# Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper`) Actor Scrapes the Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder database — the authoritative US plant care reference. Extracts 7,500+ profiles: scientific name, common name, type, family, zone, bloom time, sun, water, maintenance, and full care text (Culture, Characteristics, Problems, Uses). - **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Education, Other - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder Scraper Scrapes the complete Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder database — the authoritative US plant care reference maintained by MoBot's horticulture team. Returns structured profiles for 7,500+ plants including scientific name, common name, hardiness zone, bloom data, care instructions, and image links. Crawls alphabetically by plant name. Each run retrieves the full listing for one or more starting letters, then fetches every individual plant profile page. ### What It Scrapes Each record includes: | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `taxon_id` | MoBot taxon identifier (numeric, unique) | | `scientific_name` | Binomial scientific name (genus + species) | | `common_name` | Common English name(s) | | `type` | Plant type (Tree, Perennial, Annual, Vine, Deciduous shrub, etc.) | | `family` | Botanical family | | `native_range` | Geographic native range | | `usda_hardiness_zone` | USDA Hardiness Zone range (e.g. "4 to 8") | | `height` | Typical height range in feet | | `spread` | Typical spread/width range in feet | | `bloom_time` | Bloom season (e.g. "April", "May to June") | | `bloom_description` | Bloom color and character | | `sun` | Sun exposure (Full sun, Part shade, Full shade) | | `water` | Water needs (Dry, Medium, Wet) | | `maintenance` | Maintenance level (Low / Medium / High) | | `suggested_use` | Suggested landscape applications | | `flower` | Flower characteristics (Showy, Fragrant, etc.) | | `leaf` | Leaf characteristics | | `attracts` | Wildlife attracted (Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Birds, etc.) | | `tolerate` | Tolerances (Drought, Deer, Clay Soil, etc.) | | `culture` | Full growing conditions and care instructions | | `noteworthy_characteristics` | Notable botanical and landscape traits | | `problems` | Pest and disease notes | | `garden_uses` | Landscape and garden use recommendations | | `image_urls` | List of plant photo URLs from the MoBot image archive | | `plantfinder_url` | Canonical PlantFinder detail page URL | ### Input ```json { "startLetter": "A", "endLetter": "Z", "maxItems": 100 } ```` | Parameter | Type | Description | |-----------|------|-------------| | `startLetter` | string | First letter of the alphabet range to scrape (A-Z). Default: A. | | `endLetter` | string | Last letter of the alphabet range to scrape (A-Z, inclusive). Default: Z. | | `maxItems` | integer | Maximum number of plant records to return. Leave blank for all 7,500+. Default: 10. | ### Coverage The database covers 7,500+ plant taxa across all 26 letters. Letters vary significantly in size — C has roughly 1,000 entries while Q has under 20. Use `startLetter` / `endLetter` to process a subset or resume a partial run. A full A-Z run returns approximately 7,500 records. The actor crawls at a conservative rate (5 concurrent requests) to respect the institutional site's load. ### Use Cases - Building a botanical reference dataset for plant identification or care apps - Populating plant databases for landscaping, nursery, or garden planning tools - Research into USDA hardiness zone distributions, native ranges, or bloom seasonality - Wildlife habitat analysis (pollinators, birds, deer resistance) - Content generation for horticulture publishers and extension services ### Notes - MoBot's robots.txt specifies a crawl delay for some paths. The actor uses a 5-request concurrency limit to stay well within institutional norms. - Image URLs point to MoBot's image archive. Not all plants have images — `image_urls` will be an empty array for plants without photos. - A small number of plant pages may return a 500 error from the server; these are skipped and logged as warnings without interrupting the run. - Full A-Z runs may take several hours depending on concurrency and network conditions. Use `maxItems` to cap output during testing. ### Need a Custom Build? Additional fields, filtered exports by plant type or zone, or integration help — reach out through the actor support channel. # Actor input Schema ## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`): Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler. ## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`): Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements. ## `sp_contact` (type: `string`): Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of plant records to scrape. Leave empty to scrape all plants (7,500+). ## `startLetter` (type: `string`): Alphabetical letter to start enumeration from (A-Z). Useful for resuming a partial run. ## `endLetter` (type: `string`): Alphabetical letter to stop enumeration at (A-Z, inclusive). Useful for processing a subset of the catalogue. ## Actor input object example ```json { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startLetter": "A", "endLetter": "Z" } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startLetter": "A", "endLetter": "Z" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startLetter": "A", "endLetter": "Z", } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...", "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...", "sp_contact": "Share your email here...", "maxItems": 10, "startLetter": "A", "endLetter": "Z" }' | apify call jungle_synthesizer/missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder Scraper", "description": "Scrapes the Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder database — the authoritative US plant care reference. Extracts 7,500+ profiles: scientific name, common name, type, family, zone, bloom time, sun, water, maintenance, and full care text (Culture, Characteristics, Problems, Uses).", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "UtqfrzIinH54hcgXb" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-missouribotanicalgarden-plantfinder-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "maxItems" ], "properties": { "sp_intended_usage": { "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler." }, "sp_improvement_suggestions": { "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements." }, "sp_contact": { "title": "Contact Email", "minLength": 1, "type": "string", "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of plant records to scrape. Leave empty to scrape all plants (7,500+)." }, "startLetter": { "title": "Start Letter (A-Z)", "type": "string", "description": "Alphabetical letter to start enumeration from (A-Z). Useful for resuming a partial run." }, "endLetter": { "title": "End Letter (A-Z)", "type": "string", "description": "Alphabetical letter to stop enumeration at (A-Z, inclusive). Useful for processing a subset of the catalogue." } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```