881 articles
Khat
Khat (Catha edulis, qat, miraa) is an evergreen Celastraceae shrub of East Africa and Yemen whose fresh leaves, containing the amphetamine-like alkaloid cathinone, are chewed as a stimulant by about 20 million people.
Khaya senegalensis
Khaya senegalensis (Senegal mahogany, African mahogany), Meliaceae tree from West Africa to northern Uganda; Vulnerable IUCN, timber, fodder, and medicinal bark, poor natural regeneration, attacked by Hypsipyla shoot borer.
Kokia
Kokia is a genus of four rare, endangered small trees in Malvaceae (cotton tribe Gossypieae), endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, described by Lewton in 1912; Kokia cookei survives only as clones of one plant. Not the singer Kokia.
Kola nut
Kola nut (Cola acuminata, Cola nitida), the caffeine-rich seed chewed in West Africa and once flavoring Coca-Cola; contains 1.5–3.8% caffeine, GRAS status, 280,000 t produced in 2016.
Kudzu in the United States
Kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata), an Asian legume vine introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, covers about 7 million acres of the southeastern US after New Deal erosion-control planting; it grows up to a foot per day and is a Federal Noxious Weed.
Kumquat
Kumquat (金柑; Citrus japonica, formerly Fortunella) is a small cold-hardy citrus from southeastern China, eaten whole with its sweet peel; main types Nagami, Marumi, and Meiwa.
Lablab purpureus
Lablab purpureus (hyacinth bean, Dolichos lablab), an African-origin climbing legume grown for grain, forage, and green manure; South African origin, East African domestication, seeds about 25% protein, drought-resilient biomass.
Laburnum
Laburnum (golden chain, golden rain) is a small European legume genus of two species, L. alpinum and L. anagyroides, plus the hybrid L. x watereri 'Vossii', grown for yellow pendulous racemes and poisonous cytisine-containing seeds.
Laburnum anagyroides
Laburnum anagyroides, common laburnum or golden chain tree (syn. Cytisus laburnum), a Fabaceae shrub or tree to 7 m native to S. Central and SE Europe, with yellow June–July racemes and cytisine-poisonous seeds; IUCN least concern.
Lagerstroemia
Lagerstroemia (crape myrtle genus), Lythraceae, ~50 accepted species of Asian-Australian trees and shrubs; ornamental L. indica, L. speciosa; timber like teak; crinkled petals, winged seeds.
Lagerstroemia speciosa
Lagerstroemia speciosa (banaba, queen's crape myrtle, pride of India) is a tropical Asian Lythraceae tree with large pink-mauve panicles, native from Yunnan to Malesia, used as timber, ornamental, and antidiabetic herbal medicine.
Larrea
Larrea (creosote bush genus, jarillas) is a genus of five resinous Zygophyllaceae desert shrubs of North and South America, including Larrea tridentata, known for NDGA-rich leaf resin, polyploid races, and traditional medicinal use.
Larrea divaricata
Larrea divaricata (jarilla, jarilla hembra) is a South American Zygophyllaceae shrub of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, used in traditional medicine, containing NDGA, and studied for anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antitumor extract activity.
Larrea tridentata
Larrea tridentata, creosote bush (gobernadora, hediondilla), is the dominant evergreen resinous shrub of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts, with clonal rings up to about 11,700 years old and NDGA-rich leaves used medicinally despite liver toxicity concerns.
Latex
Plant latex: sticky milky emulsion from laticifers in about 10% of flowering plants, a defense against herbivores; source of natural rubber from Hevea brasiliensis.
Lathyrus
Lathyrus (sweet pea, vetchling, grass pea) is a genus of about 160-183 climbing legume species in Fabaceae, tribe Fabeae, centered on the Mediterranean; grass pea L. sativus contains the neurotoxin β-ODAP causing lathyrism.
Lathyrus sativus
Lathyrus sativus, grass pea or chickling pea, a Balkan-domesticated annual legume grown for food and fodder; tolerant of drought and flooding but its neurotoxin beta-ODAP causes lathyrism when eaten as a dietary staple.
Lawsonia inermis
Lawsonia inermis, henna (also mehndi, Egyptian privet), the sole Lythraceae species of its genus; a 2–6 m shrub whose leaves yield the dye lawsone, used for millennia as hair and skin colorant and in traditional medicine.
Leea
Leea D.Royen is a genus of Old World tropical shrubs and small trees in Vitales, historically the monogeneric family Leeaceae, now placed in Vitaceae; about 34-70 species, tendrils absent, used in traditional medicine.
Legume
Legume: seeds and fruits of Fabaceae plants (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, soybean); dry-seed types are pulses. Fix nitrogen via rhizobia nodules, boost following-crop yields ~20%, cover ~180 Mha globally.
Leguminous flora
Leguminous flora, the Fabaceae or Leguminosae (豆科), the third largest flowering plant family with about 22,520 species in 796 genera, defined by pod fruits and root-nodule nitrogen fixation with Rhizobium bacteria.
Lentil
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.), an annual self-pollinating pulse legume domesticated about 8,500 years ago in the Near East; grown in 53 countries for protein-rich seeds, led by Canada and India.
Lepidium
Lepidium (peppergrasses, cresses) is a cosmopolitan genus of about 264 accepted species in Brassicaceae, tribe Lepidieae, first published by Linnaeus in 1753; it includes garden cress (L. sativum) and maca (L. meyenii).
Lepidium meyenii
Lepidium meyenii (maca) is a Brassicaceae perennial of the high Andes, cultivated at 4,000–4,400 m for its hypocotyl; synonyms include Lepidium peruvianum; studied for sexual function with limited clinical evidence.
Lespedeza
Lespedeza (bush clover) is a Fabaceae genus of 48 accepted species native to Asia, Australia, and North America; some species are forage legumes, while sericea lespedeza (L. cuneata) is an invasive, tannin-rich noxious weed in the United States.
Leucaena
Leucaena (lead tree, ipil-ipil) is a Fabaceae genus of about 25 unarmed, bipinnate-leaved trees and shrubs native from the southern USA to Peru; L. leucocephala is a major tropical fodder tree containing toxic mimosine and listed among the world's worst invasive species.
Licania
Licania Aubl. is a Neotropical tree genus of Chrysobalanaceae, apetalous flowers, ovary at receptacle base, about 100 species from Mexico to southeastern Brazil after the 2016 split of the former polyphyletic 214-species genus into eight genera.
Lignum vitae
Lignum vitae, the heartwood of Guaiacum officinale and G. sanctum, is an extremely hard, dense, self-lubricating tropical wood historically used for ship stern-tube bearings; both species are CITES Appendix II listed.
Limonia acidissima
Limonia acidissima, the wood apple tree, is a spiny citrus-family tree native to the Indian subcontinent and Andaman Islands, grown for its hard-shelled aromatic fruit.
Linaceae
Linaceae, the flax family, is a cosmopolitan family of about 9 genera and 280 species in the order Malpighiales, including Linum, the source of linen and linseed oil.