Determine indoor plants - which plant is that?

Houseplants according to the leaf determine

Have you always wondered which plant Grandma Irmtraud or Aunt Mathilde gave you as a gift? Or the little sign with the name of the plant got lost when you moved and now you're puzzling about the name of your beloved plant? No problem!

We'll show you how to identify your houseplants without a green thumb. There are various methods for identifying unfamiliar indoor plants, three of which we will present to you in this article. Have fun while reading.

The following is important for identifying your houseplant: What does the leaf of the plant look like? The leaves are one of the most important identifying features of plants. First and foremost, a distinction is made as to whether it is a single sheet or a sheet that is connected.

The shape of the leaves can be very different. Nature knows no borders. They can be heart-shaped, egg-shaped, rounded, triangular, oblong or even fan-shaped. We show you some examples of common indoor plants with these leaf shapes here.

In the picture: Fiddle fig

Nature knows no boundaries - play of shapes

Heart-shaped

Monster leaf(Monstera): large leaves
Chandelier Flower (Ceropegia): tiny little leaves
Flamingo flower(Anthurium): medium-sized leaves with flowers
Cyclamen (Cyclamen): very small leaves with colorful flowers
Sweetheart plant (Hoya kerrii): small to medium-sized leaves
Arrow Leaf (Alocasia): dark green leaves with light lines

Ovoid

Rubber tree(Ficus): medium-sized leaves
Jasmine plant (Jasminum): medium-sized leaves
Croton (Codiaeum): medium to large leaves
Laurel(Laurus): medium-sized leaves

Plumpy

Gunner Flower(Pilea): very small leaves
Dwarf pepper(Peperomia): small leaves
Leaf begonia(Begonia venosa): medium to large leaves
Bubikopf(Soleirolia): tiny little leaves
African violet (Saintpaulia): small leaves with blue/purple flower

Triangular

Triangular lucky clover(Oxalis triangularis): small purple leaves

Elongated

Dragon tree(Dracaena): very long thin leaves
Spider plant (Liliaceae): slightly drooping leaves
Cobbler Palm(Aspidistra elatior): wide long leaves
Sling (Clivia): long thin leaves with orange flower
Bug hemp (Sansevieria): long green-yellow leaves pointing upwards
Agaves (Agave): thin to broad long pointed leaves

Fan-shaped

Ginkgo: medium-sized leaves

Identify flowering houseplants

The flower can also help you to identify your indoor plants. However, this assumes that your houseplant is a flowering plant. The number of petals and the color of the flowers are particularly important here. Since these features of the plant are easy to spot, this shouldn't cause much trouble.

Pictured: Guzmania

Petal count

A petal

Solid (Spathiphyllum): white flower
Flamingo flower: red flower

Three petals

some orchids
Spiderwort (Tradescantia): purple/blue flower

Five Petals

Dipladenia (Mandevilla): red, yellow or white flowers
Jasmine plant (Jasminum): white flower
Jungle Bells(Allamanda): Yellow Flower

Six petals

Amaryllis: red flowers
African Violet (Saintpaulia): purple/blue flowers

Seven petals and more

Flaming Käthchen (Kalanchoe): colorful flowers
Lance rosette(Aechma): pointed pink flowers
Bromeliad (Bromeliaceae): red or yellow elongated flowers
Tillandsia (Tillandsia): pink/purple flowers

Identify indoor plants with photo

The internet and plant encyclopedias can also help you identify your houseplants. Here, individual pictures of houseplants are shown. Usually you can tell just by looking at it whether it is the same plant as in the photo.

A distinction is often made between flowering plants and non-flowering plants. That narrows things down again.

Pictured: Golden Palm Tree

Plant identification book

Plant encyclopedias as books are often sorted in alphabetical order. A small profile with instructions for care is usually included in the plant portrait. It may take a while until you have found the right picture for your plant, so don't give up! If you take a little time, you can browse through the encyclopedia to discover previously unknown plant beauties and create your own "Urban Jungle" by bringing nature into your home.

Identify indoor plants online

There are now various pages on which individual pictures of different indoor plants can be found. Your plant can be identified quickly and easily using plant image databases. Identifying your houseplant online has the advantage that you can search more specifically because you can simply type in the description and in the best case scenario the web will spit out the appropriate picture for you.

If not, then you can often click on the respective picture and further details of the plant will be displayed. In this way you can exactly compare the photo and the details with your own houseplant.

Identify indoor plants with app

As a plant lover, you too can now benefit from technical progress. With the help of free apps from the App Store, you can identify your plant via app. For example, a very popular app for Android and IOS is Flora Incognita.

Most of the time you just have to photograph part of the plant and everything else happens automatically via the app. The database will then be searched and ideally you will have the name of the houseplant you are looking for after a short wait.

Tip: Photograph your plant in front of a neutral background if possible, this makes the search easier.

With some apps you not only have the possibility to determine the plant, but you can also order it online from plant breeders. There is also information about where a good location is and how you should best care for it.

What the appearance of plants says about them

So if you don't know the name of your plant, that's no problem. You don't always have to run bag and baggage to the nearest gardener and get advice. You can also solve the problem quite well from home. The shape of the leaves and the number of petals say a lot about your plant.

And that often helps with the identification. In addition, of course, the various apps for planting will help you or simply the normal online search in the plant databases. That's why it's now for you: Get to the plant, because today is its name day!