How We Source and Check Plant Data

Plant names and taxonomy

Scientific names, authors, families and synonyms follow the World Flora Online (WFO) taxonomic backbone. Where available, plant pages link the WFO record and the International Plant Names Index (IPNI) entry. Synonyms redirect to the accepted name, so one species has one page.

The growth form (tree, shrub, herb, vine, succulent and so on) comes from botanical databases such as Plants of the World Online and from rules based on family and genus. It decides which care template a page uses — trees and shrubs get planting, spacing, pruning and winter care instead of repotting.

Care values

Watering interval, light, temperature, humidity, soil, fertilizing interval, size and propagation come from PlantoScan's plant database. They are general guidance for a typical plant of that species — not measurements, and not a substitute for checking the soil and watching your plant.

Before a value is shown on the website, automatic plausibility checks run. Values that fail are hidden rather than shown:

• Fertilizing intervals are only shown between one week and 12 months.
• Light readings in lux are only shown when they agree with the written light requirement (for example, full sun needs daylight-level lux values).
• Temperatures are checked for impossible ranges; a minimum of 0 °F is kept for frost-hardy plants, where it is real.
• Pages without a description or any care data are kept out of search engines.

Care copy on plant pages is written as fixed templates filled with these values — the same sentences for every species with the same data — so a page never says more than the data supports.

Pet toxicity

Pet toxicity comes from the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's toxic and non-toxic plant list, per animal (cats and dogs). Where the ASPCA lists a plant, its verdict is what we show. Where it doesn't, the page says so, and any note from our own database is treated as unverified.

Hardiness zones and native range

USDA hardiness zones come from published plant databases where available, are calculated from the plant's minimum temperature, or are estimated by our data pipeline. Each plant page names which of these applies.

Native-range text and the country list come from PlantoScan's plant database. For authoritative distribution data, follow the WFO or POWO link in the plant's Sources block.

Photos and images

• Photos come from iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons, from PlantoScan's own photos, or are AI-generated illustrations.
• We only use public-domain, CC0, CC BY and CC BY-SA images (or our own). Images with non-commercial, no-derivatives or unknown licenses are never used.
• Every image shows its author, license (linked) and source, and notes when it was resized or cropped. AI-generated images are labelled as such.
• Image licenses are re-checked automatically every week.

Plant identification

The PlantoScan app and the web plant scanner identify more than 100,000 species, including 500+ mushrooms, from a photo. Results always show alternatives, because similar-looking species are common — compare them with the care guide and, when it matters, confirm with an expert.

Corrections

Found a wrong value, a misidentified photo or a missing credit? Email info@upvision.media with the page link and what's wrong. We check the report against the cited sources, correct the data at its source in our database, and the page's “Updated” date changes when the fix is published. Image credit or license problems are handled first.

Who publishes PlantoScan

PlantoScan is made by UpVision GmbH in Biel, Switzerland. About PlantoScan.