2,112 articles
Gynostemma pentaphyllum
Gynostemma pentaphyllum (jiaogulan, Amachazuru), a Cucurbitaceae climbing herb native to Asia, consumed as tea; contains gypenoside saponins related to ginsenosides, studied for glucose and lipid effects.
Gynura
Gynura (Asteraceae, Senecioneae), also spelled Compositae, is a paleotropical herb genus of about 58 species used as vegetables, ornamentals, and herbal medicines, but some species contain hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids causing HSOS.
Gypsophila
Gypsophila (baby's-breath), genus of about 150 Caryophyllaceae herbs native to Eurasia and North Africa; G. paniculata is a noxious invasive tumbleweed in North American dunes, and the genus is rich in saponins and other medicinal compounds.
Gypsophila paniculata
Gypsophila paniculata, commonly known as baby's breath, is a perennial herb in the carnation family, native from east-central Europe to western Mongolia and grown worldwide as a cut flower for its tiny white flowers.
Hagenia abyssinica
Hagenia abyssinica (kosso, African redwood), sole species of the monotypic Rosaceae genus Hagenia, is a dioecious Afromontane tree from Eritrea to Zambia whose dried female flowers are a traditional Ethiopian tapeworm remedy; IUCN Least Concern but endangered in Ethiopia.
Halophyte
Halophyte: salt-tolerant plant surviving at about 200 mM NaCl or more; also called salt-loving plants, contrasted with glycophytes. About 1% of flora; tolerate salt via vacuolar ion compartmentalization, compatible solutes, and salt glands.
Haloxylon
Haloxylon (saxaul) is a genus of about 12 Amaranthaceae shrubs and small trees of saline and arid deserts from Spain and North Africa to Central Asia and Mongolia, used for sand fixation, fodder, fuel, and medicine.
Haloxylon ammodendron
Haloxylon ammodendron (saxaul, saxoul), an Amaranthaceae C4 xero-halophytic desert shrub from Iran to Mongolia and N. & W. China; groundwater-dependent phreatophyte, IUCN Least Concern, widely planted for sand fixation and windbreaks.
Hamamelidaceae
Hamamelidaceae, the witch-hazel family, is a Saxifragales family of trees and shrubs with 27 accepted genera and roughly 100-120 species, woody capsules with ballistic seed dispersal, and an East Asian diversity center; Hamamelis yields witch hazel astringent.
Hamamelis
Hamamelis is a genus of five deciduous shrub species, the witch-hazels, native to eastern North America and East Asia. H. virginiana is the source of medicinal witch hazel.
Hamamelis virginiana
Hamamelis virginiana, known as witch hazel or American witch-hazel, is a North American shrub that flowers in autumn and is the source of witch hazel water.
Haplopappus
Haplopappus, known in Spanish as bailahuén, is a genus of about 75 species of flowering plants in the daisy family, native mainly to Chile and used in Andean traditional medicine.
Hardwood
Hardwood: wood of angiosperm (broadleaf, flowering) trees, as opposed to softwood from conifers. Defined by vessel elements (pores), not hardness; balsa is a hardwood. Used for flooring, furniture; stores carbon.
Hawaiian hibiscus
Hawaiian hibiscus (aloalo) are the roughly six native Hibiscus species of Hawaii, including fragrant white kokiʻo keʻokeʻo (Hibiscus arnottianus, H. waimeae) and the endangered yellow state flower maʻo hau hele (Hibiscus brackenridgei).
Hazel
Corylus avellana, common hazel or European hazelnut, a Betulaceae shrub native to Europe and western Asia; wind-pollinated, self-sterile, source of the hazelnut crop dominated by Türkiye, distinct from Corylus maxima and americana.
Hazelnut
Hazelnut (fandoq), the nut of Corylus avellana: winter-flowering, wind-pollinated, self-incompatible; Turkey grows over 65% of the ~1.08 million-ton world crop, Italy second, Oregon 99% of US output; eastern filbert blight drives breeding.
Hedera
Hedera (ivy), including English ivy Hedera helix, is a genus of evergreen root-climbing woody vines in Araliaceae, native from Europe to Iran, flowering September to November, valued for wildlife and ornament but invasive in parts of North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Hedera helix
Hedera helix, English or common ivy, is an evergreen woody climber (Araliaceae) native to Europe and temperate Asia, with lobed juvenile and unlobed flowering adult growth phases; invasive in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Hedyotis
Hedyotis L. is a Rubiaceae (coffee family) genus of herbs and subshrubs, published by Linnaeus in 1753, native to tropical and subtropical Asia to the NW Pacific, with type species H. fruticosa and a long-debated Hedyotis-Oldenlandia complex now split into many genera.
Hedysarum
Hedysarum (sulla, sweetvetch) is a genus of about 227 legume species in Fabaceae, tribe Hedysareae, with lomented pods, native to temperate Eurasia, North Africa, and western North America, divided into sections Hedysarum, Multicaulia, and Stracheya.
Heliamphora
Heliamphora (sun pitchers, marsh pitchers) is a genus of about 21 to 24 carnivorous Sarraceniaceae pitcher plants endemic to the tepuis of Venezuela, Guyana, and northern Brazil, with pitfall traps, nectar spoons, and confirmed endogenous digestive enzymes.
Helianthemum
Helianthemum (rock rose, sun rose) is the largest genus of Cistaceae, about 140 Palearctic taxa centered on the Mediterranean, with three radiating sections since the Late Miocene and hard-coated seeds needing scarification.
Helianthus
Helianthus (sunflowers) is a North American Asteraceae genus of 56 accepted species, including cultivated sunflower (H. annuus) and Jerusalem artichoke (H. tuberosus); domesticated ~4,000-5,000 years ago and a model for hybrid speciation.
Helichrysum
Helichrysum (everlasting flowers) is a genus of about 564 accepted Asteraceae species native from Europe and Africa to Australia, widely used in traditional medicine; H. italicum yields a commercially important essential oil.
Heliotropium
Heliotropium (heliotrope), a genus of about 250 species in Heliotropiaceae (Boraginales) established by Linnaeus in 1753; cosmopolitan herbs and shrubs with scorpioid cymes, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, and C4 species in section Orthostachys.
Heliotropium arborescens
Heliotropium arborescens, garden heliotrope or cherry pie plant (syn. H. peruvianum), is a Boraginaceae subshrub native to Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, grown for vanilla-scented purple flowers; toxic via pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
Hellebore
Hellebore (Helleborus), also called Christmas rose or Lenten rose, is a genus of about 15 poisonous Ranunculaceae perennials native from Europe to N. China, flowering in late winter and spring, once famed in ancient Greek medicine as a cure for madness.
Helleborus
Helleborus, the hellebores, a genus of about 15-22 poisonous perennial species in Ranunculaceae native from Europe to the Caucasus, NW Africa, and N China; includes the Christmas rose H. niger and Lenten rose H. × hybridus.
Helleborus niger
Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose or black hellebore, is a poisonous Ranunculaceae perennial native to the Alps and Apennines, blooming white December to March, with cardiotonic helleborin and two subspecies, niger and macranthus.
Hemicellulose
Hemicellulose is a group of branched, non-cellulosic polysaccharides in plant cell walls that bind to cellulose and reinforce it, making up 20 to 35% of the wall and including xylans and xyloglucans.