881 articles
Aesculus glabra
Aesculus glabra, Ohio buckeye (fetid or stinking buckeye), a Sapindaceae tree of the east-central US with five-leaflet palmate leaves, spiny capsules, toxic aesculin/aescin seeds, soft light wood, and status as Ohio's state tree.
Aesculus hippocastanum
Aesculus hippocastanum, horse chestnut or conker tree, is a large Balkan-native deciduous tree, IUCN Vulnerable with 5,000-9,000 mature trees, threatened by the leaf miner Cameraria ohridella and used medicinally via escin seed extract.
Agarwood
Agarwood (oud, aloeswood, gaharu) is fragrant resinous heartwood from Aquilaria and Gyrinops trees formed after fungal infection; CITES Appendix II listed, traded as incense, oil, and perfume worth up to $120,000/kg.
Aglaia
Aglaia (plant genus), Aglaia Lour., a genus of about 110–125 tropical trees and shrubs in the mahogany family Meliaceae, ranging from India to Samoa, sole source of anticancer flavagline compounds such as rocaglamide.
Agonis
Agonis (peppermints) is a genus of aromatic Myrtaceae shrubs and trees endemic to south-west Western Australia, with white flowers in globular heads and woody 3-valved capsules; type species Agonis flexuosa, the willow myrtle.
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimonia eupatoria (agrimony, church steeples) is a Rosaceae perennial herb of Europe, North Africa, and Asia; its dried flowering tops (Agrimoniae herba) are a tannin-rich traditional astringent drug regulated by an EMA monograph.
Ailanthus
Ailanthus is a genus of six tree species in Simaroubaceae, native from tropical Asia to northern Australia; its best-known member, Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven), is a major invasive tree in Europe, North America, and elsewhere.
Ailanthus altissima
Ailanthus altissima, tree-of-heaven, is an invasive Simaroubaceae tree from China, introduced to Europe in 1751 and North America in 1784, known for ailanthone allelopathy, clonal root suckers, and heavy seeding.
Albizia julibrissin
Albizia julibrissin, silktree or mimosa (Persian silk tree), a Fabaceae tree native from Iran to Japan, grown as an ornamental since the 18th century and now a Category I invasive in Florida and much of the southeastern US.
Albizia lebbeck
Albizia lebbeck, the woman's tongue tree or siris (Mimosa lebbeck L.), a Fabaceae tree native from the Indian subcontinent to Myanmar, grown for fodder, timber, and shade, invasive in Florida and elsewhere.
Alcea
Alcea (hollyhocks) is a genus of about 83 accepted species of Malvaceae herbs native from East Central Europe to Central Asia; Alcea rosea, the hollyhock, is a cultigen from Türkiye grown as an ornamental and used in traditional medicine.
Alchemilla
Alchemilla (lady's mantle), Rosaceae genus of perennial herbs with palmately lobed leaves and greenish flowers; apomictic microspecies; used traditionally for gynecological and digestive complaints.
Alder
Alder (Alnus), a genus of about 40 birch-family trees and shrubs of the temperate Northern Hemisphere to the Andes, identified by stalked buds and persistent cones, and fixing nitrogen through Frankia root nodules.
Aldrovanda vesiculosa
Aldrovanda vesiculosa, the waterwheel plant, is the sole living species of its carnivorous plant genus, a rootless aquatic snap-trap plant native from Europe to Australia, IUCN Endangered with only 50 confirmed extant sites after decline from 379 historical populations, and extinct in the wild in Japan since 1967.
Aleurites moluccanus
Aleurites moluccanus, the candlenut tree (kukui, kemiri, 石栗), is an Euphorbiaceae tree native from tropical Asia to the western Pacific, grown for oil-rich seeds used as food, medicine, candles, and biodiesel; invasive in Pacific islands.
Alhagi
Alhagi (camelthorn genus) is a genus of four spiny Fabaceae shrubs native from Chad and the E. Mediterranean to the Himalaya; A. maurorum is a noxious weed and medicinal plant, A. sparsifolia a Taklimakan desert phreatophyte.
Alliaria petiolata
Alliaria petiolata, known as garlic mustard, is a biennial mustard herb native to Europe that has become invasive in North American forests since the 1860s.
Almond
Almond (Prunus dulcis, syn. P. amygdalus), an early-domesticated Near Eastern nut tree; wild ancestor likely P. fenzliana; California grows about 80% of world supply; kernels contain amygdalin.
Alnus glutinosa
Alnus glutinosa, common or black alder, is a European wetland tree in Betulaceae that fixes nitrogen via Frankia root nodules, has sticky buds, water-durable timber, and is invasive in North America, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Alnus rubra
Alnus rubra, the red alder, is a fast-growing deciduous tree of the birch family native to the Pacific Coast from Alaska to California, the largest alder in the Americas.
Alnus viridis
Alnus viridis (green alder, now often Alnus alnobetula) is a fast-growing deciduous nitrogen-fixing alder shrub of cool Northern Hemisphere subalpine zones, a pioneer on disturbed soils, 0.5–6 m tall.
Alyssum
Alyssum (madwort) is a Brassicaceae genus of about 112 accepted species native from the Canary Islands and North Africa to temperate Eurasia; its Odontarrhena section contains many nickel hyperaccumulators, and sweet alyssum belongs instead to Lobularia.
Amaranthus spinosus
Amaranthus spinosus, spiny amaranth or spiny pigweed (Chinese 刺苋, ci xian), is a spine-bearing annual amaranth native from Mexico to Tropical America, now a widespread tropical weed with US resistance to WSSA herbicide groups 2 and 9, used as a leafy vegetable and folk medicine.
Amburana cearensis
Amburana cearensis (cumaru, imburana-de-cheiro, cerejeira; syn. Torresea cearensis) is an endangered Fabaceae timber tree of South American seasonally dry forests, used in folk medicine for respiratory ailments; its coumarins, amburoside A/B, and flavonoids show anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and neuroprotective activity.
Amelanchier
Amelanchier (serviceberry, juneberry, saskatoon, shadbush) is a Rosaceae genus of about 20 species of North American, European, and Asian shrubs and small trees with white flowers and edible sweet pomes; taxonomy is complicated by polyploidy, apomixis, and hybridization.
Amelanchier alnifolia
Amelanchier alnifolia, the saskatoon berry or Saskatoon serviceberry, is a North American Rosaceae shrub grown for sweet purple pomes rich in anthocyanins, fiber, and minerals; distinct from other serviceberries by alder-like leaves and western prairie range.
Amelanchier ovalis
Amelanchier ovalis (snowy mespilus, garden serviceberry), Medik. 1793, syn. Mespilus amelanchier L., a Rosaceae shrub native from Europe to the Caucasus and NW Africa, with diploid 2n=34 and tetraploid 2n=68 cytotypes and edible bluish-black fruits.
American chestnut
American chestnut (Castanea dentata), eastern US canopy tree killed as a dominant species by chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) after 1904; restoration via backcross hybrids, hypovirulence, and transgenic Darling 54.
Amorpha fruticosa
Amorpha fruticosa, the false indigo bush, is a North American legume shrub with purplish blue flowers that has become a major invasive plant in Europe.
Ampelopsis
Ampelopsis (peppervine, porcelain berry) is a genus of tendril-climbing lianas in Vitaceae, published by Michaux in 1803, mostly East Asian with disjunct North American species; Nekemias was split from it in 2014.