Desert Data Labs
A field guide · part of the Desert Data Labs family

Plants in Movies

Which US state's flora best matches each movie world? This app takes three made-up worlds from the movies, Arrakis from Dune, Middle-earth from Lord of the Rings, and Isla Nublar from Jurassic Park, and lines each one up with the real plants that grow in every US state. Pick a few states and it counts how many of their plant species belong to the kinds of plant families that fit each world, then ranks how well each state matches. The plant records come from the USDA PLANTS database, the federal checklist of plants found in each state.

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What this shows you

Three movie worlds, fifty states, one question.

Each movie world is a hand-picked set of plant families, the broad groups botanists sort plants into. Cactuses and desert grasses feel like Arrakis. Oaks, birches, and alpine wildflowers feel like Middle-earth. Ancient ferns, conifers, and cycads feel like Isla Nublar. For every state you pick, the app counts how many of its real plant species fall into those families, then ranks the states.

Pick the worlds and the states · three movie worlds, each a curated list of plant families, against any states you choose
Count the matching plants · how many species in each state belong to that world's families, drawn from the USDA PLANTS database
Read it Raw, or read it Fair · Raw rewards big species-rich states. Fair share measures each state against the same national pool, so small states get a fair shot

Arrakis

Dune

Desert and succulent families. Cactuses, agaves, saltbush, mesquite, and drought-hardy grasses.

Middle-earth

Lord of the Rings

Cool forest and alpine families. Oaks, birches, willows, roses, and mountain wildflowers.

Isla Nublar

Jurassic Park

Ancient lineages. Ferns, horsetails, conifers, cycads, and the lone ginkgo, plants from deep time.

3
movie worlds
50
states and territories
34,400
plant species counted
USDA
PLANTS database
How it stays honest
This is a playful, educational tool, not a scientific claim. The groupings are a curation, not biology. The families assigned to each world were chosen to evoke the look of that world, so they are a fun idea, not a phylogenetic statement about how plants are related. Raw counts favor the big states. A large, species-rich state will rack up more matches simply because it has more plants, and a single giant family can carry a whole score. Asteraceae, the daisy family and the largest plant family on Earth, alone makes up most of some states' Middle-earth totals. That is why Fair share exists. Fair share divides each state's count by the national pool of species in that world's families, so a small state with a tight, fitting flora can still come out on top, and no single oversized family or oversized state wins by default. The data is the USDA PLANTS database, the United States Department of Agriculture's public checklist of which plants occur in each state. This is a Desert Data Labs side project for the fun of it, not affiliated with the USDA or with any movie studio.