Iplantz was started to give people in warm-climate countries access to information on useful tropical and subtropical plants, including where they grow best. It is grounded on the belief that the more knowledgeable we are about useful plants and where they grow, the better we become at selecting them for food, medicine and materials. Not only to feed, clothe, house and heal us but also to create economic opportunity.

The iplantz website features trees, shrubs and herbs that are useful to humans in some way, whether as food, medicine, material or in providing a service. And that will thrive in warm climates, be it tropical, subtropical or Mediterranean.

There are a couple of reasons for this. The main reason is the website's focus on plants for tropical, subtropical and Mediterranean climates. So the countries and towns featured are mainly those within these climate regions. Another reason is the lack of climate data for some towns, resulting in their omission. There are currently 4,103 towns in the database. If you would like to suggest a town to include on the website, please use the contact form to let us know.

Where a tree or plant species will grow and be productive is generally determined by the prevailing climate and soil (its fertility, pH and how well it drains). Of these variables, iplantz has reasonable access only to climate data, including the air temperature, rainfall and length of the dry season. Climate data stored for a tree or plant species, representing the climate in which it thrives, is automatically cross-referenced against the climate of all towns in the database. Where there is a match, the town is published on Google Maps. No consideration is given to soil suitability at the town level.

The climate variables used to determine whether a particular tree or plant species is a match for a town and will grow and be reasonably productive there include:

Air temperature

Annual high

Annual low

Low of the coldest month

Signing up on the website allows you to upload photos of plants (and their uses) that can then be shared with the iplantz community.