that recipe's membership and count.
3. Visible result cards already in the recipe change to **Added**.
4. The add/remove controls become active.

Only your standard planting recipes appear in this selector. Pollinator recipes use flowering records and are managed in the pollinator workflow.

Selecting a recipe does not change the current search result set. It supplies the destination for the result-card toggles.

### Add or remove plants

Select **Add to recipe** on a result card to add the species. The control changes to **Added**, the recipe count updates, and a confirmation message appears.

Select the same control again to remove the plant. Both actions are saved immediately; there is no separate save or confirmation step. Pause if an error message appears and verify the card state before continuing.

The same species can belong to several recipes. Change **Select Recipe** before editing another collection, and always check the active-recipe message when several recipe names are similar.

When an active recipe context appears above the results:

- select **Done, view recipe** to inspect the complete recipe;
- select **Stop** to leave the active recipe context.

### Load only the recipe's plants

Select **Loading Recipe** beside the recipe selector when you want the results area to show only the species currently in that recipe.

This is not a save or confirmation action. It switches the query into recipe-membership mode and does not apply the other name and plant-property filters. Run a normal **Search** again when you want filtered database results.

### Create, rename, or delete a recipe

The workbench provides **New**, **Rename**, and **Delete**:

- **New** creates a standard recipe without leaving search;
- **Rename** changes the selected recipe's name;
- **Delete** permanently deletes the selected recipe after confirmation.

Deletion is broader than removing one plant. A deleted recipe can no longer be used by projects that referenced it, so inspect it under **All recipes** before confirming. If recipe creation is unavailable for the current account, review Dashboard **Usage** or **Subscription** rather than deleting useful work without checking its connections.

For full recipe management, continue with [Planting Recipes](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/recipes.md).

## Work with species and cultivars

A plant record describes a species. A cultivar is a named variety connected to that parent plant and may have different dimensions, form, hardiness, harvest dates, or other stored values.

Advanced plant search does not search cultivar names. Use this workflow instead:

1. Search for the parent species.
2. Select **Manage cultivars** on its result card, or open **Cultivars** from the signed-in navigation.
3. Create your own cultivar or duplicate a public cultivar for that parent.
4. Add the parent species to a standard recipe.
5. Open the recipe and select the required cultivar under the parent plant.

Use the species when the exact variety has not been chosen or when species-level planning is sufficient. Use a cultivar when variety-specific information materially changes the design. See [Cultivars](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/cultivars.md) for the complete workflow.

## Request a missing plant

If a broad scientific-name search and the catalogue both confirm that a species is missing, sign in and select **Request plant**.

1. Enter the complete scientific name, normally genus and species.
2. Optionally explain why the plant would be useful in an agroforestry or permaculture context.
3. Select **Submit request**.

A request is submitted for review; it does not immediately create a database record. Search first to avoid duplicates. Use the cultivar workflow rather than submitting a species request solely because a cultivar name is absent from advanced search.

## Explore relationships and pollinator value

Plant search answers “which records match these attributes?” Other tools answer different questions:

- [Pollinator Plant Database](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/pollinator-database.md) filters flowering records by season, site conditions, native region, and target pollinator groups, then shows recorded suitability, nectar, pollen, and colour information.
- [Flowering Arc](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/flowering-arc.md) compares the seasonal coverage of pollinator recipes.

A relationship, rating, or flowering record is evidence stored in the database, not proof that the combination will succeed at your site.

## Understand the data limitations

Plant records come from shared structured data and can vary in completeness. Keep these limitations in mind:

- a missing value is unknown, not zero or unsuitable;
- general species values may not describe a particular cultivar or rootstock;
- dimensions and harvest periods vary with climate, age, soil, water, pruning, and management;
- hardiness zones do not capture frost pockets, summer heat, wind, wetness, or late-frost risk;
- edible and medicinal ratings do not provide identification, preparation, dosage, allergy, interaction, or toxicity guidance;
- recorded functions do not account for competition, spacing, disease, local invasiveness, or legal restrictions;
- external images and common names can be ambiguous;
- a broad query can create a long result page because results are shown together rather than as a paginated catalogue.

Record uncertainty in your own recipe or project notes and verify decisions that affect health, cost, safety, or implementation.

## Troubleshoot plant discovery

### No results appear when the page opens

This is expected on **Search plants**. Enter a name or choose a filter and select **Search**. Use **Plant database** when you want an immediately visible catalogue.

### A known species returns no result

Check the scientific spelling, try an English, Dutch, or French common name, reduce the term to the genus, and select **Reset filters**. The name field does not search cultivar names.

### Filters return no plants

Remove filters one category at a time. Pay particular attention to rating thresholds, hardiness, and combinations of site-condition filters. Some otherwise relevant records may have missing data for one selected category.

### Add controls remain disabled

Sign in and choose a standard planting recipe under **Select Recipe**. Pollinator recipes do not appear there. If the expected recipe is missing, check its type and availability under **All recipes**.

### The result list changed after loading a recipe

**Loading Recipe** intentionally displays only the recipe's current plants. Change a search field or select **Search** to leave recipe-membership mode and run a normal query.

### A cultivar does not appear in name search

Find the parent species and select **Manage cultivars**. Cultivar names are handled in the cultivar library, not by the advanced plant-name query.

### A requested plant is still absent

Requests are reviewed before database inclusion. Do not submit repeated copies merely because the record is not immediately visible.

## Continue the workflow

After choosing species, organise them in a [Planting Recipe](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/recipes.md), refine named varieties in [Cultivars](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/cultivars.md), or create a site in [Projects](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/projects.md). Return to [Getting Started](https://agroforestdesigner.com/docs/basics/getting-started.md) for the complete first-design sequence.