Plant Species

In this guide, we’ll walk through the plant species resource and show you how to use it in your applications. All plant species data is sourced from the USDA PLANTS Database.

What Are Plant Species?

A plant species is a group of plants that share common characteristics and can reproduce naturally to produce similar offspring. Each species is part of a broader taxonomic classification, which includes:

Higher levels: Kingdom → Division → Class → Order → Family
Lower levels: Genus → Species

Species serve as a foundational building block in plant classification and are used to group plants by shared traits and natural reproduction.

Examples of Plant Species

Tomato — scientifically known as Solanum lycopersicum
Pepper — scientifically known as Capsicum annuum
Sweet Basil — scientifically known as Ocimum basilicum

Plant Species vs. Plant Varieties

It's important to distinguish between plant species and plant varieties, especially when building features with the Verdantly API.

Plant Species represent the biological classification of a plant, like tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) or bell pepper (Capsicum annuum).
Plant Varieties refer to specific types within a species. These include:
- Native cultivars — naturally occurring varieties adapted to specific regions like Cherokee Purple tomato and Poblano pepper.
- Human-bred cultivars — selected or engineered by people for traits like flavor, color, yield, size, or climate tolerance like Sungold tomato and California Wonder bell pepper.

You can think of species as the blueprint, and varieties as specific models built from that blueprint — optimized for different uses, climates, or aesthetics.

In Verdantly, both native cultivars and human-developed varieties are grouped under the same plant varieties resource for simplicity and consistency.

Examples of Plant Varieties

Species: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Brandywine — Heirloom variety with large fruit and complex flavor.
Sungold — Cherry tomato known for sweetness and orange color.
San Marzano — Classic Italian paste tomato known for rich flavor and low moisture.

Species: Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

California Wonder — Classic bell pepper cultivar.
Jalapeño — Popular spicy pepper used in many cuisines.
Shishito — Mild, thin-walled Japanese pepper often used for pan-frying.

Species: Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Genovese — Traditional Italian basil with large, aromatic leaves.
Thai Basil — Spicy-sweet variety with purple stems and anise-like flavor.
Lemon Basil — Fragrant basil with citrus notes, popular in Southeast Asian cooking.

For more details on working with specific cultivated plants, check out the Plant Varieties guide.

Plant Species Object Structure

Each plant species object in the API contains structured taxonomic data. Let's take a look at some examples of the plant species object:

Plant species

{
    "id": "0ed7009c-452b-4bca-859f-9945f7341edf",
    "symbol": "SAAP",
    "acceptedSymbol": "SAAP",
    "synonymSymbol": null,
    "commonName": "annual pearlwort",
    "scientificName": "Sagina apetala Ard.",
    "hybridGenusIndicator": null,
    "hybridSpeciesIndicator": null,
    "species": "apetala",
    "subspeciesPrefix": null,
    "hybridSubspeciesIndicator": null,
    "subspecies": null,
    "varietyPrefix": null,
    "hybridVarietyIndicator": null,
    "variety": null,
    "subvarietyPrefix": null,
    "subvariety": null,
    "formaPrefix": null,
    "forma": null,
    "generaBinomialAuthor": "Ard.",
    "trinomialAuthor": null,
    "quadranomialAuthor": null,
    "questionableTaxonIndicator": null,
    "parents": null,
    "stateAndProvince": "USA (CA, CO, IL, LA, MD, NJ, OR, WA), CAN (BC)",
    "category": "Dicot",
    "family": "Caryophyllaceae",
    "familySymbol": "CARYOP",
    "familyCommonName": "Pink family",
    "order": "Caryophyllales",
    "subclass": "Caryophyllidae",
    "class": "Magnoliopsida",
    "subdivision": null,
    "division": "Magnoliophyta",
    "superdivision": "Spermatophyta",
    "subkingdom": "Tracheobionta",
    "kingdom": "Plantae",
    "duration": "Annual",
    "growthHabit": "Forb/herb",
    "nativeStatus": "L48 (I), CAN (N)",
    "federalNoxiousStatus": null,
    "stateNoxiousStatus": null,
    "stateNoxiousCommonName": null,
    "invasive": null,
    "federalTeStatus": null,
    "stateTeStatus": null,
    "stateTeCommonName": null,
    "activeGrowthPeriod": null
}

For an in-depth look at the plant species object, check out the Plant Species resource.

The plant species object allows you to create a wide range of experiences for your users. You can display general information about the plant species, such as its common name, scientific name, family, and more. You can also provide detailed information about the plant species, such as its growth habit, native status, and invasiveness.

Examples

Let's take a look at some examples of how to use the plant variety object in your application.

Example 1: Fuzzy search by common name

Request

GET

/v1/plants/species/name

curl -G https://verdantly-gardening-api.p.rapidapi.com/v1/plants/species/name?q=mos \
-H "X-RapidAPI-Host: verdantly-gardening-api.p.rapidapi.com" \
-H "X-RapidAPI-Key: {apiKey}" \

Example 2: Display Dicots, plants with two seed leaves when it germinates

Request

GET

/v1/plants/species/filter

curl -G https://verdantly-gardening-api.p.rapidapi.com/v1/plants/species/filter?category=Dicot \
-H "X-RapidAPI-Host: verdantly-gardening-api.p.rapidapi.com" \
-H "X-RapidAPI-Key: {apiKey}" \