2,112 articles
Alnus viridis
Alnus viridis (green alder, now often Alnus alnobetula) is a fast-growing deciduous nitrogen-fixing alder shrub of cool Northern Hemisphere subalpine zones, a pioneer on disturbed soils, 0.5–6 m tall.
Aloysia
Aloysia Paláu is a genus of about 30-41 species of aromatic American shrubs in Verbenaceae, tribe Lantaneae, centered in South America; best known for lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora), used in teas, flavoring, and folk medicine.
Aloysia citrodora
Aloysia citrodora (lemon verbena, lemon beebrush; syn. Aloysia triphylla, Lippia citriodora) is a lemon-scented Verbenaceae shrub native to southern Bolivia and northwest Argentina, grown for herbal tea and medicine; verbascoside is its key extract constituent.
Alstonia scholaris
Alstonia scholaris (devil tree, blackboard tree, dita bark, saptaparni) is an Apocynaceae tree native from South Asia to northern Australia, rich in indole alkaloids, used in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, with a Chinese leaf-alkaloid bronchitis drug in trials.
Alternanthera
Alternanthera (joyweed) is a genus of 80–200 Amaranthaceae herbs, mostly American tropics, with opposite leaves, head-like inflorescences, pseudostaminodes, medicinal and aquarium species, and the invasive alligatorweed.
Alternanthera sessilis
Alternanthera sessilis (sessile joyweed, dwarf copperleaf, mukunuwenna), Amaranthaceae herb with green and red cultivars; edible medicinal weed of tropical Asia, Australia, and tropical America, studied for antioxidant, analgesic, antihyperglycemic, and hepatoprotective effects, also an EPPO-listed invasive weed.
Alyssum
Alyssum (madwort) is a Brassicaceae genus of about 112 accepted species native from the Canary Islands and North Africa to temperate Eurasia; its Odontarrhena section contains many nickel hyperaccumulators, and sweet alyssum belongs instead to Lobularia.
Amaranth
Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) is a C4 pseudocereal genus of about 50-60 species; grain types A. caudatus, A. cruentus, and A. hypochondriacus are gluten-free, lysine-rich, drought- and salt-tolerant crops domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Andes.
Amaranth grain
Amaranth grain: seed of Amaranthus caudatus, cruentus, and hypochondriacus, a gluten-free American pseudocereal domesticated three times, cultivated over 8,000 years, rich in lysine, calcium, iron, and squalene oil.
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae (amaranth family, including former Chenopodiaceae) is a cosmopolitan Caryophyllales family of about 185 genera and 2,050–2,500 species, with small petal-less flowers, C4 photosynthesis diversity, and crops like amaranth, quinoa, spinach, and sugar beet.
Amaranthus
Amaranthus (amaranth) is a cosmopolitan genus of C4 herbs in Amaranthaceae, including the grain crops A. cruentus, A. hypochondriacus, and A. caudatus, leafy vegetables such as A. tricolor, and noxious weeds like A. palmeri.
Amaranthus caudatus
Amaranthus caudatus (kiwicha, love-lies-bleeding) is an Andean pseudocereal grain amaranth domesticated from A. quitensis, incompletely domesticated, with protein-rich seeds, phytic acid 2.9–7.9 g/kg, and salt-tolerant varieties.
Amaranthus hybridus
Amaranthus hybridus (smooth pigweed, bledo) is a monoecious annual Amaranthaceae weed native from southern Ontario to western South America, wild ancestor of the three grain amaranths, used as a leafy vegetable, and a herbicide-resistant crop weed.
Amaranthus palmeri
Amaranthus palmeri (Palmer amaranth, carelessweed), a dioecious Sonoran Desert-native annual weed, now in over 45 countries, resistant to nine herbicide sites of action and among the most damaging weeds of cotton, maize, and soybean.
Amaranthus retroflexus
Amaranthus retroflexus (redroot pigweed, rough pigweed), an annual Amaranthaceae weed native to North America (Kew: Mexico), naturalized worldwide; up to 300,000 seeds per plant, herbicide-resistant, nitrate-toxic to livestock, young leaves edible.
