USDA PLANTS Database Scraper
Pricing
from $0.50 / 1,000 record scrapeds
USDA PLANTS Database Scraper
Extract the full USDA PLANTS database — taxonomy, growth habits, native/wetland status, document URLs, and physical characteristics for 2,000+ plant species. Public-domain government data from plants.usda.gov.
Pricing
from $0.50 / 1,000 record scrapeds
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5.0
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BowTiedRaccoon
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12 days ago
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Extract the complete USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy, growth habits, native status, wetland indicators, document URLs, and physical characteristics for over 2,000 accepted US plant species.
What it extracts
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
symbol | USDA PLANTS Symbol (primary key, e.g. ACRU for red maple) |
scientificName | Scientific name (HTML-stripped) |
commonName | Common/vernacular name |
familyName | Taxonomic family (e.g. Pinaceae) |
group | Plant group (Dicot, Monocot, Fern, Gymnosperm, etc.) |
rank | Taxonomic rank (Species, Genus, Variety, etc.) |
otherCommonNames | Additional common names |
genus / order / className | Taxonomic genus, order and class |
synonyms | Synonym names of the accepted plant, as SYMBOL Scientific name entries |
durations | Life cycle (Annual, Biennial, Perennial — comma-separated) |
growthHabits | Tree, Shrub, Forb, Graminoid, Vine (comma-separated) |
nativeStatuses | Native/introduced status by region (L48, AK, HI, CAN) as JSON |
hasWetlandData | Wetland indicator data available |
hasLegalStatuses | Federal threatened/endangered status available |
hasNoxiousStatuses | State noxious weed status available |
hasInvasiveStatuses | State invasive species status available |
hasCharacteristics | Detailed physical characteristic data available |
imageCount | Number of USDA images available |
plantGuideUrls | USDA Plant Guide PDF links |
factSheetUrls | USDA Fact Sheet PDF links |
activeGrowthPeriod | When the plant actively grows |
bloomPeriod | Bloom season |
droughtTolerance | Low / Medium / High |
fireTolerance | Low / Medium / High |
flowerColor | Flower color |
foliageColor | Foliage color |
foliageTexture | Fine / Medium / Coarse |
growthRate | Slow / Moderate / Rapid |
heightAtMaturityFtRange | Mature height as the USDA height bucket in feet (e.g. 10 - 19.9) |
lifeSpan / growthForm / leafRetention | Life span, growth form and leaf retention |
nitrogenFixation / salinityTolerance | None / Low / Medium / High |
phMinRange / phMaxRange | Soil pH tolerance, as USDA range buckets |
precipitationMinInchesRange / precipitationMaxInchesRange | Annual precipitation tolerance in inches, as range buckets |
temperatureMinF | Minimum temperature tolerance in °F, as a range bucket |
nativityStatus / stateProvinces | Nativity by region and the states or provinces where the plant is recorded |
wetlandRegions / invasiveStatus / noxiousStatus | Wetland, invasive and noxious labels, when the USDA lists them |
moistureUse | Low / Medium / High |
shadeTolerance | Intolerant / Intermediate / Tolerant |
sourceUrl | Canonical USDA PLANTS URL |
scrapedAt | ISO-8601 scrape timestamp |
How to use
Default run
Leave Max Items empty for the first 100 plants. Set Max Items to 0 to collect the full database (~2,200 accepted species with characteristics); each plant gets its detailed profile and characteristics.
Limit to specific plants
Set Max Items to limit the number of records, or provide a Plant Symbol List to target specific species. Genus-level symbols work too; characteristics are only published for the ~2,200 accepted species. A list with no valid symbol fails the run instead of returning nothing:
| Symbol | Common Name |
|---|---|
ACRU | Red maple |
PIPO | Ponderosa pine |
PSME | Douglas-fir |
QURU | Northern red oak |
Input fields
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
maxItems | Integer | Maximum plants to scrape. Empty = 100; 0 = all (~2,200). |
symbolList | Array | Optional list of USDA PLANTS symbols to scrape. |
Data source
All data is sourced from the USDA PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov), a public-domain government dataset maintained by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The data is freely available for any use — no account or API key required.
The scraper accesses the backing REST API at plantsservices.sc.egov.usda.gov/api/ which powers the official Angular web application. Data is returned directly as JSON without any HTML parsing.
Use cases
- Native plant nurseries — Build state-specific native plant catalogs with growth requirements
- Landscape architecture — Compare plants by shade tolerance, drought tolerance, moisture use
- Conservation programs — Cross-reference noxious/invasive status with USDA NRCS GSAT lists
- Agronomy & restoration ecology — Access bloom periods, growth rates, and fire tolerance data
- AI/ML training data — Botanical LLM training datasets with structured plant attributes
- Academic research — Full taxonomy + distribution data for US flora
