2,112 articles
Capsicum
Capsicum is the Solanaceae genus of chili and bell peppers, native from Mexico to tropical America, with about 43 accepted species, five independently domesticated (annuum, chinense, frutescens, baccatum, pubescens), and pungency from capsaicinoids.
Capsicum annuum
Capsicum annuum is the most widespread domesticated chili pepper species, covering bell peppers, jalapeños, and cayenne. Domesticated in Mexico over 6,500 years ago from wild var. glabriusculum, it reached Europe in the late 15th century and now anchors global pepper breeding.
Capsicum pubescens
Capsicum pubescens (rocoto, locoto, manzano) is the only one of the five domesticated chile peppers known solely in cultivation, with black seeds, purple flowers, hairy leaves, about 175,000 SHU, and an inferred origin in central-western Bolivia.
Caragana
Caragana (锦鸡儿属), peashrub, a Fabaceae genus of spiny shrubs native from eastern Europe to temperate Asia; 63-105 species, arid Miocene origin in the Junggar Basin, nitrogen-fixing windbreak shrubs like the Siberian peashrub.
Caraway
Caraway (Carum carvi), also meridian fennel or Persian cumin, is a biennial Apiaceae herb of temperate Eurasia whose aromatic fruits, rich in d-carvone and limonene, season rye bread and liqueurs and serve as a traditional carminative remedy.
Cardamine
Cardamine (bittercress, toothwort) is a Brassicaceae genus of about 264 accepted species published by Linnaeus in 1753, type species C. pratensis, with explosive siliques, heavy polyploidy, and model species such as C. hirsuta.
Carduus
Carduus (plumeless thistles) is a spiny Asteraceae genus published by Linnaeus in 1753, with about 80-90 species native to temperate Eurasia and North Africa; several, like Carduus nutans and C. pycnocephalus, are invasive weeds.
Caricaceae
Caricaceae, the papaya family, is a small Brassicales family of tropical American trees, shrubs, and herbs plus African Cylicomorpha; sister to Moringaceae; includes Carica papaya, the fourth most important tropical fruit crop.
Carlina
Carlina (carline thistles) is a genus of about 30 spiny Asteraceae herbs in tribe Cardueae, subtribe Carlininae, named by Linnaeus in 1753, native from Macaronesia and North Africa to Siberia and Iran, with yellow discoid heads and papery radiating bracts.
Carlina acaulis
Carlina acaulis L., stemless carline thistle or silver thistle, a stemless Asteraceae perennial of European mountains; root essential oil (91.5–99% carlina oxide) studied as antimicrobial and botanical insecticide.
Carob
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua), Mediterranean evergreen legume; sweet pods ground as caffeine-free cocoa substitute, seeds yield locust bean gum; major producers Spain, Italy, Portugal.
Carpinus betulus
Carpinus betulus, the European hornbeam, a Betulaceae tree native from Europe to Iran; dense hard wood, coppiced for firewood, used as hedge and shade tree, tolerant of wet clay soils and shade.
Carthamus
Carthamus (from Arabic Qurtum) is a genus of spiny Asteraceae herbs from Europe to Central Asia; its only cultivated species, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius, 2n=24), was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent over 4000 years ago from wild progenitor C. palaestinus for dyes, oil, and medicine.
Carya
Carya (hickories), genus of Juglandaceae trees native from Assam to China and Indo-China and E. Canada to Mexico; disjunct EA-ENA distribution, origin ~66.64 Ma, includes pecan C. illinoinensis.
Caryocar
Caryocar (pequi trees) is a genus of 16 Neotropical tree species in Caryocaraceae, Malpighiales, native to Tropical America; C. brasiliense yields pequi fruit and oil rich in oleic acid.
Caryocar brasiliense
Caryocar brasiliense (pequi, pequizeiro) is a Caryocaraceae tree native to Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, emblematic of the Cerrado. Its oily, carotenoid-rich fruit supports extractive food, cosmetic, and medicinal uses, protected since 1987 and by Brazil's 2025 national pequi policy.
Caryocar costaricense
Caryocar costaricense (ajo, ajillo, manú) is an endangered Central American timber tree of Caryocaraceae, the family's only Central American species, native to Costa Rica and adjacent Panama, with garlic-scented yellow flowers and CITES Appendix II listing.
Caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae, the pink family (Caryophyllales), is a family of about 100 genera and 2,200–3,000 species of herbs including Silene, Dianthus, and Gypsophila, mainly temperate northern hemisphere.
Caryophyllales
Caryophyllales, the carnation order including Centrospermae, is a eudicot order of 34 APG families (Caryophyllaceae, Cactaceae, Amaranthaceae, Droseraceae) marked by betalain pigments, P-type sieve-tube plastids, perispermous seeds, and carnivorous lineages.
Caryopteris × clandonensis
Caryopteris × clandonensis (bluebeard, blue mist shrub) is a hybrid shrub from Clandon, Surrey, bred by Arthur Simmonds around 1930 from C. incana and C. mongholica, grown for late-summer blue flowers that attract pollinators.
Cascabela thevetia
Cascabela thevetia, yellow oleander (syn. Thevetia peruviana), is a toxic Apocynaceae shrub native from Mexico to South America, containing digoxin-like cardiac glycosides such as thevetin A and B, and a frequent agent of self-poisoning in India and Sri Lanka.
Casearia
Casearia (Jacq., 1760) is a pantropical genus of about 200-250 Salicaceae trees and shrubs, half Neotropical, with pellucid-dotted leaves, apetalous axillary flowers, and arillate seeds; South American origin, late Eocene diversification.
Cassava
Cassava (Manihot esculenta, yuca, manioc, tapioca) is a drought-tolerant Euphorbiaceae root crop from the Americas feeding ~800 million people; cyanogenic roots need processing; major diseases CMD and CBSD; used for starch and bioethanol.
Cassia fistula
Cassia fistula, the golden shower tree or amaltas, is a Fabaceae tree native to India and Sri Lanka with yellow pendulous blooms and long black pods used as a laxative; Thailand's national flower.
Cassiope
Cassiope is a genus of about 18 species of dwarf evergreen shrubs in the heath family, known as mountain heathers and native to cool Northern Hemisphere regions.
Castanea
Castanea (chestnut), genus of Fagaceae trees and shrubs with up to 14 species across Asia, Europe, and North America; includes sweet chestnut (C. sativa) and blight-devastated American chestnut (C. dentata).
Castanea mollissima
Castanea mollissima (板栗), Chinese chestnut, a Fagaceae tree native to China and Korea grown for edible nuts; blight-resistant donor species used in American chestnut restoration breeding, cultivated in China for at least 2,000 years.
Castanea pumila
Castanea pumila, chinquapin or Allegheny chinquapin, is a rhizomatous North American shrub or small tree in Fagaceae with one sweet nut per spiny bur, moderately resistant to chestnut blight.
Castanea sativa
Castanea sativa, sweet or European chestnut, is the only European Castanea species, a large deciduous nut and timber tree native from the Balkans to northern Iran, threatened by chestnut blight and ink disease.
Castanopsis
Castanopsis (chinquapin, chinkapin) is a genus of about 110-145 species of evergreen Fagaceae trees native to tropical and subtropical Asia, sister to Castanea, with spiny cupules enclosing edible nuts and valuable timber.