edgepedia

Other flowering plants

2,112 articles

Pelargonium graveolens

Pelargonium graveolens (rose geranium, rose-scented pelargonium) is a strongly aromatic southern African subshrub, Geraniaceae, source of rose geranium essential oil rich in citronellol and geraniol, used in perfumery, food, and traditional medicine.

Peltophorum

Peltophorum (Vogel) Benth., yellow-flowered trees of Fabaceae subfamily Caesalpinioideae, also called Baryxylum; seven accepted species, pantropical, sister to Bussea, used as ornamentals, timber, fodder, and medicine.

Penstemon

Penstemon (beardtongues), genus Penstemon Schmidel of Plantaginaceae, is the largest flowering-plant genus endemic to North America, with roughly 250–280 mostly western species, bee- and hummingbird-pollinated syndromes, and many rare edaphic endemics.

Pentadesma butyracea

Pentadesma butyracea (butter tree, tallow tree) is a West and Central African Clusiaceae tree up to 35 m whose seeds yield an edible butter rich in oleic and stearic acids, used in food, cosmetics, and traditional medicine.

Peony

Peony (Paeonia L.), sole genus of Paeoniaceae in Saxifragales, about 33-37 species of herbaceous and tree peonies native from Europe and temperate Asia to western North America; grown for ornament, traditional medicine (paeoniflorin, paeonol), and oil.

Peperomia

Peperomia (radiator plant) is a genus of over 1,300 species of often succulent Piperaceae herbs, native to tropics and subtropics, mostly tropical America, spanning C3 to CAM photosynthesis and popular as foliage houseplants.

Peppermint

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita) is a sterile hybrid mint, a cross between water mint and spearmint, grown for menthol-rich oil used in flavoring and medicine.

Perennial

Perennial: a plant living multiple years, regrowing from crown, rhizomes, or roots, unlike annuals. Covers herbaceous vs woody perennials, winter dormancy, garden care, and perennial grain crops such as Kernza.

Pericopsis elata

Pericopsis elata (afrormosia, African teak, kokrodua) is an endangered Fabaceae timber tree of West and Central African semi-deciduous forest, CITES Appendix II since 1992, traded as logs, sawn wood, and veneer.

Perilla frutescens

Perilla frutescens (shiso, Zisu, beefsteak plant), an East Asian mint-family herb grown as culinary herb and omega-3-rich oilseed; chemotypes differ in safety, with perilla ketone toxic to livestock.

Periploca

Periploca Tourn. ex L., a genus of 17 accepted species in Apocynaceae (Periplocoideae), native from Macaronesia and the Mediterranean to tropical Africa and Asia; includes medicinal species P. sepium (Xiangjiapi) and P. forrestii (Heiguteng).

Persea

Persea (laurel family, Lauraceae), genus of evergreen trees including the avocado Persea americana; about 112-150 species native to the Americas and Macaronesia, with Asian species often split off as Machilus; also yields medang timber.

Persicaria

Persicaria (knotweeds, smartweeds), a genus of about 100-150 species in Polygonaceae, cosmopolitan, split from Polygonum, recognized by ocrea and swollen nodes; includes weeds, ornamentals, and Asian mint.

Persicaria hydropiper

Persicaria hydropiper (water-pepper, marshpepper knotweed), Polygonaceae annual of wet ground, native temperate Eurasia, pungent from polygodial drimane sesquiterpenes; used as spice, medicine, poison; IUCN least concern.

Persicaria maculosa

Persicaria maculosa (spotted ladysthumb, redshank, lady's thumb; formerly Polygonum persicaria) is an annual Polygonaceae herb native to temperate Eurasia, a weed of spring crops with dark-blotched leaves and pink flower spikes, used as poison and medicine.

Persicaria odorata

Persicaria odorata, known as Vietnamese coriander or rau răm, is a perennial herb of the buckwheat family native to Southeast Asia, whose pungent, coriander-like leaves flavor laksa, salads, and laab.

Petal

A petal is one of the sterile, often brightly colored floral organs that form the corolla inside the sepals, attracting pollinators by color, scent, and ultraviolet patterns.

Petasites

Petasites (butterbur), Asteraceae genus of rhizomatous Northern Hemisphere perennials with huge leaves; P. hybridus studied for migraine and allergic rhinitis; contains hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Petasites hybridus

Petasites hybridus (butterbur, pestilence wort) is an Asteraceae rhizomatous geophyte native from Europe to North Iran and Algeria, studied for migraine and hay fever, but toxic unless pyrrolizidine alkaloids are removed.

Petrea

Petrea is a genus of woody climbers and shrubs in the verbena family, native from Florida through tropical America, known for the wisteria-like queen's wreath vine.

Petrea volubilis

Petrea volubilis (queen's wreath, purple wreath, sandpaper vine) is a twining woody vine in Verbenaceae native to tropical America, grown ornamentally for wisteria-like racemes whose persistent pale calyx lobes outlast the darker corollas.

Peumus boldus

Peumus boldus (boldo) is a Monimiaceae tree endemic to central and southern Chile, source of boldo leaf herbal medicine and the alkaloid boldine, used traditionally for digestive disorders.

Peyote

Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) is a spineless mescaline-containing cactus of south Texas and northern Mexico, used ceremonially for over 5,000 years, sacred to the Native American Church, legally exempted for traditional Native American use, and listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Phaseolus

Phaseolus is a New World legume genus (Fabaceae, tribe Phaseoleae) of about 81 species, including five domesticated beans such as common bean P. vulgaris and lima bean, with at least seven independent domestication events.

Phaseolus coccineus

Phaseolus coccineus, the runner or scarlet runner bean, is a Mesoamerican domesticated climbing legume, third-most important Phaseolus crop, grown for dry seeds and green pods, tolerating cool climates.

Philadelphus

Philadelphus, commonly called mock orange, is a genus of about 44 species of deciduous flowering shrubs in the family Hydrangeaceae, named by Linnaeus in 1753.

Phillyrea

Phillyrea (mock privet) is a Mediterranean genus of evergreen Oleaceae shrubs with two accepted species, P. angustifolia and P. latifolia, known for diallelic self-incompatibility, androdioecy, and strong drought tolerance.

Phlomis

Phlomis (Jerusalem sage) is a Lamiaceae genus of about 91-100 perennial herbs and shrubs native from the Mediterranean to Central Asia, now separated from Phlomoides, used as herbal tea and in traditional medicine.

Phlox

Phlox, a genus of about 69 species in Polemoniaceae (Ericales), native from Siberia and Mongolia across North America to northern Mexico; includes garden phlox, moss phlox, and annual phlox.

Phoradendron

Phoradendron, American true or leafy mistletoe, is a New World genus of hemiparasitic Santalaceae with about 271 accepted species, attached by woody-gall haustoria, less toxic than Viscum, and used in folk medicine.