What kind of plant is it?
Genus is the precise answer, but not everyone thinks in genera. If you want to know which houseplants you may propagate and sell at a market stall, or which fruit trees have come off patent, start here. 13,173 of the patented plants in these groups are already in the public domain.
| Kind of plant | Patents | Free to propagate | Genera |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perennials | 9,545 | 4,409 | 93 |
| Annuals & Bedding | 7,539 | 3,343 | 54 |
| Shrubs | 6,532 | 2,807 | 59 |
| Houseplants | 4,478 | 1,947 | 48 |
| Fruit, Berries & Nuts | 4,243 | 1,588 | 21 |
| Roses | 3,195 | 2,028 | 1 |
| Trees | 3,182 | 1,440 | 31 |
| Succulents & Cactus | 1,687 | 721 | 19 |
| Herbs & Vegetables | 602 | 148 | 13 |
| Orchids | 594 | 28 | 4 |
| Grasses & Groundcover | 327 | 116 | 15 |
These groupings are ours, not the USPTO’s. A plant patent records a botanical genus, never a category like “houseplant” — and the category often depends on where you garden. A Ficus is a houseplant in Chicago and a street tree in Miami. We group by genus, and a genus that genuinely spans two kinds appears in both: Prunus covers eating plums and ornamental cherries alike. Roughly one patent in 12 is not in any group here — either its genus is too uncommon to categorise, in which case it is on its genus page, or the patent records no genus at all, in which case search is the way to it.
For the precise answer, browse by genus. A patent expiring frees the plant, not the name — see what you may call it.