houseplant

/ˌhaʊsˈplænt/

Other forms: houseplants

A houseplant is a green, living thing you keep indoors. Your Boston fern, giant ficus, and Christmas cactus are all houseplants.

If there are plants inside your house, they're houseplants, though you could also call them "potted plants" or "indoor plants." Most houseplants are tropical or semitropical, and if you live somewhere that gets colder during the winter, they need to be inside where it's warm. During the summer, some houseplants thrive on the patio or in the yard, but you'll need to bring them back into your house when the nights get cool.

Definitions of houseplant

1. noun

   any of a variety of plants grown indoors for decorative purposes
   types:

   Aglaonema modestum, Chinese evergreen, Japanese leaf

   erect or partially climbing herb having large green or variegated leaves

   anthurium, tail-flower, tailflower

   any of various tropical American plants cultivated for their showy foliage and flowers

   Rivina humilis, blood berry, bloodberry, rouge plant, rougeberry

   bushy houseplant having white to pale pink flowers followed by racemes of scarlet berries; tropical Americas

   Gynura aurantiaca, purple velvet plant, royal velvet plant, velvet plant

   Javanese foliage plant grown for their handsome velvety leaves with violet-purple hairs

   Exacum affine, Persian violet

   perennial cultivated especially as a houseplant for its fragrant bluish to dark lavender flowers

   episcia

   any plant of the genus Episcia; usually creeping and stoloniferous and of cascading habit; grown for their colorful foliage and flowers

   gloxinia

   any of several plants of the genera Gloxinia or Sinningia (greenhouse gloxinias) having showy bell-shaped flowers

   kohleria

   shrubby herb cultivated for their soft velvety foliage and showy scarlet flowers

   plectranthus

   any of various ornamental plants of the genus Plectranthus

   Anthurium andraeanum, Anthurium scherzerianum, flamingo flower, flamingo plant

   commonly cultivated anthurium having bright scarlet spathe and spadix

   Canterbury bell, Gloxinia perennis

   herb of Colombia to Peru having pale purple flowers

   Gloxinia spesiosa, Sinningia speciosa, florist's gloxinia

   South American herb cultivated in many varieties as a houseplant for its large handsome leaves and large variously colored bell-shaped flowers

   type of:

   flora, plant, plant life

   (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion