112 articles
Lithospermum
Lithospermum (gromwells, marbleseeds), a Boraginaceae genus of ca. 80 species native to Old and New Worlds, center of diversity in Mexico; L. erythrorhizon roots yield the medicinal red pigment shikonin (zicao).
Loganiaceae
Loganiaceae (loganias) is a conserved family name in Gentianales with 16 genera and about 400 species, including Strychnos and Spigelia; once polyphyletic, now circumscribed as sister to Apocynaceae.
Manilkara zapota
Manilkara zapota (sapodilla, chicle tree; syn. Achras zapota), a Sapotaceae tree native from Mexico to Colombia, grown for sweet brown fruit and formerly tapped for chicle chewing-gum latex; least concern, invasive in south Florida.
Megaskepasma erythrochlamys
Megaskepasma erythrochlamys, Brazilian red-cloak or red justicia, is the sole species of its Acanthaceae genus, a tropical evergreen shrub with red bracts and white tubular flowers, native to northern South America and Central America and widely cultivated.
Mertensia virginica
Mertensia virginica, Virginia bluebells or Virginia cowslip, is a spring-ephemeral perennial in Boraginaceae native from Ontario and Quebec to the eastern and central United States, with pink buds opening to blue flowers and NatureServe rank G5.
Mitragyna
Mitragyna Korth. (1839) is a Rubiaceae genus of African and Asian trees; its species M. speciosa is kratom, source of the opioid-receptor alkaloids mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.
Morinda
Morinda L. (noni genus, Indian mulberry, Morinda citrifolia) is a pantropical genus of Rubiaceae in tribe Morindeae with head inflorescences and syncarpous fruits; 39 accepted species, lectotype M. royoc, root bark used as morindin dye.
Myosotis
Myosotis (forget-me-nots) is a genus of about 80–100 species of hairy Boraginaceae herbs with blue five-lobed flowers and four nutlets, of Northern Hemisphere origin, radiating in New Zealand where most native species are threatened.
Nemesia
Nemesia (Cape snapdragon) is a southern African genus of about 62–77 annual and perennial herbs in Scrophulariaceae, tribe Hemimerideae, with spurred two-lipped flowers; type species Nemesia strumosa, widely grown as bedding ornamentals.
Neolamarckia cadamba
Neolamarckia cadamba (kadamba, kadam, jabon, kelempayan, burflower tree) is a fast-growing evergreen Rubiaceae timber tree native from south China to tropical Asia, used for pulp, plywood, pencils, and matches.
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis
Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (Parijat, night jasmine, tree of sadness) is an Oleaceae shrub or small tree to 10 m, native Himalaya to Jawa, with fragrant night-opening white flowers, orange dye tubes, and Ayurvedic medicinal use.
Oleaceae
Oleaceae, the olive family (Hoffmanns. & Link, 1809), is a family of Lamiales with 25-27 genera and c. 600-615 species of trees, shrubs, and woody climbers, including Olea europaea, Fraxinus, Jasminum, and Syringa, recognized by opposite estipulate leaves and 4-merous flowers with 2 stamens.
Olive
Olive (Olea europaea), Mediterranean evergreen tree of Oleaceae cultivated for table fruit and olive oil; wild form is the oleaster. Levant domestication from Chalcolithic times, alternate bearing, oleuropein bitterness, Xylella threat.
Orobanchaceae
Orobanchaceae (broomrape family), Ventenat 1799, is the largest family of parasitic flowering plants in Lamiales, with over 2,000 species in about 90-115 genera, spanning non-parasitic, hemiparasitic, and holoparasitic members including Striga and Orobanche crop pests.
Osmanthus
Osmanthus (sweet olive, tea olive; 桂花 for O. fragrans) is a genus of about 26–30 fragrant evergreen Oleaceae shrubs from Türkiye to Japan and Indo-China, used in tea, food, and perfumery.
