96 articles
Macroptilium atropurpureum
Macroptilium atropurpureum (siratro, purple bean, atro; synonym Phaseolus atropurpureus) is a Fabaceae forage legume native from Mexico to western South America, with dark purple flowers, trifoliate leaves, cultivars Siratro and Aztec, and drought-avoidance physiology.
Mahogany
Mahogany: aromatic reddish hardwood of Swietenia (3 tropical American Meliaceae species) and African Khaya; prized for furniture since 1680, CITES-listed after depletion of S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla.
Maraschino cherry
Maraschino cherry: a preserved sweet cherry bleached in sulfite brine, sugared, dyed red, and almond-flavored (US style), or the original Marasca cherry candied in syrup by Luxardo since 1905; FDA name defined by 1940 TC-194.
Mastic (μαστίχα) (plant resin)
Mastic (μαστίχα, mastiha) is the aromatic resin of Pistacia lentiscus, produced almost exclusively in southern Chios, Greece; a PDO product since 1997, harvested by traditional incision, UNESCO-listed in 2014, and used in food, gum, and herbal medicine.
Medicago
Medicago, commonly called medics, is a genus of about 91 species of legume plants including alfalfa, the world's most widely cultivated forage crop, and the model species barrel medic.
Medicago lupulina
Medicago lupulina, black medick or black medic, is a selfing annual or short-lived perennial legume native from Europe to China, used as forage and cover crop, nodulating with Ensifer meliloti and E. medicae, and a common lawn weed in North America.
Medicago truncatula
Medicago truncatula (barrel medic), a Mediterranean annual legume and model organism for legume biology, with diploid genome 2n=16, Sinorhizobium nitrogen-fixing nodulation, and reference genomes A17 Mt3.5-Mt5.0 and R108.
Melilotus
Melilotus (sweet-clover, melilot) is a Fabaceae genus of fragrant annual and biennial herbs, 23 accepted species native from temperate Eurasia to South Africa, used as forage and cover crops, source of the anticoagulant dicoumarol, and invasive in North American grasslands.
Melilotus albus
Melilotus albus (white sweet-clover, Bokhara-clover), Fabaceae biennial legume native from Europe to China and N. Africa; grown for forage, honey, and green manure; coumarin-bearing, salt- and drought-relevant, invasive in North America.
Melilotus officinalis
Melilotus officinalis, yellow sweetclover or ribbed melilot, a Eurasian biennial Fabaceae legume introduced as forage, nitrogen-fixing and invasive in North America; moldy hay yields toxic dicoumarol.
Mesquite
Mesquite, also called mezquite or mesquite bush, is the common name for spiny, pod-bearing trees and shrubs of the legume genus Prosopis and relatives, used for food, fodder, and wood.
Mimosa
Mimosa is a pantropical legume genus of over 400 prickly, touch-sensitive plants, type species Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant whose leaflets fold within seconds via pulvinar turgor loss and action potentials.
Mimosa pudica
Mimosa pudica, the sensitive plant or touch-me-not, is a Fabaceae herb native to Mexico and tropical America whose leaves fold when touched; it is a tropical invasive weed and medicinal plant.
Mimosa tenuiflora
Mimosa tenuiflora (Willd.) Poir., synonym Mimosa hostilis, jurema-preta or tepezcohuite, is a Fabaceae shrub or tree from Mexico to Brazil whose tannin-rich bark is used for wounds and burns; clinical trial results in venous ulcers conflict.
Mucuna
Mucuna is a pantropical genus of about 112 accepted liana species in Fabaceae, tribe Phaseoleae, first published in 1763. Known for irritant pod hairs, explosive mammal pollination, floating seeds, and the velvet bean Mucuna pruriens.
Mucuna pruriens
Mucuna pruriens (velvet bean, cowitch, kapikacchu), a tropical Fabaceae climbing legume with irritant pod hairs, whose seeds contain 4–6% levodopa and have been trialed as a Parkinson's disease treatment and nitrogen-fixing cover crop.
Myrrh
Myrrh (mo yao 沒藥) is the aromatic gum-resin of Commiphora myrrha/molmol trees of Arabia and the Horn of Africa, traded since antiquity as perfume, incense, embalming agent, and medicine, now CITES-listed and EU-monographed.
Neroli
Neroli is the steam-distilled essential oil of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium var. amara) blossoms, named after the Princess of Nerola; key note of eau de cologne, ~0.1% yield, mainly from Tunisia.
Nut (food)
Nut (food): edible hard-shelled kernels including true botanical nuts, drupes, and seeds such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and peanuts. Eaten since prehistoric times; linked to lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality; main hazard is aflatoxin.
Onobrychis viciifolia
Onobrychis viciifolia (common sainfoin) is a perennial Fabaceae forage legume native to Central and SE Europe, non-bloating due to condensed tannins, drought tolerant via a deep taproot, and under study as a protein-rich perennial pulse crop.
Ornithopus
Ornithopus (bird's-foot, serradella) is a genus of six annual legume species in Fabaceae, tribe Loteae, native from Macaronesia and Europe to Iran and disjunctly to South America; O. sativus is a widely sown forage legume on acidic sandy soils.
Ornithopus sativus
Ornithopus sativus, known as French serradella or pink serradella, is an annual legume in the pea family, native to southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa and grown as forage.
Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus (Oxyrhynchus Brandegee), a genus of twining Fabaceae legumes published in 1912; species include O. volubilis (twining bluehood) and O. papuanus, native from Mexico to Colombia, the Bahamas to Cuba, and Maluku to Papuasia.
Oxytropis
Oxytropis (locoweed genus) is a Fabaceae legume genus of about 400 species across subarctic and temperate Northern Hemisphere, distinguished from Astragalus by a pointed keel petal; some species carry swainsonine-producing endophytic fungi toxic to livestock.
Pachyrhizus
Pachyrhizus is a genus of five Neotropical legume species known as yam beans, three cultivated for their edible tuberous roots, including the Mexican species jicama.
Paraserianthes lophantha
Paraserianthes lophantha (crested wattle, plume albizia, stink bean) is the sole species of its mimosoid legume genus, native to SW Australia and Sumatra-Java-Lesser Sundas, with two subspecies, fire-stimulated hard seeds, and invasive status in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
Parkia biglobosa
Parkia biglobosa, the African locust bean or néré, is a Fabaceae savanna tree from Senegal to South Sudan whose fermented seeds (soumbala, dawadawa, iru) are a staple West African condiment; IUCN least concern.
Paubrasilia echinata
Paubrasilia echinata (pau-brasil, brazilwood, pernambuco), formerly Caesalpinia echinata, is a critically endangered Fabaceae tree endemic to Brazil's Atlantic Forest coast; its red dye wood named the country and makes violin bows.
Pea shoots
Pea shoots are the young, tender vine tips of garden peas (Pisum sativum), a Hmong-introduced specialty green eaten raw, steamed, or stir-fried; rich in vitamins C, E, A, and potassium, grown in cool 55–65°F weather, and used within one to two days of harvest.
Peach gum
Peach gum (桃胶), the injury-induced exudate of Prunus persica, yields type II arabinogalactan polysaccharides with arabinose and galactose as main sugars; extracted fractions emulsify better than gum arabic.