Trefle

An open, freely accessible botanical data source and REST API for plant information covering over 400,000 plant species with taxonomy, morphology, growth requirements, and geographic distributions.

Trefle publishes 10 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Distributions API, Division Classes API, Division Orders API, and 7 more. Tagged areas include Agriculture, Botany, Open Data, Plants, and Science.

The Trefle catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

Trefle’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, signup flow, GitHub presence, and 5 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub

40.1/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 23/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-25 · rubric v0.14.0

AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try

10 APIs

Agriculture Botany Open Data Plants Science

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-25 · rubric v0.14.0

Composite quality — 40.1/100 · developing

Contract Quality 14.4 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 3.6 / 17

Access Clarity 4.9 / 17

Operational Transparency 1.5 / 11

Contract Governance 2.9 / 10

Discoverability 5.5 / 9

Regulatory Posture 4.7 / 15

Agent readiness — 23/100 · agent aware

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 9

Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8

Request/Response Examples 0 / 7

Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7

Typed Event Surface 0 / 6

Agent Skills 0 / 5

Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4

Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Surface 0 / 5

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Government & Public Sector regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/trefle: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 10

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Open Collections 12

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Trefle Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

JSON Schema 2

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Examples 2

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Signup

Signup

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation

Documentation

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess

AgenticAccess

Design & Contract 1

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHub

GitHub

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity

DomainSecurity

Authentication

Authentication

Company 2

The organization behind the API

LinkedIn

Website

Website

Source (apis.yml)

aid: trefle
name: Trefle
description: An open, freely accessible botanical data source and REST API for plant information covering over 400,000 plant
  species with taxonomy, morphology, growth requirements, and geographic distributions.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/trefle.png
tags:
- Agriculture
- Botany
- Open Data
- Plants
- Science
created: '2025-02-24'
modified: '2026-05-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/trefle/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- aid: trefle:trefle-distributions-api
  name: Trefle Distributions API
  description: Access geographic distribution zones and retrieve plants native or established in specific regions.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Distributions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-distributions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-division-classes-api
  name: Trefle Division Classes API
  description: Retrieve botanical division class classification data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Division Classes
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-division-classes-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-division-orders-api
  name: Trefle Division Orders API
  description: Retrieve botanical division order classification data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Division Orders
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-division-orders-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-divisions-api
  name: Trefle Divisions API
  description: Retrieve botanical division classification data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Divisions
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-divisions-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-families-api
  name: Trefle Families API
  description: Retrieve plant family classification and taxonomy data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Families
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-families-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-genus-api
  name: Trefle Genus API
  description: Retrieve plant genus classification data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Genus
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-genus-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-kingdoms-api
  name: Trefle Kingdoms API
  description: Retrieve botanical kingdom classification data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Kingdoms
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-kingdoms-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-plants-api
  name: Trefle Plants API
  description: Search, list, and retrieve plant species by various attributes including common name, scientific name, slug,
    and taxonomic identifiers.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Plants
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-plants-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-species-api
  name: Trefle Species API
  description: Access detailed species information including taxonomy, morphology, growth characteristics, soil requirements,
    and geographic distributions.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Species
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-species-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
- aid: trefle:trefle-subkingdoms-api
  name: Trefle Subkingdoms API
  description: Retrieve botanical subkingdom classification data.
  humanURL: https://trefle.io/
  baseURL: https://trefle.io/api/v1
  tags:
  - Subkingdoms
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/trefle-subkingdoms-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.trefle.io/docs/guides/getting-started
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-plant-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/trefle-species-schema.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/trefle-context.jsonld
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/trefle-species-structure.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-search-plants-example.json
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/trefle-get-species-example.json
  - type: SpectralRuleset
    url: rules/trefle-rules.yml
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/trefle-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/trefle-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/trefle-authentication.yml
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trefle-api
- type: Website
  url: https://trefle.io/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://docs.trefle.io/
- type: Signup
  url: https://trefle.io/users/sign_in
- type: GitHub
  url: https://github.com/treflehq
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/trefle-vocabulary.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com

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