881 articles
Sweet pea
Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) is a scented annual climbing legume native to Sicily and southern Italy, introduced to Britain around 1691–1699, grown for fragrant cut flowers; Grandiflora and Spencer cultivar types; toxic seeds.
Swietenia macrophylla
Swietenia macrophylla, known as big-leaf or Honduran mahogany (caoba), is a large tropical tree of the mahogany family native from Mexico to Bolivia, prized for its valuable timber.
Syzygium
Syzygium (Myrtaceae), the world's most species-rich tree genus with over 1100 species, Old World tropics, origin in Australia-New Guinea; includes clove (S. aromaticum) and jambolan (S. cumini).
Syzygium cumini
Syzygium cumini (jambolan, Java plum, jamun) is a Myrtaceae evergreen tree native from tropical Asia to north Queensland, grown for dark purple astringent fruit, used in traditional medicine, and invasive in south Florida.
Tamarind
Tamarind (Tamarindus indica, Arabic tamr hindi, "Indian date") is a Fabaceae tree native to tropical Africa and Madagascar, grown tropically for acidic pod pulp used in curries, drinks, and confectionery; India is the largest producer.
Tamarix gallica
Tamarix gallica (French tamarisk), Mediterranean-Sahara shrub or tree of Tamaricaceae with salt-excreting scale-like leaves; salt-tolerant and arsenic-tolerant halophyte, ornamental and windbreak, invasive in California and listed as a noxious weed.
Taproot
A taproot is a large, central, dominant root growing straight down into the soil, typical of dicots such as carrot, turnip, and mesquite, while monocots have fibrous roots.
Telfairia
Telfairia Hook. is a genus of three accepted Cucurbitaceae climbing vines native to tropical Africa, Comoros, and Madagascar; its best-known species is the fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis), a West African leafy vegetable and oilseed crop.
Telfairia occidentalis
Telfairia occidentalis, commonly called fluted pumpkin, fluted gourd, or ugu, is a dioecious climbing vine of the gourd family grown in West Africa for its edible leaves and seeds.
Tephrosia
Tephrosia (hoarypea) is a conserved genus of about 350-400 pantropical legumes in Fabaceae, tribe Millettieae, richest in Africa-Madagascar; many species produce rotenone and are used as fish poisons, green manure, and medicine.
Terminalia
Terminalia L. is a genus of tropical trees and shrubs in Combretaceae, first published in 1767, with roughly 200-278 accepted species. Known for Terminalia-type branching, winged fruits, valuable timber, and medicinal species such as T. chebula and T. catappa.
Terminalia arjuna
Terminalia arjuna (arjuna, arjun tree), a Combretaceae tree native to the Indian subcontinent to Myanmar; its bark is an Ayurvedic cardiotonic studied in heart failure and angina trials.
Terminalia catappa
Terminalia catappa (tropical almond, Indian almond, ketapang) is a coastal Combretaceae tree native to the Indo-Pacific, grown for shade and edible seeds, with buoyant salt-tolerant seeds that make it invasive in Florida and the Caribbean.
Terminalia chebula
Terminalia chebula (haritaki, chebulic myrobalan), Combretaceae tree of South Asia; dried fruit Chebulae Fructus used in Ayurveda, TCM, and Triphala; rich in hydrolyzable tannins like chebulagic acid.
Terminalia ivorensis
Terminalia ivorensis (framire, idigbo, black afara) is a Vulnerable West African Combretaceae timber tree from Guinea to Cameroon, grown in plantations for oak-like wood, shade, medicine, and dye.
Terminalia superba
Terminalia superba (limba, fraké) is a large West and Central African Combretaceae timber tree, a light-demanding pioneer traded as one of Africa's major timbers and used in traditional medicine.
Terrarium
Terrarium: a sealed or partly sealed glass container growing plants as a miniature ecosystem, also called a Wardian case after inventor Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1829); recycles water, needs watering only every 3-6 months.
Tetradium ruticarpum
Tetradium ruticarpum (吳茱萸, Wu Zhu Yu, evodia; formerly Euodia ruticarpa) is a Rutaceae tree of the Himalaya to China and Taiwan whose dried fruit is a traditional East Asian medicine for headache and gastrointestinal disorders.
The Great Banyan
The Great Banyan, a 270-year-old Ficus benghalensis in the AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah, near Kolkata, lives without its main trunk (removed 1925) and spreads a roughly 4-acre canopy on over 4,000 prop roots.
Theobroma cacao
Theobroma cacao, the cacao or cocoa tree, is a Malvaceae evergreen whose seeds give chocolate. Upper Amazon origin, use from ~5,300 years ago, 71% of output from Africa, record 2023/24 prices.
Thlaspi
Thlaspi L. is a small genus of Brassicaceae herbs native to temperate Eurasia, published by Linnaeus in 1753 with 9 accepted species; formerly broad Thlaspi s.l. was split into Noccaea, Microthlaspi, and other genera.
Thlaspi arvense
Thlaspi arvense, field pennycress or stinkweed, is a Eurasian mustard-family annual weed of cropland being domesticated in the US Midwest as a winter annual oilseed cash cover crop for corn-soybean rotations and aviation biofuel.
Thymelaea
Thymelaea Mill. (Thymelaeaceae, Malvales): a genus of about 30 Mediterranean xerophyllous shrubs and herbs, sister to Daphne, type T. sanamunda, with daphnane diterpenes and dry fruits.
Thymelaeaceae
Thymelaeaceae (daphne family) is a Malvales family of about 46-50 genera and 890-900 species of trees and shrubs with fibrous bark, no stipules, and tubular flowers; includes Daphne, Aquilaria (agarwood), Gnidia, Pimelea.
Tibouchina
Tibouchina (glorytree) is a Neotropical Melastomataceae genus, native S. Mexico to S. Tropical America, with 38 accepted species after the 2019 split into Pleroma, Chaetogastra, and Andesanthus; bee-pollinated, with T. herbacea invasive in Hawaii.
Tilia
Tilia (linden, lime, basswood) is a genus of about 33 accepted Malvaceae tree species native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with heart-shaped leaves and bracted flowers, valued for honey, carving wood, and top-rated urban UV reduction but drought- and salt-sensitive.
Tilia cordata
Tilia cordata Mill., small-leaved lime or littleleaf linden, is a Malvaceae tree native from Europe to Central Siberia and N. Iran, with heart-shaped 3–8 cm leaves, erect fragrant yellow flower clusters, insect pollination, 500-year lifespan, and IUCN least concern status.
Tilia platyphyllos
Tilia platyphyllos, large-leaved lime or bigleaf linden, a European Malvaceae tree up to 35 m; hexaploid 2n=82; parent of Tilia × europaea hybrid with T. cordata; nectar-rich flowers, IUCN Least Concern.
Toona
Toona is a small genus of deciduous trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae, native from China through tropical Asia to eastern Australia and grown for its light, fragrant red timber.
Toona ciliata
Toona ciliata, known as Australian red cedar or toon, is a large deciduous timber tree in the mahogany family, native from southern China to eastern Australia.