362 articles
Caladium cultivars
Caladium cultivars are named selections of Caladium bicolor and its hybrids grown for patterned foliage in white, red, and pink, with Florida supplying over 95 percent of world tubers.
Calamansi
Calamansi (kalamansi, 四季橘), Citrus × microcarpa, is a mandarin × kumquat hybrid citrus grown mainly in the Philippines; small tart aromatic fruit used as juice, seasoning, and home remedy, about 107,620 metric tons produced in 2025.
Callistemon 'Captain Cook'
Callistemon 'Captain Cook' is a dwarf Australian bottlebrush cultivar of Callistemon viminalis, selected in Queensland, marketed as 'Compacta', renamed for the 1970 Bicentenary, with bright red 10-15 cm flower spikes and a 2 m rounded habit.
Callistemon 'Lilacinus'
Callistemon 'Lilacinus', the Lilac Bottlebrush, is the earliest known Callistemon cultivar, raised in Berlin in 1913 from seed collected near Como, NSW; Cheel's 1925 species name is now a synonym of Melaleuca citrina.
Callistemon 'Splendens'
Callistemon 'Splendens', also known as Callistemon citrinus 'Splendens', is an evergreen bottlebrush cultivar with arching branches and bright crimson flower spikes up to 15 cm long.
Canna cultivars
Canna cultivars are garden varieties of Canna, mostly Canna x generalis, tender rhizomatous perennials with showy flowers and often variegated foliage; key names include Tropicanna ('Phasion'/'Durban'), 'Pretoria' ('Bengal Tiger') and 'Wyoming'.
Cantaloupe
Cantaloupe, or muskmelon (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus), is a netted sweet melon of the Cucurbitaceae family; grown at 65–95°F, bee-pollinated, with about 1.06 billion pounds produced in the US in 2025 and known food-safety risks from its netted rind.
Capsicum chinense
Capsicum chinense, the habanero pepper species, is one of five domesticated chili peppers, native to the Guianas and northern Brazil despite its misleading name. It includes very pungent types such as habanero, Scotch bonnet, and ghost pepper, with white flowers and the pun1² non-pungency allele.
Capsicum frutescens
Capsicum frutescens, also known as the Tabasco pepper or bird pepper, is a semi-domesticated chili pepper species native to the Americas and the source of Tabasco sauce.
Carambola
Carambola (Averrhoa carambola), also called star fruit, is a Southeast Asian Oxalidaceae tree fruit with a star-shaped cross section; sweet cultivar 'Arkin' dominates Florida's crop, and the fruit is toxic to people with kidney disease.
Cardoon
Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus var. altilis), the artichoke thistle, is a Mediterranean Asteraceae vegetable grown for blanched leaf stalks, seed-propagated as an annual, domesticated in the western Mediterranean, also used for cheese rennet and bioenergy.
Carolina Reaper
Carolina Reaper, bred by Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company in South Carolina, was the Guinness-certified hottest chilli from 2013 (1,569,300 SHU average) until Pepper X dethroned it in October 2023 at 2,693,000 SHU.
Carrot
Carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus), a root vegetable domesticated in Central Asia around 900 CE, originally purple and yellow; orange carrots arose in 16th-17th century Europe from yellow carrots and now dominate, supplying 30% of US dietary vitamin A.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) is a cool-season vegetable grown for its edible head, or curd; it originated on the eastern Mediterranean coast and reached Italy from Cyprus around 1490.
Cavendish banana
Cavendish banana: triploid AAA Musa acuminata dessert cultivar group dominating world trade, about 50 million tonnes yearly and 99% of exports. Replaced Gros Michel in the 1960s; now threatened by Panama disease TR4.
Cayenne pepper
Cayenne pepper is a moderately hot Capsicum annuum chili (30,000–50,000 SHU) with slender red pods, dried and ground into a red spice; native to the Americas, rich in vitamins A and C, and source of capsaicin used in topical pain relief.
Celeriac
Celeriac, or celery root (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum), is a celery variety grown for its swollen hypocotyl rather than stalks; needs six months, moist soil, and stores 6–8 months at 0–2 °C.
Celery
Celery (Apium graveolens), a Mediterranean-derived umbellifer vegetable grown for its stalks (var. dulce), leaves (secalinum), or root (rapaceum, celeriac); first recorded as food in France in 1623, stored at 0°C, and studied for blood pressure effects.
Cercis canadensis
Cercis canadensis, eastern redbud (American Judas tree), a small Fabaceae tree native from SE Canada to northern Mexico, with magenta-pink spring flowers on bare stems; IUCN least concern, NatureServe G5, USDA zones 4B-9A, Oklahoma state tree.
Chamaecyparis
Chamaecyparis, false cypress or white-cedar, is a genus of seven Cupressaceae conifer species native to North American coasts, Japan, and Taiwan, told from Cupressus by flattened branchlets, small first-year cones, and 2–4 seeds per scale.
Chard
Chard, also called Swiss chard or silver beet, is a cool-season leafy vegetable in the beet family, grown for its large edible leaves and fleshy stalks rather than a root.
Chayote
Chayote (Sechium edule, Nahuatl chayotl), also called mirliton, choko, or chow-chow, is a Mesoamerican cucurbit vine grown for its pear-shaped single-seeded fruit; domesticated in southern Mexico, propagated by planting whole fruit, and now a worldwide tropical vegetable.
Cherry
Cherry, the stone fruit of Prunus avium (sweet) and Prunus cerasus (sour), plus duke hybrids; hybrid-origin sour cherry, 800-1,200 chill hours, bee pollination, Türkiye and Pacific States lead production.
Cherry blossom
Cherry blossom (sakura, 桜), the spring flower of ornamental Prunus trees such as Prunus serrulata and Yoshino cherry; celebrated in Japanese hanami, gifted to Washington D.C. in 1912, and a 1,200-year climate record showing earlier blooming.
Cherry tomato
Cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme), small-fruited tomato indigenous to Peru–Ecuador and ancestor of cultivated tomato; Aztec tomatl; commercialized by Marks & Spencer in the 1970s, popular from the 1980s.
Chickpea
Chickpea, also called garbanzo or Bengal gram, is an annual legume of the pea family grown for its protein-rich seeds, one of the oldest cultivated food plants.
Choy sum (菜心)
Choy sum (菜心, caixin), Brassica rapa var. parachinensis or Chinese flowering cabbage, is an Asian brassica grown for tender flowering stems; cool-season crop, 30–50 day harvest, rich in folate and vitamin C.
Cichorium endivia
Cichorium endivia, sold as endive (curly-leaved) and escarole (broad-leaved), is a leafy salad plant in the daisy family Asteraceae grown for its dense rosette of bitter leaves.
Cider apple
Cider apple: apple cultivars of Malus domestica grown for fermented cider rather than fresh eating, classified by the Long Ashton system into sharp, sweet, bittersweet, and bittersharp classes by juice tannin and acidity.
Citron
Citron (Citrus medica, etrog, cedrat, Buddha's hand) is a Himalayan-native citrus species with thick-peeled, sour fruit; one of four ancestral citrus taxa, parent of the lemon, and the Sukkot ritual etrog.