881 articles
Malpighiales
Malpighiales is a large order of flowering plants (about 16,000 species, 36-42 families) in the rosid fabids, including Euphorbiaceae, Salicaceae, Malpighiaceae, and Rafflesiaceae; its deep phylogeny, long unresolved, was clarified by plastid phylogenomics.
Malus
Malus (apple genus, crabapples) is a Rosaceae genus of 39 accepted species native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere; the domesticated apple M. domestica derives from M. sieversii of the Tian Shan via the Silk Road.
Malus pumila
Malus pumila Mill. (1768) is a botanical name for the cultivated apple, now a rejected synonym of Malus domestica; covers its nomenclature, Miller's Paradise Apple sense, and apple domestication from Malus sieversii.
Malus sylvestris
Malus sylvestris, the European wild apple or crab apple, is a small deciduous Rosaceae tree native to Europe and Türkiye, IUCN Data Deficient, and a major secondary genomic contributor to the cultivated apple Malus domestica.
Malva
Malva (mallows) is a genus of Malvaceae herbs first published in 1753, with about 54-60 species native from the Old World to Australia and SW USA to NW Mexico; includes M. sylvestris and M. neglecta, used as food, ornamentals, and traditional medicine.
Malva sylvestris
Malva sylvestris, common mallow, is a Malvaceae herb native from Macaronesia and Europe to Central Asia and the W. Himalaya, with pink-purple veined flowers, EU-approved traditional medicinal uses, and food use.
Malvaceae
Malvaceae, known as the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants with about 4,200 species, largely tropical to temperate, including cotton, okra, cacao, durian, hibiscus, and baobab.
Malvales
Malvales, an order of flowering plants (rosid, near Brassicales and Sapindales) with 10 families, ~6,100 species, including Malvaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Cistaceae; cotton, cocoa, durian; Upper Cretaceous origin.
Manchineel
Manchineel (Hippomane mancinella), also called beach apple or manzanilla de la muerte, is a highly toxic Euphorbiaceae tree of Caribbean and Central American coasts; sap, fruit, and even rainwater from its canopy cause blistering dermatitis and poisoning.
Mangifera indica
Mangifera indica (mango), Anacardiaceae tree native from Assam to southern Yunnan, grown for its large drupe; two gene pools (Indian, Southeast Asian), 62 Mt production base, allergens Man i 1, 2, 4.
Mangosteen
Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana, Thai มังคุด), the Queen of Fruits, a Southeast Asian evergreen tree with apomictic seeds, 5-6 year juvenile phase, Thailand the top producer, and gamboge as the main fruit quality disorder.
Manihot
Manihot is a genus of about 140 species of latex-producing shrubs and trees in the spurge family, native from the southern United States to northwestern Argentina.
Maple
Maple (genus Acer, Sapindaceae), about 155 Northern Hemisphere tree species with lobed leaves and winged samaras; sugar maple and red maple dominate syrup, with Canada over 75% of world production.
Maple leaf
Maple leaf: the lobed leaf of Acer trees, emblem of Canada since the 19th century and centerpiece of the 11-point design on the National Flag of Canada (1965); also known for anthocyanin-driven red autumn coloration.
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.
Melaleuca
Melaleuca, the paperbarks, is a Myrtaceae genus of about 260 to 382 species native from Indo-China to Australia and New Caledonia. Its species yield tea tree and niaouli oils, while M. quinquenervia has invaded over 200,000 hectares of Florida Everglades wetlands.
Melaleuca alternifolia
Melaleuca alternifolia, the Australian tea tree, a Myrtaceae shrub native to Queensland and northeast NSW; source of tea tree oil (terpinen-4-ol type, ISO 4730), used topically for acne and infections, toxic if swallowed.
Melastoma malabathricum
Melastoma malabathricum (senduduk, Singapore rhododendron, Malabar melastome) is a Melastomataceae shrub native from Seychelles and Asia to Australia, a folk-medicinal aluminum-accumulating weed with purple berries that stain the mouth black.
Melastomataceae
Melastomataceae Juss., the melastome family, a pantropical Myrtales family of about 150–190 genera and 4,500–5,800 species, recognized by acrodromous leaf venation, hypanthiate flowers, and buzz-pollinated poricidal anthers.
Melia azedarach
Melia azedarach, chinaberry or Persian lilac (Meliaceae), a deciduous Asian-Australian tree with lilac flowers and toxic yellow drupes; planted for timber and pesticide, invasive in the southern US, South Africa, and on EPPO's 2025 list.
Meliaceae
Meliaceae, the mahogany family (Meliaceae Juss., nom. cons., type genus Melia), is a pantropical Sapindales family of about 50 genera and 600-800 species of scented-wood trees, including Swietenia mahogany, neem, and limonoid-rich chemistry.
Melicoccus bijugatus
Melicoccus bijugatus (mamoncillo, Spanish lime, quenepa, genip) is a Sapindaceae fruit tree native to northern South America, naturalized in the Caribbean and Florida; IUCN Least Concern, sister to Talisia in RAxML phylogenies.
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.
Melocactus matanzanus
Melocactus matanzanus (dwarf Turk's-cap cactus, erizo) is a small endangered Cuban cactus described by León in 1934, 7-10 cm across, with 8-9 ribs, a cephalium, pink flowers, and serpentine-scrub habitat in Matanzas and nearby provinces.