edgepedia

Monocots

837 articles

Tillandsia

Tillandsia, the air plants, is a genus of about 700 accepted species of usually epiphytic bromeliads native to tropical and subtropical America, absorbing water through leaf trichomes, using CAM photosynthesis, and including Spanish moss and the weevil-threatened T. utriculata.

Tortellini

Tortellini: small ring-shaped stuffed egg pasta from Bologna and Modena in Emilia-Romagna, filled with pork loin, mortadella, prosciutto, Parmigiano and nutmeg, served in broth; official recipe registered in Bologna in 1974, distinct from larger cappelletti.

Tortilla

Tortilla: thin round flatbread of Mexican cuisine, corn (nixtamalized masa) or wheat flour; staple since after 300 BCE, base of tacos and burritos, now folic-acid fortified in California.

Tortilla chips

Tortilla chips: fried triangular snacks made from nixtamalized corn masa, popularized by Rebecca Webb Carranza in 1940s Los Angeles; base of nachos, a $2.5 billion U.S. retail category led by Frito-Lay.

Tostada (tortilla)

Tostada (tortilla): a flat, crispy Mexican corn tortilla, fried or comal-toasted, eaten open-faced with refried beans, protein, cheese, and salsa; prehispanic origin, Aztec name totopochtli, distinct from tacos and chalupas.

Trachycarpus fortunei

Trachycarpus fortunei, the Chinese windmill palm or Chusan palm, is a cold-hardy dioecious fan palm native to south-central China and northern Myanmar, widely grown as an ornamental and invasive in southern Switzerland.

Tradescantia

Tradescantia (spiderworts), a New World genus of about 90 herbaceous species in Commelinaceae, order Commelinales; includes wandering Jew (T. zebrina), inch plant, and oyster plant (T. spathacea), with Rhoeo, Zebrina, and Setcreasea as synonyms.

Tradescantia ohiensis

Tradescantia ohiensis, Ohio spiderwort, smooth spiderwort, or bluejacket: a clump-forming Commelinaceae perennial native from Ontario to the central and eastern United States, with blue to rose three-petaled one-day flowers, 18 synonyms, and NatureServe rank G5.

Tradescantia pallida

Tradescantia pallida (purple heart, purple queen) is a Mexican trailing Commelinaceae perennial with deep purple leaves and pink morning-opening flowers, mildly irritant sap, easy stem-cutting propagation, and invasive status in parts of South Africa and Italy.

Tradescantia zebrina

Tradescantia zebrina, the zebra plant or inch plant (formerly Zebrina pendula), is a trailing Commelinaceae houseplant native from Mexico to Colombia, with silver-striped purple leaves, easy propagation, and invasive status in Florida, Brazil, and South Africa.

Tridactyle

Tridactyle Schltr. is a genus of about 52 accepted African angraecoid orchids (Orchidaceae, Vandeae, Angraecinae), epiphytic monopodial herbs with three-lobed, spurred lips, native to tropical and southern Africa.

Triglochin

Triglochin (arrow grass) is a genus of about 26-30 species of marsh herbs in Juncaginaceae, Alismatales, described by Linnaeus in 1753, cosmopolitan except Antarctica, with Australia as its diversity center.

Trillium

Trillium (trilliums) is a genus of about 52 accepted species of woodland herbs in Melanthiaceae, native from Afghanistan to temperate East Asia and North America, with three-parted flowers and ant-dispersed seeds.

Trillium grandiflorum

Trillium grandiflorum, white trillium or great white trillium, is a rhizomatous spring-ephemeral woodland herb of Melanthiaceae native to eastern North America, with three-petaled white flowers lasting 17–21 days, ant-dispersed seeds, and G5 conservation status.

Tripsacum

Tripsacum (gamagrass, gama grass) is a genus of perennial New World grasses in Poaceae, sister genus to maize (Zea), with about 15 species, apomictic polyploids, and a debated role in maize-origin theories.

