Other flowering plants

Leonurus

Leonurus (motherwort), Lamiaceae genus of about 25 temperate Eurasian herb species; source of alkaloids leonurine and stachydrine, used as uterotonic in East Asia and sedative in Europe.

Lepidium (peppergrasses, cresses) is a cosmopolitan genus of about 264 accepted species in Brassicaceae, tribe Lepidieae, first published by Linnaeus in 1753; it includes garden cress (L. sativum) and maca (L. meyenii).

Lepidium coronopus

Lepidium coronopus (L.) Al-Shehbaz, greater swinecress or swine cress, formerly Coronopus squamatus, is a prostrate annual or biennial mustard native from Macaronesia and Europe to Central Asia, with warty indehiscent fruits, introduced in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Lepidium meyenii

Lepidium meyenii (maca) is a Brassicaceae perennial of the high Andes, cultivated at 4,000–4,400 m for its hypocotyl; synonyms include Lepidium peruvianum; studied for sexual function with limited clinical evidence.

Leptospermum

Leptospermum (tea trees) is a Myrtaceae genus of shrubs and small trees native from Indo-China to New Zealand, most diverse in Australia; type species mānuka (L. scoparium), split into five genera by 2023 revision.

Lespedeza

Lespedeza (bush clover) is a Fabaceae genus of 48 accepted species native to Asia, Australia, and North America; some species are forage legumes, while sericea lespedeza (L. cuneata) is an invasive, tannin-rich noxious weed in the United States.

Lettuce

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa), an Asteraceae leafy annual vegetable; types include iceberg, butterhead, romaine, looseleaf, and celtuce. Domesticated in the Caucasus around 4,000 BC; cool-season crop prone to bolting and tipburn.

Leucaena

Leucaena (lead tree, ipil-ipil) is a Fabaceae genus of about 25 unarmed, bipinnate-leaved trees and shrubs native from the southern USA to Peru; L. leucocephala is a major tropical fodder tree containing toxic mimosine and listed among the world's worst invasive species.

Leucanthemum

Leucanthemum (oxeye daisies, marguerites) is a genus of 51 accepted Asteraceae species native from the Azores and Europe to the Russian Far East and Iran, including Leucanthemum vulgare, the oxeye daisy.

Leucanthemum vulgare

Leucanthemum vulgare, oxeye daisy (formerly Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), a rhizomatous Asteraceae perennial native from Europe to Siberia and Iran, introduced worldwide and a noxious pasture weed producing up to 26,000 seeds per plant.

Leucospermum

Leucospermum, the pincushions, is a genus of 48 Proteaceae shrubs from southern Africa, centered in the Cape Floristic Region; named by Robert Brown in 1810, with new sections Hamata and Secundifolia described in 2022.

Leucothoe

Leucothoe (doghobble) is a genus of five evergreen Ericaceae shrubs native to East Asia and the western and southeastern United States, reduced from about 45 species after phylogenetic splits into Agarista, Eubotrys, and Eubotryoides.

Liatris

Liatris (blazing star, gayfeather) is a genus of about 32-42 species of corm-forming perennial herbs in Asteraceae, tribe Eupatorieae, native to North America and the Bahamas, grown as ornamentals.

Licania

Licania Aubl. is a Neotropical tree genus of Chrysobalanaceae, apetalous flowers, ovary at receptacle base, about 100 species from Mexico to southeastern Brazil after the 2016 split of the former polyphyletic 214-species genus into eight genera.

Lignum vitae

Lignum vitae, the heartwood of Guaiacum officinale and G. sanctum, is an extremely hard, dense, self-lubricating tropical wood historically used for ship stern-tube bearings; both species are CITES Appendix II listed.

Ligularia

Ligularia (leopard plant) is a genus of about 150 perennial Asteraceae herbs native to temperate Eurasia, centered in the Hengduan Mountains, with yellow daisy flowers, medicinal terpenoids, and garden use in moist shade.

Ligusticum

Ligusticum (lovage, licorice-root) is a genus of Apiaceae perennial herbs established by Linnaeus in 1753, type L. scoticum, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere; polyphyletic, with medicinal species such as chuanxiong and osha.

Ligustrum lucidum

Ligustrum lucidum, known as glossy privet, is an evergreen tree in the olive family native to China; its ripe fruits are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Ligustrum vulgare

Ligustrum vulgare (European, common, or wild privet), Oleaceae shrub native from NW Africa and Europe to NW Iran, long grown for hedges; invasive in parts of North America, less damaging than Chinese privet.

Limonia acidissima

Limonia acidissima, the wood apple tree, is a spiny citrus-family tree native to the Indian subcontinent and Andaman Islands, grown for its hard-shelled aromatic fruit.

Limonium

Limonium (sea lavender, statice) is a Plumbaginaceae genus of about 600-650 salt-tolerant species, Mediterranean-centered recretohalophytes with salt glands, including cut-flower statice L. sinuatum and many threatened endemics.

Linaceae

Linaceae, the flax family, is a cosmopolitan family of about 9 genera and 280 species in the order Malpighiales, including Linum, the source of linen and linseed oil.

Linaria vulgaris

Linaria vulgaris (yellow toadflax, butter-and-eggs, common toadflax) is a Eurasian perennial plantain with yellow spurred snapdragon-like flowers, invasive in North America via seeds and root buds, noxious in 10 U.S. states.

Lindera

Lindera (spicebush) is a genus of about 100 aromatic trees and shrubs in Lauraceae, native from Asia to Queensland and eastern North America, with dioecious umbellate flowers, 2-celled anthers, and uses in medicine, timber, and horticulture.

Linum

Linum (flax genus), Linaceae, a genus of about 215 accepted species of herbs with showy blue, yellow, pink, red, or white flowers; includes cultivated flax Linum usitatissimum, source of linen and linseed oil.

Lippia

Lippia L. (Verbenaceae, tribe Lantaneae), genus of aromatic herbs and shrubs established by Linnaeus in 1753, native to tropical and southern Africa and tropical and subtropical America; dry two-nutlet fruits, not monophyletic with Lantana, used in traditional medicine and herbal teas.

Lippia alba

Lippia alba (bushy lippia, bushy matgrass, erva-cidreira), Verbenaceae, is an aromatic American shrub used in traditional medicine as a sedative and digestive remedy, with seven essential-oil chemotypes (citral, carvone, linalool) and inclusion in the Brazilian Pharmacopeia.