Osmanthus fragrans
Osmanthus fragrans (桂花, guìhuā), sweet osmanthus or tea olive, is an Oleaceae tree native from the Himalaya to southern Japan, cultivated in China for 2,500 years for fragrant flowers used in tea, sweets, medicine, and perfumery.
Paulownia
Paulownia (empress tree, kiri) is a genus of fast-growing East Asian hardwood trees in Paulowniaceae with seven accepted species, very light wood (220–350 kg/m³), hybrid plantations for timber and biomass, and invasive P. tomentosa.
Paulownia tomentosa
Paulownia tomentosa, the princess or empress tree (kiri), is a fast-growing Paulowniaceae tree native to central and eastern China and South Korea, grown for fire-resistant timber and spring lilac flowers, but invasive in the US, Europe, and Colombia.
Pedaliaceae
Pedaliaceae R.Br., the sesame family, is a Lamiales family of mucilage-gland-covered herbs and shrubs from warm regions, with about 11 accepted genera including Sesamum (sesame), Harpagophytum (devil's claw), and the Malagasy Uncarina.
Penstemon
Penstemon (beardtongues), genus Penstemon Schmidel of Plantaginaceae, is the largest flowering-plant genus endemic to North America, with roughly 250–280 mostly western species, bee- and hummingbird-pollinated syndromes, and many rare edaphic endemics.
Petrea volubilis
Petrea volubilis (queen's wreath, purple wreath, sandpaper vine) is a twining woody vine in Verbenaceae native to tropical America, grown ornamentally for wisteria-like racemes whose persistent pale calyx lobes outlast the darker corollas.
Phillyrea
Phillyrea (mock privet) is a Mediterranean genus of evergreen Oleaceae shrubs with two accepted species, P. angustifolia and P. latifolia, known for diallelic self-incompatibility, androdioecy, and strong drought tolerance.
Phlox
Phlox, a genus of about 69 species in Polemoniaceae (Ericales), native from Siberia and Mongolia across North America to northern Mexico; includes garden phlox, moss phlox, and annual phlox.
Pinguicula
Pinguicula, butterworts, a genus of about 130 carnivorous herbs in Lentibulariaceae with sticky flypaper leaves; Northern Hemisphere distribution, centers in Mexico/Caribbean and Europe, first carnivorous genus with CAM photosynthesis.
Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae, the plantain family (Lamiales), about 2,100 species in ~106 genera worldwide; expanded from polyphyletic Scrophulariaceae, 12 tribes, includes Plantago, Antirrhinum, Digitalis, Penstemon, Veronica.
Plantago coronopus
Plantago coronopus, buck's-horn plantain, is a salt-tolerant Plantaginaceae herb native from Europe to Central Asia, with lobed rosette leaves eaten in salads, four subspecies, and introduced invasive populations in Korea, Australia, and the Americas.
Plantago lanceolata
Plantago lanceolata, ribwort plantain or narrowleaf plantain, a perennial Plantaginaceae herb native to temperate Eurasia and Macaronesia, naturalized worldwide; used as forage, food, and an EMA-listed traditional demulcent cough remedy.
Plantago major
Plantago major (broadleaf plantain, great plantain, white-man's-foot) is a Plantaginaceae herb native to temperate Eurasia and Africa, introduced worldwide, a lawn weed of compacted soil and an ancient wound-healing medicinal herb; distinct from psyllium (P. ovata).
Psychotria viridis
Psychotria viridis (chacruna), a Rubiaceae shrub from Mexico to tropical South America, is the DMT-containing leaf ingredient of ayahuasca, containing 1–1.6 mg DMT per gram of dry leaf; often confused with the alkaloid-free P. carthagenensis.
Pulmonaria officinalis
Pulmonaria officinalis, lungwort or pulmonaire officinale, is a spotted-leaved European borage-family perennial whose flowers shift from red to blue; IUCN Least Concern, long used for lung ailments.