Trisetum

Trisetum (oatgrass) is a genus of perennial Poaceae grasses published by Persoon in 1805, type species T. flavescens, formerly about 70 species but now reduced by molecular phylogenetics to roughly eight or fewer.

Trisetum flavescens

Trisetum flavescens (yellow oatgrass, golden oat grass, Goldhafer) is a perennial Eurasian meadow grass of Poaceae, type and only species of Trisetum after a 2025 revision; a forage grass containing calcinogenic vitamin D3 glycosides.

Triticum

Triticum (wheats) is a Poaceae genus native from the Mediterranean to Central Asia and NW India. Contains bread wheat T. aestivum (BBAADD hexaploid, formed 8,500–9,000 years ago with Aegilops tauschii), five accepted species, ploidy 14–42 chromosomes.

Tsampa (རྩམ་པ)

Tsampa (རྩམ་པ; 糌粑, Zanba) is roasted highland barley flour, the no-cook staple food of Tibetan and Himalayan foodways, kneaded with butter tea into dough and central to plateau agriculture, trade, and ceremony.

Tteok (떡)

Tteok (떡), Korean rice cake, is a family of steamed, pounded, boiled, or fried rice-flour cakes central to Korean holidays and rituals; tteokguk at Seollal, songpyeon at Chuseok, national intangible heritage since 2021.

Tulip

Tulip (Tulipa L., Liliaceae): bulbous genus of about 95-98 species native from Europe and the Mediterranean to Mongolia; garden tulip T. gesneriana; Central Asian origin; Tulipmania 1633-1637; many wild species threatened.

Tulip breaking virus

Tulip breaking virus (TBV), a potyvirus spread by aphids, causes the striped "broken" tulips prized in 17th-century Dutch Tulipomania; proven viral by Dorothy Cayley in 1928, it disrupts anthocyanin pigment in pink, red, and purple cultivars.

Tulip cultivation

Tulip cultivation is the horticulture of growing tulips, covering bulb production, greenhouse forcing, classifying 15 cultivar divisions, and breeding; the Netherlands grows about 70% of the world's bulbs.

Tulipa agenensis

Tulipa agenensis (eyeball tulip, Tulipe d'Agen) is an eastern Mediterranean wild tulip in Liliaceae, native from Cyprus and Palestine to Türkiye, naturalized in Greece and France, with 43 synonyms including T. oculus-solis and T. praecox.

Tulipa biflora

Tulipa biflora (two-flowered tulip, Tulipa polychroma synonym) is a small white-flowered bulbous geophyte in Liliaceae, native from the Balkans and Crimea to Egypt and Xinjiang, and the center of a polyphyletic species complex in subgenus Eriostemones.

Tulipa fosteriana

Tulipa fosteriana is a wild tulip species of the lily family, native from Central Asia to Afghanistan, and one of the two main wild ancestors of commercial cut-flower tulips.

Tulipa kaufmanniana

Tulipa kaufmanniana, the water lily tulip, is a Central Asian wild tulip described by Regel in 1877, with short stems, yellow-eyed cup-shaped flowers, and the early-flowering Kaufmanniana Group of garden cultivars; IUCN Near Threatened.

Tulipa sylvestris

Tulipa sylvestris, the wild tulip, is a small yellow fragrant tulip (Liliaceae) native to the Mediterranean. Introduced to northern Europe from Bologna and Montpellier in the 1550s–1570s, it is the only tulip growing wild there, with diploid subsp. australis and tetraploid subsp. sylvestris.

Turmeric

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a perennial herb of the ginger family whose rhizomes are ground into a bright yellow spice used in South Asian cuisine and medicine.

Typha angustifolia

Typha angustifolia (narrowleaf cattail, lesser reed mace) is a temperate Northern Hemisphere emergent wetland perennial with narrow leaves and a 2-12 cm gap between male and female spike portions; invasive in North America and parent of the hybrid Typha x glauca.