Using the Plant Database Search

Plants For A Future have an excellent search tool to help you find plants for your project out of the 7700 available in the database. The Search tool can now be found on the homepage at pfaf.org.

Search techniques includes:
  • search by name
  • search by keyword
  • you can browse plants common and Latin names by alphabetical letter
  • you can browse plants by their family, habitat and use (medicinal, edible or other)
  • you can search a plant by it use, for example whether it can be used for:

edible: e.g. coffee, chocolate, gelatine, oil
medicinal e.g. acrid, antacid, antibiotic, kidney
other e.g. alcohol. beads, bottles, fencing, fuel
special uses e.g. nitrogen fixer, hedge

You can do a more detailed search using the Search Properties section. This allows you to search for a number of plant features at once. For example you might want to search for a plant that needs light sandy soil, that is between 1m and 5m high and that likes shade. The database will find plants that have all 3 of these features.