2,112 articles
Inulin
Inulin is a plant storage fructan of β-(2→1)-linked fructose chains, usually with a terminal glucose, found in chicory, Jerusalem artichoke, and over 36,000 plants; used as prebiotic fiber, fat and sugar replacer, and kidney function diagnostic.
Ipomoea
Ipomoea (morning glories) is the largest genus of Convolvulaceae, about 800 pantropical species published by Linnaeus in 1753, including sweet potato (I. batatas), water spinach, and ornamental morning glories.
Ipomoea alba
Ipomoea alba, the moonflower (also moonvine, tropical white morning glory), is a night-blooming Convolvulaceae vine native to tropical and subtropical America, with fragrant white flowers 11–16 cm wide that open at dusk; IUCN Least Concern.
Ipomoea aquatica
Ipomoea aquatica (water spinach, kangkong, Ong Tsoi) is a tropical Convolvulaceae herb with floating, node-rooting stems, grown as a leafy vegetable yielding 40-60 t/ha, yet a prohibited noxious weed in Florida.
Ipomoea purga
Ipomoea purga (jalap, raíz de jalapa), a Mexican tuberous morning glory of Veracruz mountains, source of the purgative drug jalap; resin glycosides, purgic acids A and B.
Ipomoea tricolor
Ipomoea tricolor, or grannyvine, is a climbing Mexican morning-glory in the Convolvulaceae, cultivated for its large funnel-shaped blue to violet flowers with a yellowish throat.
Ipomoea triloba
Ipomoea triloba (little bell, trilobed morning glory), a Convolvulaceae vine native from Mexico to Brazil and the Caribbean, naturalized as a tropical weed, prohibited in Florida, with lilac 1–2 cm flowers and three-lobed leaves.
Ironwood
Ironwood is a common name for dozens of unrelated hard-wood trees, including desert ironwood (Olneya tesota), hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), and Bornean ulin; their dense timber sinks in water and serves keystone ecological and cultural roles.
Isatis tinctoria
Isatis tinctoria (woad, dyer's woad, pastel) is a Brassicaceae biennial native from SE and E Europe to Türkiye, the historical European source of indigo dye via precursors indican and isatan B, displaced by tropical indigo and synthetic indigo.
Isodon
Isodon (Benth.) Schrad. ex Spach, formerly Rabdosia, is a Lamiaceae genus of about 116-150 perennial herb species native to the tropical and subtropical Old World, rich in ent-kaurane diterpenoids such as oridonin used in Chinese and Japanese medicine.
Isotoma
Isotoma (R.Br.) Lindl., an accepted genus of about 10 Australasian Campanulaceae herbs with milky sap and equal corolla lobes; several former species moved to Lithotoma and Lobelia.
Ixora
Ixora is a pantropical genus of about 545 Rubiaceae shrubs and small trees, also called flame of the woods or jungle geranium (I. coccinea), known for showy 4-merous tuberous flower clusters, ornamental hedges, and Ayurvedic medicinal use.
Ixora coccinea
Ixora coccinea (flame-of-the-woods, jungle geranium, scarlet jungleflame) is a Rubiaceae shrub native from India to Indo-China, grown tropically worldwide for red flower clusters, with folk-medicinal root and flower uses.
Jabuticaba
Jabuticaba (jaboticaba, Brazilian grape tree, Plinia cauliflora) is a slow-growing Myrtaceae fruit tree from Brazil whose dark purple berries and white flowers grow directly on the trunk (cauliflory); grown in zones 9a-11, fruiting in 8-10 years from seed.
Jacaranda
Jacaranda Juss. is a Neotropical genus of about 51 tree and shrub species in Bignoniaceae, native from tropical America to northern Argentina; Jacaranda mimosifolia, with blue-violet flowers, is a famous ornamental street tree worldwide.
Jacaranda mimosifolia
Jacaranda mimosifolia, the blue jacaranda, a South American Bignoniaceae tree with lavender-blue trumpet flowers, widely planted as a street tree but an environmental weed in Australia and South Africa.
Jasione
Jasione, or sheep's bit, is a genus of about 14-16 Campanulaceae herbs native to Europe and the Mediterranean, with blue flower heads, two diversity centers (Iberia-Morocco and Balkans-Anatolia), and Jasione montana as its best-known species.
Jasmine
Jasminum, the jasmine genus, is a group of about 200 accepted Oleaceae shrubs and vines native to the Old World tropics, with fragrant white or yellow tubular flowers, including cultivated species like J. sambac.
Jasminum officinale
Jasminum officinale, common or poet's jasmine (su fang hua), a scrambling Oleaceae shrub native from Transcaucasus to south-central China, long cultivated for fragrant flowers used in perfume, medicine, and food.
Jasminum sambac
Jasminum sambac, Arabian jasmine or sampaguita, is a South Asian Oleaceae shrub used for jasmine tea, perfume, and religious garlands; national flower of the Philippines and Indonesia.
Jatropha
Jatropha, a Euphorbiaceae genus of about 150 tropical species including the physic nut (Jatropha curcas), a toxic-seeded oil crop promoted for biodiesel whose large plantations proved barely financially viable.
Jatropha curcas
Jatropha curcas, physic nut or piñón de purga, a toxic Euphorbiaceae shrub native from Mexico to tropical America, grown as hedges and promoted as a biodiesel feedstock; seeds contain phorbol esters and curcin, making the oil non-edible.
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (ජය ශ්රී මහා බෝධි)
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (ජය ශ්රී මහා බෝධි) is the sacred fig tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, planted in 288 BC by Sanghamitta from the original Bodhi tree; the oldest human-planted tree with a known planting date.
Jerusalem artichoke
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus, sunchoke, topinambour) is a North American perennial sunflower grown for inulin-rich tubers; hexaploid, hybrid origin, food, feed, and biofuel crop.
Jojoba
Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis), a dioecious desert shrub native to Arizona, California, and Mexico, whose seeds yield about 50% liquid wax ester oil used in cosmetics, lubricants, and biodiesel research.
Jojoba oil
Jojoba oil, from Simmondsia chinensis seeds, is a liquid wax ester (97% monounsaturated C16-C26 esters) used in cosmetics, dermatology, and pharmaceuticals; about 40% of world production is Israeli.
Juglandaceae
Juglandaceae, the walnut family (DC. ex Perleb, 1818), is a Fagales family of trees including Juglans, Carya, Pterocarya, and Rhoiptelea, with compound leaves, catkins, and one-seeded nuts, source of walnuts, pecans, and valuable timber.
Juglans
Juglans, the walnut genus of Juglandaceae, has 21 accepted species including J. regia, J. nigra, and J. cinerea, native from the Americas to East Asia; threatened by thousand cankers disease and butternut canker.
Juglans nigra
Juglans nigra, black walnut or American walnut, is an eastern North American hardwood tree prized for dark chocolate-brown, dimensionally stable, decay-resistant timber used in furniture, veneer, and gunstocks, with edible nuts and disputed juglone allelopathy.
Juglans regia
Juglans regia, Persian or common walnut, a Juglandaceae tree native from Türkiye to the west Himalaya, anciently hybrid-origin, spread across Europe by humans since the Bronze Age for nuts and timber.