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 API contracts indexed 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 8 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

38.3/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 25/100 agent aware Front door AI 1/6 silent saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-10-23 · rubric v0.25.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try

1 published contract

Agriculture Botany Open Data Plants Science

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-10-23 · rubric v0.25.0

Composite quality — 38.3/100 · thin

Contract Quality 13.8 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 5.7 / 17

Access Clarity 3.6 / 17

Operational Transparency 1.5 / 11

Contract Governance 2.8 / 10

Discoverability 4.9 / 9

Regulatory Posture 2.5 / 15

Agent readiness — 25/100 · 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 7 / 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 Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

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.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics does not apply to this provider. The published contracts declare no write operations, and a read-only API cannot create-or-update. The facet is excluded from this provider's denominator entirely — not scored zero. A reference or data API is not deficient for being unable to upsert.

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/.

Show this score on your site.

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<a href="https://apis.io/providers/trefle/"><img src="https://apis.io/badge/trefle/card.svg" alt="Trefle on APIs.io — Kin Score by API Evangelist"></a>

Other styles, a README pill and a shields.io endpoint are on the badge page.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. 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. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
Agriculture and Food (Farm Data, Nutrition)	undeclared	-	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

APIs 10

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

Trefle Distributions API

Access geographic distribution zones and retrieve plants native or established in specific regions.

Trefle Division Classes API

Retrieve botanical division class classification data.

Trefle Division Orders API

Retrieve botanical division order classification data.

Trefle Divisions API

Retrieve botanical division classification data.

Trefle Families API

Retrieve plant family classification and taxonomy data.

Trefle Genus API

Retrieve plant genus classification data.

Trefle Kingdoms API

Retrieve botanical kingdom classification data.

Trefle Plants API

Search, list, and retrieve plant species by various attributes including common name, scientific name, slug, and taxonomic identifiers.

Trefle Species API

Access detailed species information including taxonomy, morphology, growth characteristics, soil requirements, and geographic distributions.

Trefle Subkingdoms API

Retrieve botanical subkingdom classification data.

Scroll for all 10

Open Collections 11

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

Trefle Distributions API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Division Classes API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Division Orders API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Divisions API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Families API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Genus API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Kingdoms API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Plants API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Species API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle Distributions Subkingdoms API

OPEN COLLECTION

Trefle API

OPEN COLLECTION

Scroll for all 11

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Trefle Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

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.

Trefle Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Trefle Context

44 classes · 0 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Trefle — jsonschema rules

5 rules · 4 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

Trefle API Rules

9 rules · 3 errors 5 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 2

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

Trefle Plant

12 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Trefle Species

19 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 1

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Trefle Species Structure

0 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 2

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Trefle Get Species Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Trefle Search Plants Example

2 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Trefle Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Trefle Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Trefle Agentic Access

18 operations

18 operations · 0 acting

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

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

Plans

FinOps

FinOps

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
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  - security
  generated: '2026-09-03'
  method: derived
position: Consuming
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/trefle.png
x-docs-platform: docusaurus
x-docs-platform-confidence: medium
x-docs-platform-checked: 2026-10-17
x-docs-hosting: github-pages
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: Plans
  url: plans/trefle-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/trefle-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/trefle-finops.yml
- 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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