Plant names can be tricky to manage. Different suppliers, plant professionals, and service teams may use different names for the same plant. A company may also have its own nicknames and abbreviations. Without a consistent reference, these differences can cause confusion when recording inventory or purchasing and replacing plants.

The Plant Type Library brings plant names together in one searchable database. It was built using plant price lists from Europe, North America, and the Middle East and includes around 8,000 commercially available plant species, varieties, and subspecies. The database covers both interior and exterior plants.

A plant may be known by more than one name. The database includes scientific names, synonyms used in plant taxonomy, and common names, such as “spider plant” or “money tree”. You can search using a fragment of a scientific or common name, and matching results appear. Searching by a synonym can also help you find the relevant plant type.

The Plant Type Library is connected to the fields where you select a plant type, including when you add plants to a Display in the Back Office or mobile app. Start typing part of a name in the plant-type field, and matching suggestions appear in a drop-down list. Custom plant types are highlighted in **bold**, while standard entries from the Plant Type Library appear in regular font.

If you search using a nickname or synonym, the matching result can help you find the plant. However, One Big Green records the scientific name as the plant type. This keeps the underlying inventory consistent even when your team uses different names for the same plant.

Your company may use a familiar nickname or abbreviation for a plant. One Big Green lets you add a nickname to an existing plant type, so technicians can continue using familiar terminology while the underlying plant type remains consistent.

Nicknames do not require you to create a separate plant type for a plant that already exists in the Plant Type Library. Instead, they give your team another way to refer to the existing plant type.

Sometimes a planting is recorded as a mix or a decorative arrangement rather than as individual species. For these cases, you can create custom plant types such as “Bromeliad mix”, “Succulent mix”, or “Moss art”. These custom entries are available in plant-type drop-down lists across the Back Office and mobile app and appear in bold, making them easy to distinguish from standard entries.

You can also create a custom plant type called “Unknown” for situations where you are not yet sure which plant species you are dealing with. Use it as a temporary placeholder, then update the plant type to the correct species once you identify it.

Use a custom plant type when you need to record a mix or arrangement, or when you need a temporary placeholder such as “Unknown”. If the plant is already represented in the Plant Type Library, use that existing plant type and add a nickname if needed.

In the Back Office, open Plant varieties and nicknames from the left-hand menu. The page has two tabs: Plant Type Library and Custom Plant Types.

In Plant Type Library, you can search the standard database and manage nicknames for existing plant types.
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In Custom Plant Types, you can view and manage the custom entries created for your company. You can also use “Request a new plant variety” if you cannot find the plant type you need.