299 articles
Mandragora officinarum
Mandragora officinarum, commonly called mandrake, is a perennial herb of the nightshade family native to the Mediterranean, used medicinally since antiquity and known for its human-shaped root in folklore.
Mandrake
Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum, Solanaceae), also called satan's apple, is a Mediterranean perennial herb with a human-shaped root containing atropine and scopolamine; used medicinally since 2000 BC and abandoned after volatile anaesthetics appeared.
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.
Marjoram
Marjoram (Origanum majorana, sweet marjoram) is a Lamiaceae culinary herb from Cyprus and southern Turkey, milder and sweeter than oregano, with terpinen-4-ol/sabinene hydrate essential oil studied as a natural pesticide.
Marrubium
Marrubium (horehounds) is a Lamiaceae herb genus, type species M. vulgare, white horehound; 40-53 species native from Macaronesia and Europe to Central Asia and the Himalaya; source of the diterpene marrubiin.
Marrubium vulgare
Marrubium vulgare, white horehound (Marrubii herba), a Lamiaceae perennial herb native from Europe to the Himalaya, used traditionally as an expectorant, for dyspepsia, and for appetite loss; EMA traditional-use monograph, major diterpene marrubiin, invasive weed in Australia.
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.
Mentha
Mentha (mint) is a genus of aromatic Lamiaceae herbs, first published by Linnaeus in 1753, with a cosmopolitan native range and about 26 accepted species. Spearmint and peppermint are its main cultivated hybrids; hybridization, polyploidy, and chromosome numbers of 24–120 make its taxonomy notoriously difficult.
Mentha aquatica
Mentha aquatica (water mint), Lamiaceae perennial wetland herb native to Africa, Europe, and W. Asia; IUCN Least Concern; parent of peppermint (Mentha × piperita) with M. spicata; aromatic, rhizomatous, marsh plant.
Mentha canadensis
Mentha canadensis (薄荷, bo he), Canada mint, American wild mint, Japanese mint, or corn mint: a perennial Lamiaceae herb native from Siberia to East Asia and North America, source of cornmint oil rich in menthol (28–47%), with 74 synonyms and disputed species versus subspecies rank.
Mentha longifolia
Mentha longifolia, horsemint or wild mint (欧薄荷), a perennial Lamiaceae herb from Macaronesia to South Africa; variable pulegone/piperitenone oxide essential oil, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, traditional medicinal uses.
Mentha pulegium
Mentha pulegium, pennyroyal or European pennyroyal, is a perennial mint (Lamiaceae) native to Europe and the Mediterranean, with pulegone-rich toxic essential oil, grown as a herb and invasive in California wetlands.
Merremia
Merremia Dennst. ex Endl., a genus of twining Convolvulaceae vines native from tropical to temperate Asia; once ~100 species, now 38 accepted after Simões & Staples (2017) split; yellow campanulate flowers, smooth pollen.
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.
Mitragyna speciosa
Mitragyna speciosa (kratom, ketum) is a Southeast Asian Rubiaceae tree whose leaves contain mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, opioid-active alkaloids; traditionally chewed or brewed, now regulated, with concentrated 7-OH products targeted for US Schedule I.
Monarda
Monarda (beebalm, bee balm, wild bergamot, horsemint) is a North American genus of about 25 aromatic mint-family (Lamiaceae) perennials, published by Linnaeus in 1753, grown ornamentally and known for Oswego tea and susceptibility to powdery mildew.
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.
Morinda citrifolia
Morinda citrifolia (noni, Indian mulberry), a Rubiaceae shrub native to tropical Asia and northern Australia, used in Pacific traditional medicine; its juice is an EU-authorized novel food, with no approved drugs and limited human evidence.
Morning glory
Morning glory: common name for Convolvulaceae plants, especially Ipomoea vines with funnel-shaped flowers that wilt within hours. Includes sweet potato, hard-seeded dormancy, Mesoamerican ritual use, and many invasive weed species.
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.
Nerium
Nerium (oleander, rose-bay) is a monotypic Apocynaceae genus whose single species, Nerium oleander L., is a toxic evergreen Mediterranean-to-Myanmar ornamental shrub containing cardiac glycosides, mainly oleandrin.
Nicandra
Nicandra Adans. (shoo-fly plant, apple-of-Peru) is a Solanaceae genus native to Peru and southern South America with three accepted species, the best known being Nicandra physalodes, an ornamental with an inflated fruiting calyx.
Nicotiana benthamiana
Nicotiana benthamiana, an Australian solanaceous model plant, is prized for viral susceptibility from a nonfunctional NbRDR1 gene, agroinfiltration and VIGS tools, and use as a biofactory for recombinant proteins and vaccines.
Nicotiana glauca
Nicotiana glauca (tree tobacco, wild tobacco) is a South American Solanaceae shrub, 2–6 m tall, naturalized worldwide as a noxious weed; its leaves are dominated by toxic anabasine, causing fatal human and livestock poisoning.
Nicotiana glutinosa
Nicotiana glutinosa (glutinosa tobacco) is a viscid Andean Nicotiana species, Galapagos to W. Bolivia, described by Linnaeus 1753; source of the N gene for TMV resistance in commercial tobacco and a local-lesion indicator host.
Nicotiana rustica
Nicotiana rustica (Aztec tobacco, wild tobacco) is a South American allotetraploid tobacco species (2n=48, from N. paniculata and N. undulata) with 4–9.5% leaf nicotine, far stronger than N. tabacum, used for chewing tobacco, snuff, and nicotine extraction.
Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana tabacum, common tobacco, is an allotetraploid Solanaceae herb (2n=48) from Bolivia, derived from N. sylvestris and N. tomentosiformis; the leading commercial tobacco species, grown for nicotine-rich cured leaves.