2,112 articles
Husk
Husk: the dry outer covering of seeds, grains, or fruits (also hull, chaff); in maize, modified leaves protecting the ear, photosynthesizing, and enabling kernel drydown; from late 14c. English huske.
Hydnocarpus kurzii
Hydnocarpus kurzii, commonly called chaulmoogra, is a dioecious evergreen tree native from Assam to Peninsular Malaysia whose seed oil was a standard historical treatment for leprosy.
Hydrangea
Hydrangea, a genus of shrubs and climbers including H. macrophylla, arborescens, paniculata, and quercifolia; pH-sensitive flower color, old-wood versus new-wood pruning, and RHS trial results.
Hydrangea macrophylla (紫陽花)
Hydrangea macrophylla (紫陽花), bigleaf or French hydrangea, a Japanese deciduous shrub with mophead or lacecap flower heads; blue in acidic soil, pink in alkaline, blooming on old wood with reblooming cultivars like Endless Summer.
Hydrocotyle
Hydrocotyle (pennywort) is a cosmopolitan genus of creeping aquatic and wetland herbs in Araliaceae, transferred from Apiaceae after molecular work; about 130–180 species, with all annual species endemic to Australia.
Hydrophyllaceae
Hydrophyllaceae R.Br., the waterleaf family, is a Boraginales family of about 12 genera and 250 species centered in western North America; APG IV merges it into Boraginaceae, while Luebert et al. 2016 recognize it.
Hylotelephium telephium
Hylotelephium telephium (orpine, live-forever, formerly Sedum telephium) is a succulent Crassulaceae perennial native from Europe to the Russian Far East and N. China, parent of the garden hybrid 'Autumn Joy'.
Hymenaea
Hymenaea (jatobá) is a genus of resin-producing legume trees of tropical America and East Africa; H. courbaril yields hard timber, edible pulp, and copal resin, and Hymenaea resin produced Mexican, Dominican, and Ethiopian Miocene ambers.
Hymenaea courbaril
Hymenaea courbaril (jatobá, West Indian locust) is a 30-50 m Neotropical legume tree from Mexico to southeastern Brazil, yielding copal resin, dense timber, and starchy edible pod pulp; formerly six varieties, split into three species in 2014.
Hyoscyamus
Hyoscyamus (henbane) is a Solanaceae genus of about 23 herb species native from Macaronesia and Africa to temperate Eurasia, source of tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine, scopolamine, and tropine; sister genus Anisodus, type species H. niger.
Hyoscyamus niger
Hyoscyamus niger (black henbane, stinking nightshade, tian xian zi) is a poisonous Solanaceae herb native from the Mediterranean to Iran, containing the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, used since antiquity as a sedative and analgesic.
Hypericaceae
Hypericaceae, the St. John's wort family (Hypericaceae Juss., 1789), is a Malpighiales family of herbs and shrubs with gland-dotted leaves; its dominant genus Hypericum holds 521 species, and sister family is Podostemaceae.
Hypericum
Hypericum (St. John's worts), genus of Hypericaceae with about 500 yellow-flowered species of herbs and shrubs, cosmopolitan mainly in temperate regions; includes medicinal H. perforatum and invasive weeds.
Hypericum perforatum
Hypericum perforatum (St. John's wort, Klamath weed) is a perennial Hypericaceae herb native from Europe to China and NW Africa, used for mild to moderate depression; extracts show efficacy near standard antidepressants but induce CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein, causing major drug interactions.
Hyptis
Hyptis (Jacq., 1787) is a conserved Lamiaceae genus of 169 accepted species native to tropical and subtropical America, introduced across Africa and Asia; aromatic, terpene-rich, including H. suaveolens and H. capitata, the type species.
Hyssopus officinalis
Hyssopus officinalis (hyssop), Mediterranean mint-family herb with blue-violet flowers; culinary flavoring and Chartreuse ingredient; pinocamphone-containing essential oil is convulsant; one asthma trial.
Iberis
Iberis, commonly candytuft, is a Mediterranean genus of about 30 species in Brassicaceae, tribe Iberideae, native from western Europe to Iran; I. sempervirens is the familiar evergreen white-flowered ground cover.
Icacinaceae
Icacinaceae Miers (1851), a pantropical family of woody flowering plants in Icacinales; trees, shrubs, and lianas with unilocular ovaries and two pendulous ovules, split from a polyphyletic circumscription into Icacinaceae s.s., Stemonuraceae, Cardiopteridaceae, and Pennantiaceae.
Ilex
Ilex, the hollies, is the sole genus of the flowering plant family Aquifoliaceae, with about 730 dioecious, mostly evergreen tree and shrub species, including yerba mate.
Ilex aquifolium
Ilex aquifolium, common or English holly (欧洲冬青), an evergreen dioecious Aquifoliaceae tree native to Europe, NW Africa and W Asia; spiny leaves, red drupes, IUCN Least Concern, invasive in Pacific Northwest, New Zealand, SE Australia.
Illicium
Illicium (anisetree, star anise) is a genus of about 40 aromatic evergreen shrubs and trees in Schisandraceae, order Austrobaileyales, native from the Himalaya to Japan and the southeastern United States to Mexico and the Caribbean; only I. verum is edible, other species contain neurotoxic sesquiterpene lactones such as anisatin.
Illicium verum (八角)
Illicium verum (八角, ba jiao hui xiang), star anise or Chinese star anise, an evergreen Schisandraceae tree native to southern China and northeast Vietnam; its dried star fruit yields trans-anethole oil and shikimic acid for oseltamivir, and is adulterated by toxic I. anisatum.
Impatiens
Impatiens (balsams, touch-me-nots), genus of Balsaminaceae with 1,187 accepted species, native to the Old World and the Americas, known for explosive seed capsules, ornamental busy Lizzies, and invasive Himalayan balsam.
Impatiens balsamina
Impatiens balsamina (凤仙花), garden balsam or rose balsam, is an annual Balsaminaceae herb native to India and Sri Lanka, grown worldwide as an ornamental and medicinal plant with explosive seed pods and over 307 identified compounds.
Indian hemp
Indian hemp, also called kenaf, Deccan hemp, or Java jute (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), is an African-originated annual Malvaceae fiber crop grown for cordage, paper pulp, and biocomposites, unrelated to Cannabis sativa.
Indigofera
Indigofera (indigo plants), a Fabaceae legume genus of 764 species, pantropical with Africa-Madagascar as its diversity center; source of the blue dye indigo via Indigofera tinctoria and I. suffruticosa, also used as forage, medicine, and green manure, with some species toxic to livestock.
Indigofera tinctoria
Indigofera tinctoria (true indigo, nila) is a Fabaceae shrub whose indican-rich leaves yield indigo dye; native range spans tropical Africa and South Asia, displaced commercially by synthetic indigo after 1897.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence: the flower-bearing system of a plant, also called a flower cluster, defined by branching pattern and flower position. Types include raceme, cyme, panicle, spike, and umbel; determinacy is controlled by LEAFY and TERMINAL FLOWER1.
Inga
Inga is a genus of about 300 species of nitrogen-fixing trees in the legume family Fabaceae, native to tropical America and long grown as shade for coffee and cacao.
Inula
Inula, a genus of Asteraceae herbs and shrubs with yellow flower heads, native from temperate Eurasia to Indo-China and Africa; includes elecampane (I. helenium), long used in traditional medicine, and is now largely reorganized into Pentanema.