881 articles
Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae, the cashew or sumac family (R.Br., 1818), is a Sapindales family of about 80 genera and 800-870 species of resinous trees and shrubs, including cashew, mango, pistachio, sumac, and poison ivy (urushiol).
Anadenanthera
Anadenanthera (yopo, cebil, angico) is a tropical American legume tree genus with four accepted species; A. peregrina seeds yield the classic hallucinogenic snuff, A. colubrina supplies timber and tannins.
Anadenanthera peregrina
Anadenanthera peregrina (yopo, cohoba, niopo, paricá) is a Fabaceae tree native from the Caribbean to southern tropical South America whose crushed seeds yield the classic hallucinogenic snuff; IUCN Least Concern, genus of two species with A. colubrina.
Andira
Andira Lam. (angelins) is a conserved genus of about 30 Fabaceae tree species, subfamily Faboideae, tribe Dalbergieae, native from Mexico to tropical America and West Africa, with drupaceous one-seeded legumes and a four-toothed calyx.
Andira inermis
Andira inermis (cabbage bark, angelin, almendro) is a nitrogen-fixing Fabaceae tree native from Mexico to tropical America and West Africa to Uganda, used in traditional medicine as a vermifuge and purgative, with toxic seeds and Least Concern status.
Angel Oak
Angel Oak: famous Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) in Angel Oak Park, Johns Island, Charleston, SC; 65 ft tall, 25.5 ft trunk circumference, 17,000 sq ft canopy; age estimates 300-500 years; city-owned since 1991, free admission, ~400,000 visitors yearly.
Anoda
Anoda is a genus of about 24 accepted Malvaceae (mallow) species of annual herbs native to tropical and subtropical America, centered in Mexico; its best-known species, Anoda cristata, is a crop weed and Mexican food plant.
Anredera cordifolia
Anredera cordifolia, Madeira vine or mignonette vine (binahong), a Basellaceae twining vine native to South America, grown as ornamental and vegetable, invasive in Australia and New Zealand via aerial tubers.
Anthyllis
Anthyllis (kidney vetches) is a genus of about 23 legume species (Fabaceae, tribe Loteae) native from Macaronesia and Europe to Iran and NE tropical Africa, with all 10 stamens united and non-lomentaceous fruits; A. vulneraria is the most widespread species.
Apricot
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca), a Rosaceae stone fruit from Central Asia with two domestication events; Turkey leads fresh production (1.27 Mt, 2024) and Türkiye dominates dried apricots; kernels contain toxic amygdalin.
Apricot kernel
Apricot kernel (Prunus armeniaca seed, amygdalin, laetrile, vitamin B17): seed inside the apricot pit; contains amygdalin that releases cyanide; no evidence it treats cancer; sale restricted in AU/NZ and EU.
Aquilaria malaccensis
Aquilaria malaccensis (agarwood, karas) is a Critically Endangered Thymelaeaceae tree from Bangladesh to Malesia, the preferred agarwood source for Middle Eastern and Indian perfumery, CITES Appendix II listed since 1995, with wild populations down over 80%.
Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis is a genus of nine Brassicaceae species, led by Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress), the first plant genome sequenced (2000, about 125 Mb, five chromosomes) and the standard model organism of plant biology.
Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thaliana, or thale cress, is a small flowering plant in the mustard family and a central model organism in plant biology, with the first fully sequenced plant genome.
Arachis pintoi
Arachis pintoi (pinto peanut, forage peanut, maní forrajero), a stoloniferous perennial Fabaceae legume from central Brazil, used as tropical forage, cover crop, and living mulch; fixes 88–244 kg N/ha/yr; cultivar Amarillo; high invasion risk in Florida.
Argan oil
Argan oil, a plant oil from kernels of the endemic argan tree (Argania spinosa) of southwest Morocco; UNESCO-listed traditional extraction, oleic/linoleic-rich composition, γ-tocopherol, schottenol and spinasterol sterols, and the world's most expensive vegetable oil.
Argentina anserina
Argentina anserina (silverweed, silverweed cinquefoil; formerly Potentilla anserina) is an allotetraploid stoloniferous Rosaceae perennial of temperate wetlands across the Northern Hemisphere, invasive in Patagonia, IUCN least concern.
Aria torminalis
Aria torminalis, the wild service tree (syn. Sorbus torminalis, Torminalis glaberrima), is a suckering Rosaceae tree of Europe to Iran and NW Africa, with chequer fruits, prized timber, and IUCN Least Concern status.
Aronia
Aronia, known as chokeberry or chokeberries, is a genus of deciduous shrubs in the rose family native to eastern North America, grown for its dark, polyphenol-rich fruit used in juice and wine.
Aronia melanocarpa
Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry) is a North American Rosaceae shrub grown for astringent, polyphenol- and anthocyanin-rich berries used in juices and functional foods; human RCT meta-analyses show no significant cardiometabolic effects.
Artocarpus
Artocarpus (breadfruit genus) is a Moraceae tree genus of about 70 species from tropical Asia to the western Pacific, with Borneo as its ancestral range; it yields jackfruit, breadfruit, cempedak, and marang, with compound syncarp fruits up to 45 kg.
Artocarpus integer
Artocarpus integer, cempedak (champada, chempedak), a Moraceae fruit tree native from Peninsula Thailand to Malesia, related to jackfruit and breadfruit; aromatic 0.6–3.5 kg fruits, teak-strength timber, IUCN Least Concern.
Aspen
Aspen, chiefly quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), is North America's most widely distributed tree, a clonal species regenerating by root suckering and seed, valued for biodiversity and acting as a natural wildfire firebreak.
Astragalus gummifer
Astragalus gummifer (goat's thorn, geven) is a spiny Fabaceae subshrub native to Türkiye, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran, the species usually cited as the source of gum tragacanth (E 413), used as an emulsifier and thickener.
Astronium
Astronium Jacq. (Anacardiaceae) is a neotropical genus of about 12-13 hardwood tree species, type species A. graveolens, ranging from Mexico to northern Argentina; sources of tigerwood and gonçalo-alves timber.
Aurinia
Aurinia (L.) Desv., goldentuft or basket of gold, is a genus of 7 Brassicaceae species native to central and southeastern Europe to Türkiye; A. saxatilis is a popular yellow rock-garden perennial.
Averrhoa bilimbi
Averrhoa bilimbi, or tree sorrel, is a small tropical tree in the Oxalidaceae family, native to Malesia and grown for its extremely sour, cucumber-shaped fruit used in cooking.
Azadirachta
Azadirachta A.Juss. (1830), a two-species genus of Meliaceae trees: neem (Azadirachta indica) and A. excelsa, native to tropical Asia, source of the insecticidal limonoid azadirachtin.
Azadirachta indica
Azadirachta indica, neem or margosa, a Meliaceae evergreen tree native from Assam to Indo-China, planted across dry tropics; source of azadirachtin, a limonoid insecticide sensitive to over 550 insect species.
Balanites
Balanites (desert date genus, Agialid synonym) is a genus of nine spiny Zygophyllaceae trees and shrubs from Africa to Myanmar; type species Balanites aegyptiaca yields edible fruit, cooking oil, and steroidal saponins.