Amaranthus spinosus
Amaranthus spinosus, spiny amaranth or spiny pigweed (Chinese 刺苋, ci xian), is a spine-bearing annual amaranth native from Mexico to Tropical America, now a widespread tropical weed with US resistance to WSSA herbicide groups 2 and 9, used as a leafy vegetable and folk medicine.
Amaranthus tricolor
Amaranthus tricolor (Chinese spinach, Joseph's coat, callaloo) is a tropical Asian annual Amaranthaceae herb grown as a leafy vegetable and ornamental; a C4, heat- and drought-tolerant crop rich in protein, iron, calcium, and carotenoids.
Amaranthus viridis
Amaranthus viridis, slender or green amaranth (bledo), an annual Amaranthaceae herb native from SE Mexico to tropical America, now a cosmopolitan weed and leafy vegetable used as food, animal feed, and medicine.
Ambrosia artemisiifolia
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common or short ragweed) is a North American annual Asteraceae herb, invasive in Europe and Asia, whose highly allergenic pollen, led by the major allergen Amb a 1, causes hay fever and asthma in millions.
Amburana cearensis
Amburana cearensis (cumaru, imburana-de-cheiro, cerejeira; syn. Torresea cearensis) is an endangered Fabaceae timber tree of South American seasonally dry forests, used in folk medicine for respiratory ailments; its coumarins, amburoside A/B, and flavonoids show anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and neuroprotective activity.
Amelanchier
Amelanchier (serviceberry, juneberry, saskatoon, shadbush) is a Rosaceae genus of about 20 species of North American, European, and Asian shrubs and small trees with white flowers and edible sweet pomes; taxonomy is complicated by polyploidy, apomixis, and hybridization.
Amelanchier alnifolia
Amelanchier alnifolia, the saskatoon berry or Saskatoon serviceberry, is a North American Rosaceae shrub grown for sweet purple pomes rich in anthocyanins, fiber, and minerals; distinct from other serviceberries by alder-like leaves and western prairie range.
Amelanchier ovalis
Amelanchier ovalis (snowy mespilus, garden serviceberry), Medik. 1793, syn. Mespilus amelanchier L., a Rosaceae shrub native from Europe to the Caucasus and NW Africa, with diploid 2n=34 and tetraploid 2n=68 cytotypes and edible bluish-black fruits.
American chestnut
American chestnut (Castanea dentata), eastern US canopy tree killed as a dominant species by chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) after 1904; restoration via backcross hybrids, hypovirulence, and transgenic Darling 54.
American ginseng (西洋参)
American ginseng (西洋参, Panax quinquefolius), an eastern North American forest herb whose root is prized in East Asian medicine; CITES-listed since 1975, cultivated mainly in Wisconsin and Ontario, with limited clinical evidence for colds and glucose control.
Ammi
Ammi (Bishop's weed genus) is an Apiaceae genus of annual or biennial herbs native from Macaronesia to W Asia, published by Linnaeus in 1753; Ammi majus yields furanocoumarins and causes livestock photosensitization.
Ammi visnaga
Ammi visnaga (khella, toothpickweed; now Visnaga daucoides) is an Apiaceae herb of the Mediterranean whose fruits yield the furanochromones khellin and visnagin, used for renal colic, angina, asthma, and vitiligo phototherapy.
Amorpha fruticosa
Amorpha fruticosa, the false indigo bush, is a North American legume shrub with purplish blue flowers that has become a major invasive plant in Europe.
Ampelopsis
Ampelopsis (peppervine, porcelain berry) is a genus of tendril-climbing lianas in Vitaceae, published by Michaux in 1803, mostly East Asian with disjunct North American species; Nekemias was split from it in 2014.
Anabasis
Anabasis L. (Anabasearum) is a genus of about 30 succulent, C4 xerophytic shrubs in Amaranthaceae, native from the Mediterranean to Central Asia; source of anabasine from Anabasis aphylla and camel fodder species like A. salsa.